We have this one life on this one Earth
Why I start this now.
We can look at it from many standpoints and come to a similar conclusion: We’re living through a moment in history, where things can take a turn for humans that is fundamentally different to anything that has happened in the past.
The most obvious standpoint is to look at climate change. For the first time in history, we have produced and keep producing so much human made climate gas that it’s messing up the environmental conditions we live in at a planetary level.
Another standpoint that is coming into broader attention is to look at the rise of artificial intelligence. For the first time in history, we’re at the brink of developing a technology that might wipe us out. Not because we misuse it, or because we make a mistake, but because it can.
And then there’s the standpoint that I’ve been exploring specifically over the past ten years: We have created organizational actors that already have taken control over many aspects of our lives. Corporations. This has led to levels of inequality that are both disgraceful and unhealthy for everyone. But it’s pretty difficult to untangle the dynamics behind this, because they’re affecting our societies, our cultures, and our brains.
Now whatever standpoint we take, all of these global trends look very big and complex. They’re also highly interrelated. They do shape our realities nonetheless.
For myself, I decided to dedicate my life to facing them and to building structures that support us to live happy lives on this one beautiful Earth we have.
I don’t care how naive or pathetic this sounds. Already, the combined effects of these processes are killing and devastating the lives of thousands of children every year.
In the case of AI, there’s a real potential of killing all children, all babies, all grandmas, all grandpas, all animals, all of us. Even if this existential risk still seems far away, there are many ways in which this technology can accelerate other harmful social trends that are already happening.
This is not OK, no matter how we put it. And it’s not OK to stand by watching.
So here’s what I’ll do:
1. I’ll write about the mechanisms behind this, from an optimistic, but as sincere as possible perspective.
2. I’ll do my best to contribute to movements for building alternative ways into the future.
3. I’ll do my best to continue working on myself.
I believe that in order to really make a positive difference, we need to heal. We have to face our inner challenges, and stop hiding behind all kind of excuses and stories that we tell ourselves. I believe this is the case for most of us and certainly for me.
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