Imagine a Future

The past predicts the future.

I think most of us could agree on that at some level.

And when I imagine what the future holds, I don’t like to imagine us repeating mistakes we’ve made in the past.

I like to imagine progress, breakthroughs, and innovation.

It’s not that the past isn’t filled with human progress, it obviously is.

But it’s also filled with examples of technological breakthroughs being exploited for capitalistic gains.

Social media is one of the most prominent examples of this in recent times.

Imagine developing a technology that allows humans to build deeper connections with one another through the internet, grow communities, and share aspects of their lives.

Imagine what Facebook and Instagram were in their infancy (if you can remember), and imagine them now.

What’s the difference?

Apart from the fact that mobile phones and the apps that utilise them are more advanced, social media companies like Meta and TikTok (ByteDance) deliberately exploit psychological reward systems and negative reinforcement to keep users engaged for longer.

Doing this allows them to serve more ads and ultimately generate more revenue (at the expense of their users’ wellbeing).

Low attention spans, depression, anxiety, social issues, poor sleep, and isolation are common effects experienced by those negatively impacted by social media use.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that social media companies are remarkably anti-social.

The creators of these platforms are intelligent people, and whether they openly admit it or not, I refuse to believe they don’t understand the impact these platforms have on a significant portion of the population.

And now, without some serious intervention, it’s too late.

The counterargument to what I’m saying here is that I’m being ignorant to all the upsides of social media—and I am.

The truth is, all new technology opens up new possibilities, both good and bad.

You could say it’s a shade of grey.

To fully embrace the good without the bad is a mistake.

And to engage in complete pessimism without looking at the bright side is equally ignorant.

So how does this apply to current up-and-coming technologies whose future is still to be decided?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to cause one of the greatest economic shifts we’ve ever seen.

Combine this with the rise of consumer-friendly humanoid robots from Tesla and Figure, and you have two major problems that we need to prepare for.

The first is that AI is already smarter and more capable than many humans.

Right now, it isn’t autonomous (you can only really interact with AI via a Chatbot interface), but when AI Agents come into play, and they have access to the internet, it’s likely many administrative jobs like customer support, data entry, basic analysis, scheduling, and certain operational roles will disappear.

Sure, the upside to this is that it will free up more time and resources for people to focus on trickier, more complex problems (if they have the skills and capabilities to do so).

But that doesn’t detract from the fact that this will initially cause significant upset across the board if AI Agents become as sophisticated as is expected.

The second problem is humanoid robots competing with humans for jobs that are labour-intensive.

If these robots (combined with other technology) become efficient enough, they could cause serious disruption in industries like construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics.

These industries account for 30%–40% of global GDP, so it wouldn’t happen overnight.

But over time, it wouldn’t be unrealistic to see fully autonomous manufacturing plants running completely on AI with minimal oversight.

If the two problems mentioned are handled with care, and these technologies positively contribute to human progress and aren’t used against us, the possibilities are endless.

However, if exploited for capitalistic gains, for profit over people, then we can expect to see similar problems to what we’ve already seen with the likes of social media.

Fundamentally, the problem will be the same—a lack of care and understanding for what we’re truly building—it will just manifest differently.

Historically, humanity has shown remarkable adaptability to technological disruptions.

The Industrial Revolution displaced millions of workers, yet it also spurred new industries and opportunities.

With the right leadership and collective action, there’s no reason we can’t navigate AI and robotics responsibly.

So imagine a future—what do you see?

One of prosperity and technological advancement?

Or one of ignorance, delusion, and self-destruction?

Maybe the past will predict the future.

Or maybe we’ll learn from our mistakes.