Now, Where will Man Take us? is a book that not only seems interesting by the cover but is a super-duper treat. It is not only for someone interested in technology but also for anyone with a curious mind.
Maybe the first person who will live to be 150 years old has already been born. Poor guy, at present hardly anyone wants to live long. The screen that we peer into will soon be within us. Possible and then what do we look into. We could soon be taking happiness pills before breakfast. Fake news and now phoney happiness. The perfect partner might need to be charged before bed. Now, this is getting interesting. And many such things that are already in place or will be there in the future. When all this and more happens, it challenges the societal fabric to readjust. Then the natural ingrained response algorithms need to be re-written.
Where Will Man Take Us?
The book by Atul Jalan explores the technology changes that will creep in society and species. It asks more questions then speculates or provides an answer. What will the next generation turn into, what will it be like, how will the new Adam and Eve live and love?
The book discusses nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and genetics, seamlessly weaving the future of technology with the changing dynamics of human love, morality and ethics.
Will someday technology finally dictate what humans should do? Will it eventually turn the table and command the humans? Will man finally know what it is like to be God? There is more than enough historical sequencing of technology development push. It is interesting to note how few of the developments and technological advancement are sheer luck in the chaos of experimentation. And at least I don’t know will we ever be able to insert promotional messages in someone’s dream.
THE FUTURE.
The technology, which was being developed independently, is now ready to fuse together. It is undoubtedly going to hasten and drastically impact/define life and society norms. We are not building the control mechanism simultaneously, and that is undoubtedly a subject of worry. Maybe what is being unleashed shortly is not something the society really needs, desires or demands. Perhaps we are unknowingly writing the future.
In the book, Atul Jalan places the whole thing into the right perspective “Man’s relationship with technology is complex. We always invent technology, but then technology comes back and reinvents us.”
Atul captures social media in a simple phrase. And one can not deny how true it is. “We are unwittingly cutting out every view that does not agree with our own, making our wells and pitchers smaller… and smaller. Each one of us is creating an echo chamber for ourselves – in which we only see and hear like-minded thoughts and voices”.
You do need to have a taste for such technology things to enjoy the book. It is not a book that you can skim. It takes time to read and assimilate all that Atul is trying to share and focus on.
The book is for everyone.
No issue, if you do not have a high degree of technology awareness. If nothing else, the sections on the psychological and social impact of the technology will interest you.
You would agree with Atul that “we are living in a very unhealthy paradoxical ad knowledge-driven ignorance. …. The Internet has become personal. The algorithm has become so good that they have begun to reinforce our personal, preconceived biases when the Internet shares information with us.”
Unfortunately, in trying to address everyone and the history of technological development, Atul builds quite a lot of information that is interesting but at times interferes with the reading.
Pick up- Where will Man Take us?.
Read it section by section. Which anyway are not related to each other. Pause between chapters, reflect and absorb the meaning. Then move on. THIS IS NOT A ONE SITTING READ.
FREE ADVICE.
Here is advice tucked in the pages of the book. Something I fully acknowledge and endorse. Not that Atul needs any of it.
“Social media believed that Twitter could foment revolution in Iraq in 2009, when all Twitter had in Iran, on the eve f the election, was 20,000 users. In democracies across the world, we do tend to overestimate social media capabilities. If twitter is to be believed, India is a state in eternal strife-torn between conservatives and liberals. But we often forget that this is the opinion of about 26 million people in a population of 1.2 billion… which is why stepping out into the street once in a while helps. It gives us a good dose of Vitamin D and reality.”
Will Man Take Us? By Atul Jalan, founder–CEO of the AI venture, Manthan. Publisher: Penguin Random House India,
BLOG/25/2020
