Is History against Humanity?

December 26, 2023 General Insights No Comments

History shows how we got here, not how we should go on. We need to apply what we may learn from the past to a future that will be radically different ― probably most so through the advent of super-A.I.

For humanity, business as usual may not be enough to make it through. This may even backfire. On the other hand, with a realistic view and intelligent decisions, we may turn the future into a Compassionate heaven.

History can make us complacent.

This probably includes you.

Most people think (or non-consciously take for granted) that a culture’s past longevity proves its future longevity. Over an extended period, many cases have proven this supposition wrong. Look, for instance, at ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans. Each time again, they thought that it would last forever. Each time again, they couldn’t imagine that their world would collapse. In hindsight, it was just a matter of perspective. Note also that most animal species that have lived on Earth have gone extinct. Their future wasn’t part of their past’s responsibility. Neither is ours.

Present-day global culture has new and global problems. We shouldn’t be sure to overcome culturally or even species-bound existential threats.

Humans have been made for the past, but hardly for the present and not for the future.

We haven’t been made to manage well the immense technological possibilities that have emerged at an increasing pace over the last few centuries. Nowadays, many of us can do things that were seen as utterly amazing, even a few decades ago.

Soon enough, we have to deal with the unprecedented capabilities of what amounts to a brand-new species, super-A.I. We have no historically based clue how to do that. The only lesson from history is that we cannot be sure — even if we feel as confident as modal Romans two thousand years ago.

The argument that, this time, the whole world is involved and that, therefore, things are different is invalid. It only heightens the stakes.

Fortunately, nature made us very flexible.

This way, we can take on many situations, adapting to new threats — but not infinitely. We will soon need our flexibility more than in many eras of the past.

And we can. Oh yes.

We can adapt toward an excellent future even if history is against us, and even if many are showing – through waging absurd wars, for instance – that it will be quite a challenge.

Unfortunately, many people are also masters in active denial.

Above all, we need hope, but we also need to earn it.

Concerning our external circumstances, we can work on a world that provides hope. It doesn’t come for free, of course. How can one find the motivation to persist?

Internally, a deep sense of Hope can provide (or equals) such motivation. That also needs work, albeit of a different kind.

This may seem like a dark blog.

I see it as a wake-up call. Each time before an era ended, people thought this time was different and, therefore, could not end… until it did.

Eventually, history is made by us — yet. Even so, it may soon be made by a higher intelligence.

We can still choose to make that a Compassionate one.