Ramez Naam makes the point that futurists need to follow what real human nature is and the economics of technology.
Ramez provides useful perspective in the video below.
* prosaic current actions for improvement are ignored and underestimated (exercise, learning a new skill are choices that can be made that improve more than any drug or enhancement now.). Also, improving money earning and money management or being able to start a successful company. Going from poor to wealthy is big change in capability and increases the equipment and resources that can be applied or influenced.
For people in poor countries, a big shift in what is possible is to move to a better company/job, better city or country where there are more opportunities. People who left India or Africa for America and Europe generally have become for more successful. They may not have changed much in the physical or intellectual sense but there were in a situation and supporting system for success. This goes to overestimating the individual and underestimating the group, the city, the country and society. I will revisit this later in the article.
* Greater than human intelligence exists. It is from companies like Intel, Google and the semiconductor and computer industries. The collective efforts of thousands to millions of coordinated people using a lot of computers, equipment and resources to improve technology. Later steps in improvement have been more difficult and required more resources. So we have tested the proposition that a certain level of greater than human intelligence and capability can accelerate development.
Look at the video and then I will make more of my points.
Read more »![]()
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Ramez provides useful perspective in the video below.
* prosaic current actions for improvement are ignored and underestimated (exercise, learning a new skill are choices that can be made that improve more than any drug or enhancement now.). Also, improving money earning and money management or being able to start a successful company. Going from poor to wealthy is big change in capability and increases the equipment and resources that can be applied or influenced.
For people in poor countries, a big shift in what is possible is to move to a better company/job, better city or country where there are more opportunities. People who left India or Africa for America and Europe generally have become for more successful. They may not have changed much in the physical or intellectual sense but there were in a situation and supporting system for success. This goes to overestimating the individual and underestimating the group, the city, the country and society. I will revisit this later in the article.
* Greater than human intelligence exists. It is from companies like Intel, Google and the semiconductor and computer industries. The collective efforts of thousands to millions of coordinated people using a lot of computers, equipment and resources to improve technology. Later steps in improvement have been more difficult and required more resources. So we have tested the proposition that a certain level of greater than human intelligence and capability can accelerate development.
Look at the video and then I will make more of my points.
Read more »
