Mankind’s​ ​Last​ ​Invention?

In 2001 a Space Odyssey, an evil robot named HAL 9000 goes insane and tries to kill everyone; in Brave New World, technology has been used to crush the desires that make us human; in 1984, Big Brother uses technology to reduce the population to miserable slaves; in Terminator, Skynet reduces our whole society to a war ridden nightmare.

Our society is burdened by this understandable, yet irrational tendency to look at technology and the future with so much fear, even though innovation has been the singular force that has pushed our lives to become healthier and more enriched. That said, constant optimism is understandably difficult to maintain when we are constantly bombarded with hurricanes, crime, poverty, and corruption in the news. But one piece of advice is transformative in the way one should look at the world, and here it is: Look past the headlines

and focus on the trend lines. Though lacking in poetic value, the statement makes a brave assertion: It tells us that every day this world becomes an infinitely better place if you look in the right places. Ultimately, this is true. Literacy rates have increased; crime and corruption has gone down; lives are longer and healthier than ever; tolerance has increased; and more people than ever before are blessed with jobs that are safe and enriching, as well as happy families and access to art and academia.

This trend is due to technology and innovation. Innovations like agriculture, industry, the printing press, vaccination and the internet are key examples of inventions that have changed the way we live our lives. And the reason we must look at the intricate relationship between innovation and the quality of our lives is because we are living in what many have dubbed the fourth industrial revolution. It cannot be overstated how lucky we are to be alive in perhaps the most exciting and inventive era man has ever experienced. As we learn more about robotics,

computers and artificial intelligence, the evidence becomes more and more convincing that life as we know it is about to change like it has never changed before.

So while it is beneficial to be cautious and careful, I would like to argue that we should not be apprehensive about developments in technology, and instead should continue utilising technology to improve our lives. One theme that runs throughout my report is the history of

science and innovation: The industrial revolution is referenced many times, as is the computer revolution and even the agricultural revolution. I’ve not only done this to show how technology has always improved our lives and pushed civilisation to greater heights, but also to attack the assumption that it will not continue to do this in the future. We must look at the underlying trends

that run throughout our history, and the advancement of technology is directly correlated to our rise from tribes of hunter gatherers to the complex and wondrous societies we live in today. So it is perplexing to think that technology, having helped us for 13,000 years, will suddenly ruin us. However, the best way to fight the belief that technology will destroy our society is simply to highlight all the ways it will improve our lives, and the world around us. Many will accuse me of being naive for ignoring all the dangers of technology, and often optimism is associated with naivete; but I still maintain that an optimistic mindset takes exceptional knowledge and exceptional faith. Only through exceptional knowledge, can you understand the leaps we have

made in the last few millennia; and only through an extensive library of statistics will you understand that human life has improved in every way possible due to these leaps.

On a deeper level, it also takes a remarkable amount of faith to be optimistic. You must be faithful in humanity, not only in their ability to persevere and solve problems, but also in the goodness that drives our actions. You must believe that at the heart of every man and woman there is a love for the people around them, and a desire to make the world a better place. This briefing has been split up into three separate sections. Firstly, about how tech will affect improve our lives through our: jobs, our personal lives and our health care. Secondly, about the

problems of the future. And Thirdly, about the goals of the future.

How​ ​Technology​ ​Will​ ​Improve​ ​Our​ ​Lives:​ ​Jobs One thing that can we can be certain of is that jobs will be lost. The definitive study on the topic is by Oxford university and it shows that 50% of jobs can be replaced or enhanced by

automation in the next 2 decades. All in all, by 2030, 10 million jobs will be lost in the UK and over a 100 million jobs in the US due to automation. This is a good thing. Telemarketing, flipping burgers, driving taxis and sifting through legal documents aren't jobs that use the very best of humans’ extraordinary abilities. If technology can do these jobs for us, one day we may all have

jobs that are productive and fulfilling. I'm not being naive. This improvement in jobs has been seen historically. In the last century, workers in agriculture and manufacturing have gone from 70% of the american population to around 12%. All the people freed from doing hard manual labour have moved into service based professions. For the first time in history we have more people in caring professions such as teaching and healthcare than we do in factories and fields. The exact same thing is going to happen in the next century too. All these basic service jobs that have replaced field and factory work are going to be automated again and those people are going to move onto doing bigger and better things like becoming businessmen, lawyers, doctors, engineers, artists, teachers and philosophers.

It is also important to know that we won’t be left jobless. Historically, large changes in the economic atmosphere of the job market like the the industrial revolution and the computer revolution in the 80’s created more jobs than they destroyed. 50% of the jobs we will have in 2025 don't even exist right now. But even the jobs that aren’t taken away will be improved. Exoskeletons are making life in factories and warehouses a lot easier. Self driving planes mean that a pilot only has to sit there and make sure everything's alright, instead of driving for 14 hours. Moreover, Robots can scan over millions of boring legal documents leaving the lawyers to fight for justice. Our professions are such a key part of our identity, and as always, technology will only make your jobs more

rewarding, and ultimately our lives more purposeful.

How​ ​Technology​ ​Will​ ​Improve​ ​Our​ ​Lives:​ ​Personal​ ​Lives

Thanks to less laborious jobs, the average workweek has fallen from 70 hours to 37 from the industrial revolution, yet we are making more money and buying more things than ever. More time for leisure means you have more time to spend with your friends and family, less chances

of you becoming depressed at work, your partner feeling lonely at home, or your children feeling neglected or uncared for. More leisure time means that we can spend more time learning about

Our world and sharing our thoughts or absorbing art and creating our own: these activities will make us more cultured and thoughtful. Technology, more than anything, has amplified the joys of being alive. The importance of mental health, positive relationships and enriching hobbies is so profound on the way our society operates. As humans become happier and more knowledgeable, we become more peaceful and compassionate to others; and as we become more intelligent and aware of ourselves and the world around us, we are better able to focus our power on making the world a better place. How Technology​ ​Will Improve Our Lives on Healthcare Technology and science are going to affect healthcare in ways we could never have imagined. Not only will we detect and cure more diseases, we will be able to cut down their costs so they're available to everyone. Technology like x-rays, MRI imaging, vaccination and chemotherapy will be paired with Robots and technology that can perform surgeries and diagnose illnesses to a degree of accuracy never seen before. Not only will our lives be longer, but our time on earth will also be healthier. As less suffer from illnesses of the body or the mind, more people are able to live their lives happily and achieve their dreams. This is evident through

increases in global life expectancy and decreases in mortality rate. This trend will continue, and these advances will eventually lead to us being among the first few generations of humanity that get to grow old with their loved ones. The value of that is incalculable.

The​ ​Problems​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Future

Even though the future is sounding genuinely wonderful, we know that man kills the thing he loves, and throughout history our innovations have not always proved beneficial to humanity. With the agricultural revolution we established a society plagued by hierarchy and inequality, we furthered this with the industrial revolution while now also destroying our environment. Clearly, even great advances can create problems. This is perhaps why many are so nervous about technology: While technology promises us many wonderful things, it also poses many ominous threats to our existence. In the future, the only way to avoid repeating these mistakes will be

through: education and regulation. Education will be incredibly important. The biggest change technology will have on the job market, is that it's going to make skill and intelligence more important than ever. Soon, there will

be no place for unskilled labour. This is where many argue that technology is great, but we are not ready for it as a society. This argument poses a vision of the world where all menial jobs have suddenly disappeared, and the majority of the population is left miserable and jobless due to a lack of skills or education that prevents them from entering higher level jobs, thus leading to

a society fueled by inequality and civil unrest. This is a possible outcome, but it can be countered by greater focus on education and retraining programs. Not only will we have to see reforms in state education, we will have to see all schools giving greater focus to STEM skills,

while still encouraging critical thinking through the liberal arts. Governments and companies will also have to work together to engineer retraining programs that help people switch from job to job. Overall, we are moving into an economy that values knowledge over everything else, so it is incredibly important to create a culture that celebrates intellect and curiosity.

Regulation is also of utmost importance. National Governments and big Companies like google

and facebook have to be controlled. With new technology, they have constant information on us and choose what we see and what we can say. It is very easy to see a world full of threateningly powerful corporations and totalitarian governments. Making sure artificial intelligence, genetic cloning technology, or weapons of mass destruction don't get into the wrong hands will also be of paramount importance. Our capacity for innovation is so powerful that it must be controlled to make sure that our inventions are only beneficial to our existence. These will be the problems of the future. As with the problems of the past, our ingenuity has always helped us persevere and find solutions. So with education and regulation, we will be able to solve many of the problems that technology threatens to impose in the future.

The​ ​Goals​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Future

I still believe that soon we’re genuinely going to build a society that doesn’t work against its people, but instead encourages its people to work for it. As we free our minds and bodies from unfulfilling jobs, we’re finally going to be able to think about the future. The goals of our next

century will be about exploring new worlds while creating our own virtual ones, about the quest for the meaning of life, divinity and immortality. This is where I am going to start sounding like I am insane, but I've done my research and these things are genuinely on their way. In the field of health and genetics, we’re getting terrifyingly close to artificially designing people and cloning people. Nanotechnology will soon be implanted into your body to generate regular health reports and fight diseases. In the field of physics, quantum mechanics show promise of

creating teleportation devices. And interpretations of einstein's special theory of relativity suggest that time travel is within the physical limits of our universe. In the field of neurotechnology, an increased understanding of the electrical signals that form our thoughts has led to talk of telepathic communication, creating virtual realities like the matrix or even downloading your neural pattern after your death so that you could live forever. In the field of space exploration, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue origin will very soon take us to hotels on

the moon, or maybe even a colony on mars. In the field of artificial intelligence, even AI is becoming a possibility. Google’s Deepmind initiative has assembled a team of the most intelligent people on earth and works on using neural networks and the strategy of deep machine learning to create real artificial intelligence. “The​ ​future​ ​belongs​ ​to​ ​those​ ​who​ ​believe​ ​in​ ​the​ ​beauty​ ​of​ ​their​ ​dreams”​ ​-​ ​Eleanor Roosevelt

Focusing on the trend lines in our progress helps us realise that all throughout our history the human experience has continued to become richer and fuller due to innovation. So instead of fearing technology, we should embrace it. While the future provokes fear and uncertainty in every generation, this fear is irrational and unfounded. We must learn to to believe in humanity,

in the goodness that has brought us to where we are today, and only once we have done this, may we look forwards to our destiny.

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