“What’s our problem? Why, in a time so prosperous, with the stakes so high, would we be going backward in wisdom?”
Exponential technology means higher stakes:
- It’s natural to assume that the world we grew up in is normal. But nothing about our current world is normal. Because technology is exponential. More advanced societies make progress at a faster rate than less advanced societies—because they’re more advanced.
- Technology is a multiplier of both good and bad. More technology means better good times, but it also means badder bad times.
- As the times get better, they also get more dangerous. More technology makes our species more powerful, which increases risk. And the scary thing is, if the good and bad keep exponentially growing, it doesn’t matter how great the good times become. If the bad gets to a certain level of bad, it’s all over for us.