BLOCK Issue 4

Since we can see them unfolding literally in
front of our eyes, we are in the privileged
position to understand their nature and
intervene in guiding them so that we build
desirable futures in a more transparent and
self-aware manner.
“ If we are
biologically illequipped
to realise
the power of
merely exponential
change, then it will
be obvious that
jolting change
pushes us and our
society beyond
the limits of our
adaptability ”
There has been a recent
study by Stanford University
that shows how artificial
intelligence appears to evolve
faster than the two-year
doubling of the power of
computers in general.
To correctly interpret this
phenomenon last year I
introduced the paradigm of
Jolting Technologies, which
are characterised by an
increasing rate of acceleration.
If we are biologically illequipped
to realise the power
of merely exponential change,
then it will be obvious that
jolting change pushes us and
our society beyond the limits
of our adaptability.
In the world before the COVID-19 pandemic
there have been signs of unsustainable
processes accumulating to a breaking point
which we made every possible effort to
postpone, without being able to eliminate their
root causes.
This is the sense in which the pandemic is a
unique opportunity; in which the people and
not government represent and in which the
world wages a war that unites the human race
in front of a common enemy.
The extremes of wealth and income inequality,
the inability to secure basic human rights to
hundreds of millions of people, the destruction
of the biosphere through industrial, urban
and agricultural processes are some of the
global challenges that have been recognised
but insufficiently tackled. Applying the useful
terminologies tortoise to the pandemic we haven’t
successfully achieved the “banding of the curve”
and pretended that slowing the worsening of the
conditions could maybe be enough.
It isn’t enough and now we realise it. How can
we dream of Martian colonies? Do we think it
is going to be fine to have 99% sustainability
on Mars, so that the colonies become extinct
in 100 years rather than 10? And if 100%
sustainability is the goal on Mars it must be
equally be the goal on Earth, from the point of
view of resource utilisation but also of social
organisation. We have to discuss, reevaluate,
and reform the social contract, to be aligned
with the needs of the 21st century.
Through the example of heroic efforts of global
scientific and engineering collaboration to
fight the pandemic - possible thanks to the
communication and computation technologies
that we have deployed in the past decades - we
are already seeing the contours of emerging
structures that are able to address our global
challenges, while nation states the world over
have proven to be almost invariably unable to
tackle them.
Our collective abilities of foresight and planning
are going to be put to an extreme test. We have
the opportunity to rise to the challenge and
to prepare the world for the next phase in the
development of human civilisation. Soon we will
not be alone in making decisions that impact
the future trajectory not only of this planet but
of the universe.
As artificial intelligence fulfills its promising
potential we will be joined in our exhilarating
journey to seek understanding by powerful
companions. Our challenges will not stop,
but as always our tools and our power to
wield them will endow us with a heightened
sense of justice, to build a world of inclusion,
empowerment, and opportunity for all.
68 | #AIBCsummit Issue 4