Expect 2018 to Be More Sane? Sorry, It’s Not Going to Happen
- 6 years ago
Expect 2018 to Be More Sane? Sorry, It’s Not Going to Happen
To continue the butterfly-effect analogy: “It used to be
that there were a trillion butterflies each in their own weather system, but we have now connected all those butterflies into one planetary weather system — and you never know which one is going to have some kind of autocatalytic effect, and which one isn’t,” said Alexander Rose, executive director of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that aims to promote a long-term outlook on the world.
The pace of technological change is in many cases too fast for anyone of us to comprehend or get used to; as a result, just as the world
seems to get its head around one new force unleashed by tech, another comes along to discombobulate our efforts to respond to it.
But it’s not just that one-off stories cause huge cascades; it’s
that in a connected world, there are now so many one-off stories capable of setting off cascades, and no one knows which ones will hit.
Happy new year to you and yours, of course, but I’m going to have to put a halt to the festivities
and play Frowning Farhad for a minute: You’re fooling yourself if you think 2018 is going to be any different, sanity- or anxiety-wise, from the roller coaster of the year just concluded.
Sure, as in any year, a lot of good things could happen in 2018, and perhaps lots of bad things will happen, too.
To continue the butterfly-effect analogy: “It used to be
that there were a trillion butterflies each in their own weather system, but we have now connected all those butterflies into one planetary weather system — and you never know which one is going to have some kind of autocatalytic effect, and which one isn’t,” said Alexander Rose, executive director of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that aims to promote a long-term outlook on the world.
The pace of technological change is in many cases too fast for anyone of us to comprehend or get used to; as a result, just as the world
seems to get its head around one new force unleashed by tech, another comes along to discombobulate our efforts to respond to it.
But it’s not just that one-off stories cause huge cascades; it’s
that in a connected world, there are now so many one-off stories capable of setting off cascades, and no one knows which ones will hit.
Happy new year to you and yours, of course, but I’m going to have to put a halt to the festivities
and play Frowning Farhad for a minute: You’re fooling yourself if you think 2018 is going to be any different, sanity- or anxiety-wise, from the roller coaster of the year just concluded.
Sure, as in any year, a lot of good things could happen in 2018, and perhaps lots of bad things will happen, too.