History of future -2 : Ramesh Shrestha

Then and Now

In the past our history books have recorded our antiquities based on local culture, religion, art, race, social issues, economy, wars & conflicts, peace & reconciliation, wealth & poverty, etc. In our lifetime we all have experienced changing lifestyles of people over the decades in keeping with changing personal, family & kinship relations and exogenous factors such as income, mobility, individual freedom, family bonds and local and international political events including wars and conflicts.

The extent of change varies in different cultures and countries, but changes are all there for us to see without a shred of doubt. It will be the written history of our generation. As a matter of curiosity one might ask is, how will the history books record the experiences and lifestyle of future generations?   

A possible glimpse of the next generation

The interplay between the ever-changing geopolitical landscape, globalised economy and evolving physical environmental conditions will continue to dominate the lifestyle of people. The daily life of future generations will most likely be shaped by advances in technology, which in turn will impact their behaviour, reshape society, culture, and the environment - physical, social and cultural. Evolving science and technology will provide the best health and education services and living standards for all to enjoy. But this will depend on how well such systems will be dictated by capitalism, such as cost control. The biggest impact of technology on the future generations will be on their cognitive function as everything will be automated requiring limited thinking by the end users, the people. All functions will be based on voice command, hand gestures, retinal scan and people's facial recognition technology.

Technology will continue to evolve with regular updates to prevent frauds. People with limited knowledge of operating software will suffer immensely while people who are versatile in technology will rule the world. With continuous changes in technology people will be forced to become lifelong students. There will be no more books as everything will be published online with periodic updates. Books, pens and paper will be consigned to museums of archaeology. Access to online sites will be subscription based. No one will own anything. 

Under the shadow of individualism, the family, community bonds, traditional social values and human relations will continue to be weakened. People to people meetings will be rare as all social and commercial transactions will be dealt on cyberspace. Prevalence of nuclear families is already shrinking. Many couples are having fewer children or no children, and many adults are living alone or are living as single-parent households. In 'western countries' there are already between 30-45% of individuals living alone in 2024 in different countries. This trend is catching up in Asian countries too. The declining family size and the practice of living alone is reshaping family as an institution. With economic independence and lifestyle there is less social pressure for people to stick together as a family. As people will disperse based on job opportunities, siblings, if there are any, and family links will be anaemic. People connect each other virtually when needed but it is not the same as visiting each other to share good and bad times. The concept of family may require a new definition.

Economic necessity with shrinking job opportunities caused by technology, cost of living, modern education system and cultural shifts that prioritises personal freedom over other commitments, including family commitments will be the biggest driver of social changes in the next generation. Other financial pressures include high cost of housing & services and increasing child care cost. There are other social reasons for the increase in single person households such as generational gaps, interpersonal conflicts and financial issues, etc. Civic engagement by people on public platforms will dramatically decrease as people will be less interested in issues which do not affect them personally. There will be no more social movements on any issues such as climate crisis, wars, poverty, inequality, racism, etc.

The world population is growing at a rate of 0.85% annually, meaning there by adding 68 million people every year; it is like adding the population of the United Kingdom every year. With an expanding population, the services needed will also expand, putting strain on energy supply. Non-renewable sources of energy will meet a good share of total energy expenditure but fossil fuel energy will still remain as the Emperor of energy market continuing to heat the atmosphere.

The national policies will be based on technology and economic responsiveness with the major role played by the private sector rather than political ideology. Size of the government will be very small as most of the services would have been contracted out to the private sector. With the economy dominated by the private sector, the majority of the people will be self-employed. Social injustice and income inequality will remain a permanent issue. Universal basic income would have been put in place in several countries but it would be sufficient just for survival with no spare changes for other activities such as sports. There will be social security for select groups of citizens such as disabled, senior citizens and unemployed.

Humanity at the altar of AI.

AI has incinerated the spirituality of people by invading our nervous system itself. The life of future generations will be shaped by their experience of personalised technology not by the societal values, culture or political experiences. With highly intrusive AI and individualism occupying the center stage of future generations, their awareness and engagement on major issues such as international relations and global governance will be absolute minimum or may even completely be absent in their mind. Issues of war and peace will be decided by the whims of a handful of people with no public debate or opinion.  

Countries are waking up to the destructive nature of social media and began restricting its access to underage children in few countries but it may not do much as there are many other avenues where AI will continue to invade human minds. Technology has become a weapon in the hands of anyone who can use it to take advantage in any field from war to economy to personal security. The current education system and textbooks are far removed from what is required for children to understand the future that will be dictated by AI. Misinformation and disinformation have become permanent residents in cyberspace. With the current system of education children will find it difficult to navigate their future. It is good that primary school children have lessons on coding but lessons on basics of civic issues, human relations, etc. are grossly missing. Ideas of empathy, compassion and coexistence will be forgotten as people will be in their own cocoon and miss out on social issues, their own culture and humanism. There is an urgent need for the children, teenagers and youth of today to be made aware of civic responsibilities, inequality issues, etc. The only social moment occupying the minds of people at the moment is LGBTQi. School curriculum needs to be seriously reformed to create true future leaders.

In the past there were movements against the Vietnam War and Iraq War. Among the current generations there are yearly demonstrations with messages on income inequality and climate crisis during the annual gathering of billionaires in the World Economic Forum in Davos, annual COP gatherings and gatherings of G7 leaders. But these movements die down once the event ends. In reality these movements have become street parties. Where are the social movements against the assault on the United Nations? On Gaza? On Sudan, on Yemen? On Cuba? In the case of Gaza, dozens of countries even shamefully endorsed what is going on. Do the public in those countries have no media to see the reality? In future it is highly likely that such street movements will be replaced by digital movements with no meaning.

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