Tags
Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism vs. the Climate., Climate change, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Distribution of wealth, Extinction, Global warming, Globalization, Inequility, The Future of Mankind, Visions of the future.
(Fifteen-minute read)
There is a radical difference between conventional threats and emerging threats which are posing a strategic challenge that must be met with a strategic response.
On one hand, it would be fair to say that Human advances have got us into the mess, but the question is the technology capable of getting us out of the mess.
Globalization, complexity, our relatively unsophisticated mechanisms for sharing information and making sense out of changes that we barely perceive, much less understand, all assure that any major threat — and especially non-state threats such as infectious disease – covid -19.
So let’s look at a few things that stick out like sore thumbs when it comes to technology.
The fear that technology could cause humanity’s downfall as such offers some terrifying scenarios that could befall our species.
The risk of the creation of some new super virus or bug in a lab that we are unable to control if it were to escape into the wild isn’t any longer beyond the realms of impossibility.
It means we must apply technology in ways responsive to our most immediate and frequent threats and must balance our use of technology with the intelligence cycle:
If we do not harness the fourth industrial revolution to the benefit of all we will turn the planet once more back into a snowball Earth.
We must develop reliable capabilities for developing technology advancement.
No government, no international organization, and certainly no corporation, can be relied upon to seek out and act on the truth, or even to act in the public interest.
So in my view, the greatest threat we face is unregulated software that is driving our lives. It is one of the greatest problems afflicting modern society, not because of human intelligence, but because we are allowing profit-seeking algorithms to dominate consumption.
Current economic policy is short-term creating a non-saving society for the rainy day.
One only has to look at the effects of the covid pandemic to see that a redistribution of wealth is required urgently if we are to have any chance of a caring society.
The current threats.
Take for example.
Cyber malware.
What is malware? How dangerous is it?
It is a contraction of malicious software that exploits your digital life, by mining your personal data either to profit directly or sell on the information. It comes in the form of a virus embedded in a piece of software and can spread from one file to another or computer.
There are several types of malware.
A worm. Does not need to be triggered. It automatically propagates itself.
A Trojan. Can be a good-looking App that will wreak havoc.
A Ransom. Pay up before everything is deleted.
They can be weaponized to have real-world consequences. Over fifteen Iranian facilities were attacked and infiltrated by the Stuxnet worm.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) disclosed on Wednesday that it has suffered a cyber-attack, leading to unauthorized access to documents relating to a Covid-19 vaccine.
Now imagine the threat to the stability of critical infrastructures around water, electricity, and gas that are vital to the running of nations.
The next has to be Climate change.
The main problem here is that no one whats to foot the bill. ( See previous posts)
To achieve long-term and profound progress in environmental governance, policy focus needs to be complemented by intensified efforts to strengthen the rule of environmental law not just shallow promises coming out of Climate Conferences.
To do so, the capacity of international courts to pronounce judgments on environmental matters, the clarity, and scope of environmental legal principles, and compliance with and implementation of judgments must be further strengthened with a constitution for the whole of the Earth.
What’s at stake here are basic rights to life and health so the pursuing of climate policies that violate the right to life must have genuine consequences if we are to keep global warming to 2°C.
Climate change crossing borders with impunity.
Next: Poverty.
The gap between rich and poor is now a pandemic.
No single factor can account for the large disparities in economic development among the countries of the world. Nor is the relative influence of any particular factor likely to remain the same over time.
While such things as technology and natural resources are obvious factors in economic development, they are plundered for profit’s sake by high-frequency trading run by unregulated data mining algorithms.
However, there is no denying the fact that the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer.
This is happing not because of human intelligence but can be attributed to numerous factors such as social immobility, globalization, more advanced technology, and taxation.
Current economic policy is dominated by short-term thinking so there is a serious lack of savings for the rainy day.
The COVID-19 pandemic will and is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, especially in the emerging online markets and developing economies.
Next.
Nuclear Armageddon.
The threat of nuclear Armageddon has receded these days replaced by Climate Change.
Still, it’s a worrying thought alongside artificial intelligence, biotechnology warfare it is and remains inconceivable to our comprehension other than an instant self ext to our existence.
Next
Enslavement by self-replicate robotic robots created by nano-sized technology.
It may well be a piece of code – not a nuclear weapon or infectious disease or indeed climate change – that brings about humanity’s downfall.
Next
The needs of 7 billion people.
Precious resources:
As our culture advanced and our species invented many things that will make our lives easier, our demand for raw materials increased by leaps and bounds. We get these resources from the other. The problem is, we’re using too much and without care. Our planet just can’t keep up with our ever-increasing demands.
Finally: With quality education becoming more and more expensive only an investment in people and not profit has any hope.
Our demand for knowledge shows no sign of abating.
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