 (exceprts) -
The world is witnessing a new revolution, fuelled by Artificial Intelligence, internet of things, block chains, 3D printers, crypto currencies, 5G, microchip implant, to name but a few of the new types of smart technology that are expected to change the face of life. Besides the acceleration of technological empowerment for human societies to adapt with Covid-19 neonormal life, that affected work, learning, and shop mechanisms to function normally, through the internet, would make the 'information society' a thing of the past. In such societies, the fine line between what is human and what is nonhuman would be eliminated; machines would have increasing roles over humans, artificial intelligence would be a main component in every job and task, and finally; give the chance to the 'post-information society' (PIS) to form.
This type of new society represents the fifth generation of the societies that humanity has known so far, that come after the previous four generations which are: the hunter-gatherer society, the agricultural society, the industrial society and the information society.
By Dr Ehab Khalifa for Gulf Economics World - continues here:
(note: Transhumanism alert!)
|
Characteristics of Post information society
Technological development in post-information society will reshape human society on various levels and the features of this new society, different as they are from those of the information society, as they will impact the nature of the country and government jobs. They will also create new types of security threats and will also lead to new forms of human-machine relationships including robots that help humans in their affairs, at work and home, autonomous cars, drones that determine threats and deal with it and other types of new relations that will shape the post-information society. Here are some key characteristics:
1. Greater chances for rapidly developing countries, no matter how small or poor these countries are:
A country's ability to influence international relations and to achieve its strategic goals has always been associated with the resources available which were related to the size of the country and its population. This traditional concept of power may be revolutionised because of current technological developments. If small countries are able to take part in the technological race, they will be more powerful than larger ones that fail to keep up with technological development. Therefore, we can say that the future is shaped through technological innovation. Investment in technology can enhance small countries' capabilities to levels not seen in traditional balance of power models.
2. Individuals will have more influence:
Technological development has given individuals the chance to enhance their influence for better and worse. In security affairs, individuals can now purchase relatively cheap explosives online, they can ‘print' weapons on 3D printers, deploy them on drones and direct them via smart phone applications.
3. New types of competition to control individuals' personal information:
With the growing popularity of the internet, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, certain laws were passed with the aim of protecting people's data on the internet. At that time, data was relatively limited and users needed no more than their names, personal photos and phone numbers to use the internet. However, with technological development, the nature of personal data on the internet was complicated. Currently, such data can include biometrics (e.g. of the eye, hand, face, etc.), as well as data that have to do with users' health, location, schedule, friends, family, and personal preferences (in food, drinks, music, movies, books, etc.), This makes data and information among the main causes of conflict in the post-information society, being the driving force of all kinds of smart technology.
4. Better understanding of societal trends and individual priorities and preferences:
It will be possible to identify people's interests, priorities and preferences with great precision through analysing huge data from digital platforms (e.g. internet websites, virtual markets, social networking websites, etc.) and from sensors and CCTV cameras that will be everywhere in the post-information society. This will help improve understanding of societies through gaining a better understanding of individuals which, in turn, can prove very useful in improving the quality of services and catering to people's preferences. Though this can mean a lot to people's wellbeing, it can also mean that information will be under the control of political authorities that can easily misuse it by influencing attitudes. Governments may also use the information against representatives of political opposition. This constitutes an important threat to democracy and the Cambridge Analytica scandal is a good example of that.
5. Difficulty controlling the smart machine environment that will result from technological development:
New technology depends on developments in AI in a way that can result in the creation of machines that can make decisions more autonomously than they currently do. These independent machines will be everywhere. For instance, self-driving cars will be on the road heading to their destinations via routes they choose for themselves without human guidance. They will also decide speed for themselves and where to stop. Drones will become all the more popular and will be used for military, civil and commercial purposes. Smart applications that can protect themselves against viruses and cyber-attacks will gain more popularity and wider circulation. Phones will charge themselves. Such developments would create a new kind of environment, based on AI, which will be difficult for humans to control.
6. Cyborgs: half-human, half-machine creatures:
Robots can now only think but in the near future they will be able to feel too. They will, in other words, turn from machines into cyborgs, or half-human, half-machine creatures. Some people may even find in robots, rather than humans, companions and spouses capable of satisfying emotional and sexual needs and worthy of their love and even sacrifice.
This would be an abandonment of the human for the sake of the cyborg. On the other side Elon Musk's Neuralink company advocates the implanting of electronic chips in people's brain so that they can accomplish 'super-human' tasks and in the near future could also be used in workplaces so that managers can watch the employees doing their job from afar. Similarly, parents could implant such chips in their children for safety purposes, too.
In addition, these chips can replace traditional IDs and be used for keeping track of patients' health conditions and monitoring their vitals. This change of robots into half-humans and the change of the humans into half-robots, will pave the way for a new species'the cyborg.
|
|
