The end is near!

Day 3,790, 12:57 • Published in Romania Georgia • by dan quijote

English article after Romanian intro.

Intro:
Am scris articolul acesta acum vreo saptamana, dar nu am avut chef sa il public. Cred ca in seara asta, in care crestinii au retrait rastignirea, moartea si punerea in mormant a Mantuitorului, e un moment potrivit. Ideea articolului e ca nu putem avea o perspectiva pozitiva asupra lumii fara credinta. Cu o gandire pur rationala, stiintifica, avem foarte putine motive de optimism si enorm de multe surse de anxietate. Riscam sa fim la fel de deznadajduiti si pierduti ca apostolii in seara pe care o sarbatorim.

Article:
Apparently the world started out 13.5 billion years ago. Energy, time and space came into being. It was the beginning of physics. 300.000 years later matter and energy started to form complex structures, called atoms, which combined in molecules. It was the beginning of chemistry. About 3.8 billion years ago some molecules on our planet formed complex structures called organisms. It was the beginning of biology. About 70.000 years ago some particular organisms, called humans began forming even more complex structures called cultures. It was the beginning of history. Some 10.000 years ago some humans began to settle to a fix place and to tame the plants and animals around them. It was the beginning of agriculture. About 500 years ago humans became interested in creating new knowledge. It was the beginning of modern science. About 200 years ago humans began switching from mainly cultivating land to mainly mass producing all sorts of goods. It was the beginning of modern industry and of even more accelerated and profound change.

I repeat, we live in a world that changes extremely fast and profound. We do not even realize the unprecedented pace of change. If you took a Roman living in year 100 and teleport him to year 200 he would find a very familiar world. If you took an Italian from 1918 and teleport him to 2018 he would be astonished (and probably run by a car because he does not know how to cross the street). We can expect to see the world changing even more in the following years. If you take a Italian from 2018 and teleport him in 2068 he should be just as surprised as his fellow citizen that was teleported from 1918 to 2018.

When something changes, it means that the old ways die. It is impossible to tell the future (and be correct) but we can see that there are many threats that lay in front of us:

1. Nuclear extinction. We have the capacity to destroy humankind. And most of the nuclear arsenal is in the hands of Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump. Plus Mr. Kim, very active newcomer to the club.

2. Environmental disaster: we are clearly affecting the planet in ways which we do not understand nor control. The planet will be fine for sure, it outlived far greater disasters (see the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs), but we may not be.

3. Economic disaster. The world economy is based on growth. This system has done wonders in the past, we produce and use far more products than people in any other historical period. But the system is also prone to crisis. The last big one that hit us generated WWII. The future one could be far more devastating according to some economists. Also, a non-economical disaster scenario could also be a nightmare: it seems that periods of prolonged peace and stability generated very nonegalitarian societies which in turn generated revolutions or wars.

But the end can come also in more surprising ways:

4. We are creating artificial intelligence. We have no idea what it will be capable of. Maybe the darkest predictions, that AI will exterminate us, are wrong. Still, the softer ones are also pretty dangerous. How will the world be when AI can do the job of doctors, lawyers, drivers, .... basically all the jobs out there, including developing AI? That world will be extremely different from ours.

5.1. We seem to be mechanical creatures (science did not discover our soul yet). Happiness, for example, seems to be the release of some chemicals in the brain. We have the capacity to engineer our DNA now so that we create healthier, smarter, better humans. But those humans will be a new species, no longer like us.
5.2. We are downloading our brains in computers (the work is in progress, it may not work, especially if there is a soul). And we are connecting them in a network. Human brains that can directly access the memory of other human brains. That is no longer human.
5.3. Scientist have already created robotic arms that are controlled directly by thought. And now they are making the communication bidirectional: the bionic arms will sense touch. One thought control experiment managed to control a pair or bionic legs in Japan from a home in USA.

6. Combine 5.1-5.3 to gen DNA enhanced "humans" with a brain that can communicate directly with the brains of other "humans" and with body parts all over the world.

Of course, most of these scenarios have a small likelihood of happening. But still, if we stay on a purely rational and scientific mindset we have a lot to worry about. If we don't have faith in a Higher Power, there are too many things that can go wrong and no reason to believe they will not.