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Exponential Tech Progress Will Accelerate

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gadrian
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Species evolve very slowly, by nature. They usually differentiate over long periods of time, it takes another chunk of history for the one that is the most resilient to become the dominant species, and then, unless they are unlucky like the dinosaurs, it may take another important time for it to fade away and be replaced by something else as the dominant species (either an improved version of itself or a new species which takes its place at the top of the food chain).

All these periods are extremely long relative to the lifespan of a human, but relatively insignificant for the lifetime of Earth.

For example, our version of Homo sapiens came into being around 160,000 to 90,000 years ago, and took many dozens of thousands of years to remain the only species of Homo sapiens on Earth.

By comparison, our civilization started about 5,000 years ago, when early systems of writing (Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs) were invented, so only a fraction of our history on Earth.

The last few hundred years though, if we carve out the periods of intense conflict, turbulence, internal and global wars, brought exponential progress.

And since the exponential curve rises much steeper as time goes by, it's natural that progress is much quicker these days than a hundred or even a few dozen years ago, to the point it is difficult to remain up to date with novelties as a human.

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The technological sector is absolutely booming at this point, being at the brink of a series of major breakthroughs in different domains, that separated but mostly together will change life as we know it (they already started it).

We are witnessing history in the making. Normally, very few people are so lucky to experience such shifts as they happen, and not learn about them from the history books.

The interesting part is the exponential curve of technological progress will only accelerate as the discoveries in the domains like AI, robotics, energy, quantum, crypto, biotech, etc. roll out and converge. Are we ready for that? My guess is we are far from ready, even if we think we are!

Looks like people are too slow... at communicating. They may become too slow at thinking too, but they are definitely slow at communicating, whether in writing or in speaking. Especially compared to machines.

The question is, would you upgrade the speed of your "communication device" by implanting some electrodes in your brain, like you would change the CPU of your computer? Maybe not you, if you are not in your 20s... How about the next generation? Would they? They would if it becomes a trend...

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