Publisher’s Note from Dreams People Issue 2019
As part of our annual “People Issue” that features innovative people from all walks of life, I wanted to step out of the box and talk about the impact of technology on humankind. One of the most fundamental questions of humankind has always been “why do we exist?”
With new technology exploring into two new unlimited universes—the brain and space—that philosophical question alone, along with so many other ethical issues of human existence, interaction and purpose, are rapidly creating new dialogues and challenges.
Think about it. We are now entering a new phase of civilization unlike any other period of evolution.
- We now process information faster than humanly possible with computers.
- We now explore the universe and know we are merely a speck of physical existence.
- We speak and see one another instantly anywhere in the world and in outer space.
- We examine the inner human body without touch and can view anything we want anytime/anywhere.
- And the list goes on…
The new technologies being explored and applied in artificial human intelligence, plus the storage of our intellectual and emotional being on computers far beyond our mortal death, is truly mind-boggling.
The history we studied in school marveled at the great explorers and achievers who brought humankind simple tools to make daily life better or gave us a simple glimpse of the close stars and planets.
But when electricity, aviation, photographic imaging, telecommunications, and computer processing were invented and came together within a very short period of modern time, something fundamental changed humankind.
This new evolution has put our trajectory far beyond what occurred during other major periods of civilization including the Renaissance Age, European global exploration and the Industrial Revolution.
What does it all mean? The truth is, I don’t know. I have my theories as do many scholars who study this phenomenon.
But the one thing I do know that is certain, is that our brains, and how we process intelligence, choice and emotions are being constantly studied and new technologies developed so we can tap these resources.
How technology will connect us to an even greater degree than what we have allowed today remains the mystery. Will it eradicate poverty and disease? Will wars and conflict be a human condition of the past? How do our religious beliefs and doctrines evolve or respond? Is existence a physical state or a mental state? And of course, the ultimate question, “why do we exist” may be answered… or maybe not.
Steve Tobia, Publisher Dreams Magazine
