The Future of the Economy
Throughout history, our economies and societies have gone through "disruptions" that have thrown out old systems and replaced them with new ones. These disruptions often required decades or even centuries to play out, but the end result is always a transformation in how people live and thrive.
In the 20th century, disruptions began to accelerate, particularly in the areas of industry and technology. The rise of the automobile, electricity, long distance communications, air travel and medical advances, just to mention a few, began to transform society in ways that were previously unimaginable.
This required that humanity learn a new skill: how to collectively handle and adapt to these transformations, which were beginning to happen so quickly that they could be called "phase changes", sudden shifts from one paradigm to another in the space of just a few years.
Tony Seba, a world renowned thought leader, researcher, educator and author, is uniquely skilled at predicting these disruptions and their impacts on our world. According to Tony, we are currently going simultaneously through the most number of phase changes in human history, leading to a profound sense of unease and concern for the future. Fortunately, also according to Tony, these disruptions are leading us to the possibility of the most abundant, equal and empowered society in human history.
In the video linked below, Tony outlines these disruptions:
- Energy - The combination of wind, solar and batteries will provide virtually free energy for everyone. The use of fossil fuels will dwindle to a small fraction of today's levels.
- Transportation - The convergence of electric cars, ridesharing and autonomous driving will lower the cost of both personal and commercial transportation, moving towards free.
- Food - New advances in "precision fermentation" that allows the production of meat, dairy products, oils, proteins and more without the use of animals. These products are identical to those produced by animals, with the same nutritional values and flavor, but can be produced using only 1% of the land, energy and cost.
- Information - The internet already provides a vast amount of raw information. The addition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will generate additional value from that information: analysis, content, images and video, all at almost zero cost.
- Materials - Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being applied to every aspect of materials science, allowing the development of stronger, lighter, less expensive, less toxic and more efficient materials for almost every product that we use day to day.
- Labor - All the advances listed above will contribute to an exponential rise in productivity in the labor force, lowering costs and allowing workers to focus more on the higher level values they bring to the work process, rather than just working like cogs in a giant machine.
I encourage you to click the video below and watch all of the 32 minute presentation that Tony Seba made on his discoveries to a conference in October 2023. It will change, and hopefully improve, how you view the future of your own life and the world.
