Society

What do societies need to feel happy?

I think for most people it is good food, quality healthcare, entertainment, a little autonomy, and self-purpose.

This coming era of hyper abundance thanks to AI and robots will create a deflationary economy where almost all of our necessities will be nearly free.

We’ll have incredibly high quality food because of close-by vertical farms maintained by robots.

Our home robot won’t just do the dishes and fold the laundry, it’ll be our personal doctor, nurse, and therapist.

Generative AI and advancing tech will create entertaining experiences that our ancestors would have thought was magic.

Travel and adventure will become more accessible thanks to advanced vehicles to transport us anywhere in the world and someday, the solar system.

And most importantly, automation will free us from the hundred year death grip of cubicles and commutes. With the demise of the 9-5, the birth of a new era in humanity begins.

In the coming decades, humans will be able to pursue careers and vocations not because of a paycheck. But rather, we’ll be able to pursue what we want, with who we want, and how we want.

Just as hunter gathers could never have envisioned the need for accountants, we can’t possibly fathom what the coming century has in store for us.

It’s spectacular to be living through such a transformative era!

Here’s a fun visual. I would consider this the most important chart in the world right now.

Why? Because this will personally affect every person on the planet and for generations to come.

But first, in order to explain properly, let’s take a quick trip through human history…

Our family tree has had a few major milestones:

Harnessing fire allowed us to cook food, freeing up our digestive energy to grow a bigger brain.

Tossing seeds in the ground and putting fences around animals created free time beyond hunting and gathering. Which led to city-states and human specialization.

Steam, oil, and electricity allowed our ancestors’ workloads to become more productive as machines started doing the heavy lifting.

These innovations all led humans to turn the silica from sand into transistors. Quickly thereafter we got supercomputers and the internet.

Each one of these milestones happened in a quicker timespan. And from an ecological scale, it took only a blink of an eye to go from using fire to solely cook our food to using fire to send rockets into orbit.

Alright, so back to this chart. Why is it so significant?

Ominously named, Humanity’s Last Exam, it’s a 3,000 question test covering nearly every aspect of the world. Its creation was required because AI is already smarter than PhD’s in every human-level benchmark test.

This chart shows how, in just a few months, AI has rapidly improved on a test once deemed nearly impossible, surprising everyone with its speed of progress.

And here we are, standing on the threshold of another massive inflection point. Perhaps bigger and faster than any of its predecessors.

Each time humanity has leveled up… fire, agriculture, industry, transistors… we’ve altered our destiny in ways our ancestors could never have imagined.

This chart may look like a modest curve on a page, but the line represents an accelerating intelligence that’s already outpacing our ability to create new tests fast enough.

What does that mean for us?

It means that the sorts of problems we once considered impossibly complex: genetic research, climate modeling, advanced mathematics, etc. might soon be tackled in hours or minutes rather than years.

It means rethinking jobs, ethics, education, governance, and even what we consider “uniquely human.” Because if a machine can outscore PhDs on the hardest exam we can dream up, then knowledge work is on the cusp of being redefined.

More importantly, these models don’t stop. Each data point on the chart is not just a single milestone; it’s a harbinger that the next breakthrough could happen even faster.

The pace of progress is compounding, and no sector of society will remain untouched. If history has taught us anything, it’s that exponential leaps in capability come with equally exponential consequences.

Are we prepared for the kind of shift that might happen in just a few short years?

Think about the next generation, the one after that, and the world they’ll inherit.

Will they look back on this chart as the moment we embraced an incredible ally, or unleashed something most people never attempted to understand?

One thing is certain: we’ve never been here before, and we’re not slowing down.

The only question is whether we can adapt as quickly as the technology does… and what will this all mean for the future of our human story?

Ancient Rome didn’t fall because of invasions or politics. It fell because it lacked capitalism.

Rome’s economy depended too much on government control. The state ran everything… grain, resources, and even key industries. This left no room for innovation or progress.

When expansion stopped, so did the flow of resources and labor. The systems that held the empire together began to crumble.

Slavery was a major part of the problem. Slaves were forced to work but had no reason to innovate or improve. The economy stayed stagnant.

Capitalism could have changed everything. It rewards creativity, hard work, and new ideas.

Under capitalism, people have freedom. They can find better jobs, negotiate pay, or even start businesses. Slavery and state control didn’t allow that.

Without capitalism, Rome’s economy couldn’t adapt. It couldn’t grow or respond to the challenges it faced.

This failure hurt Roman society too. Wealth stayed with the elite, and most people were left in poverty.

Capitalism could have created a thriving middle class. It could have built a stronger, more stable society.

Rome didn’t collapse because of outside forces. It collapsed because it failed to evolve.

Capitalism wasn’t just the missing piece… it was the key to survival.

Here’s what has been in my head. Imagine waking up in a world where what you see and hear doesn’t match what you’re told is true. George Orwell, in 1984, wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” This makes me wonder: how much of what we think is real is actually true? If things were different from what we believe, would we even notice?

This question brings me to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In this story, prisoners are chained inside a cave, only able to see shadows on a wall in front of them. To them, these shadows are all that exists. But one prisoner breaks free and discovers a world beyond the cave, full of color and light. When he tries to share this discovery with the others, they don’t believe him and choose to stay in their world of shadows. It’s easier and safer to stick with what they know.

Then there’s Flatland, where two-dimensional beings live on a flat surface, like paper. They can only move side to side, not up or down, never understanding what “up” really means. When a being from the third-dimension tries to explain a whole new direction to them, they can’t imagine it. To them, “up” doesn’t exist, it’s too strange and scary.

All three stories, Orwell’s, Plato’s, and Flatland, ask the same question: How willing are we to question what we think is real? If the world is more complicated than what we see or hear, are we ready to wonder about it? And if a greater truth showed up, would we have the courage to face it, even if it changed everything we believe?

These stories remind us that real understanding takes bravery. It means being curious, asking questions, and sometimes choosing the uncomfortable truth over easy beliefs. If there’s a world beyond shadows or a direction we can’t imagine, our job might be to look for it, starting by asking, “What could I be missing?” Maybe the biggest challenge isn’t just seeing things differently, but being willing to search for truth, even if it’s outside what we already know.

When the history books are written about this era of the American Experiment. And how the United States followed in the steps of Ancient Rome. The fingers won’t solely be pointed at politicians, corporations, wealth gaps, or the growing list of divisive mindsets.

The biggest reason our society is slipping into a dystopian nightmare, is because of mainstream media’s obsession with clicks and eyeballs.

The search for the almighty advertising dollar by those who are highly influential, and should be impartial, distorts our vision of reality.

These “news organizations” create and amplify narratives to benefit their bottom line. They appease their advertisers with puff pieces or hit pieces depending on the direction of the dollars.

But there are ways for us to challenge this narrative. We have the ability to change the direction of our society before it’s too late. It is possible…

How? Turn off the news we know is biased and divisive, learn to do research while reading headlines, and most importantly, get involved in society. We all can do our part to make the world a better place. And it starts by understanding the motives of others before believing what they say.

The past couple of years has been a quasi-experiment into Universal Basic Income (UBI). And I’d say it failed spectacularly.

If you recall my previous posts about UBI, the mainstream reasoning for the concept is to provide a foundation of financial support for those displaced because of technological changes, namely automation and artificial intelligence.

Simultaneously, the world is just now reentering a period of normal jobs again, now that the world is opening back up after the pandemic.

However, at the same time jobs would typically become available, we’re seeing them eliminated because of the quantum leaps in artificial intelligence and automation.

This perfect storm is going to result in a drastically altered economic landscape. Where folks don’t have available jobs and the government doesn’t have the financial tools to provide for the jobless.

Re-training wide swaths of people with the skills to outpace the developments in AI will be a losing battle. So buckle up folks, this decade is going to be a wild ride.

We live in the safest period in human history.

Yet, if we turn on the tv or visit a news feed, we’d think it’s the worst.

This is because news organizations know the most powerful way to keep us tuned in: fear.

But the funny thing about fear? It’s just an evolutionary byproduct which kept our ancestors alive long enough to reproduce.

Fear prevented our ancestors from getting too close to lions. Yet, now we let fear prevent us from living our best life.

We fear our neighbors, we fear losing a job in a down economy, we fear doing bold things in business, and we fear stepping out into the unknown to achieve our goals. All while these feelings of fear are just trying to keep the reptilian brain safe from predators.

No one deserves to live in fear. We all deserve better.

So the next time we see a negative post, article, or video, we must remember their intent and reject their attempt to keep us trapped in fear.

Most people don’t realize that society is controlled by propaganda. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, this has become very apparent to me.

Many “disliked” aspects of our world, from nuclear energy to crypto, suffer from an onslaught of propaganda campaigns. But for this post, I’ll use crypto as an example…

Though first, a quick background: I understand the crypto industry fairly well. Probably going as far to say, I understand it better than 99.9% of people. I’ve spent the majority of my life as a technologist, a futurist, and an armchair economist. Simply put, I research the crap out of things that interest me, like crypto.

And so, when I see most of the criticisms of crypto, I shake my head.

Because almost ALL of the crypto critiques are based around false information. And unfortunately people eat up the propaganda like candy.

I know these regurgitated taking points about the industry are false. But folks love to share these tidbits, without doing any real research. As most are easily disputed and proven false.

Yet, their followers then share their teaspoon of “new” knowledge, never realizing their ignorance and blind obedience to the propagandists.

Thus, it makes me wonder…

What else are people pushing which are directly from the mouths of propaganda creators?

It’s never been easy to have ideas spread. True or false, if something is presented in a way people can easily digest, they won’t look deeper. They simply share, retweet, and comment on these topics. Ultimately doing the bidding of propagandists without ever realizing it.

Because of these realizations over the years, I rarely take something at face value. I do the research from both sides of the topic. And make up my mind based on a wide array of datapoints.

It’s not easy to stay on top of most topics, but it’s essential for us to know the truth. Whether we like to hear it or not.

The mantra, “trust, but verify,” is a great roadmap to get started in overcoming the societal misconceptions created by propaganda.

As I’m sure there are countless issues and topics which have been steamrolled by malicious people with ulterior motives. We need to stay on top of the truth.

Personally, I’ve found my research skills improve over time. So while it may seem intimidating to thoroughly research something before committing it to memory or sharing the info, it gets quicker and easier.

We must do the work to weed out the false information out there. Our ever growing complex society will require us to be well-informed.

And it’s ok to say, “I’m not sure where this info originated from, so I’ll consider the opposing viewpoint by looking deeper.”

Or better yet, “I don’t know, so I won’t share this.”

If society collapsed, who would inherit the earth?

It would be those who can survive without Walmart. Namely, the hunter gatherers.

And they say, history is written by the winners.

So let’s fast forward 1,000 years after the collapse, what will be said of this era?

Would future humans know anything about our current understanding of quantum mechanics, genetic biology, the internet? Or even simpler, what about sewers and roads?

Given this thought experiment, how many civilizations have come and gone, in which we know nothing of their advancements in science, technology, engineering, math?

There’s very little remaining structures from 1,000 years ago, let alone 10,000. Yet, there are mysterious remains all over the planet. From the jungles of the Amazon to the deserts of the Sahara.

It’s fascinating to think about what was before our written history. What knowledge has been lost to time. And how many advanced civilizations we’ll never know existed those many millennia ago.

Here’s something to ponder…

Technology has continued to drive down prices of nearly everything.

For example, the cost to travel coast to coast is a fraction of what it was 100 years ago.

Or more strikingly, cell phone providers basically give away the 2-year-old iPhone with a basic plan.

The term for this concept is called deflation. And technology and capitalism (through competition) continually cause prices to fall.

But what do you hear about more?

Inflation. We are told prices always go up, that the value of the dollar is worth less today than it was yesterday. And in general, it’s basically a tax on anyone holding fiat currencies long-term.

However, if we go deeper into what inflates, we find assets like houses and stocks, as well as, services like healthcare and education.

What do these have in common? One thing: government intervention.

These industries can keep their prices high because the vast majority of their revenue ultimately comes from government subsidies, government backed loans, and other governmental programs.

For instance, houses are backed by mortgages, backed by banks, backed by the government.

The stock market is propped up by The Fed’s support, through endless stimulus.

Healthcare knows the insurance companies will financially support most of their customers and if not, the government can always step in with additional assistance.

And higher education institutions raise their rates every year because they know that Uncle Sam will be providing the loans to (naïve) 18 year old kids hoping for a better career.

So with all that said, what would happen if the “free markets” didn’t have unlimited access to newly printed Greenbacks?

And can we truly call them “free markets” if the government selectively chooses what industries and sectors it helps?

The world’s economy, (because of technological advances), is massively deflationary.

Unfortunately, the government has created a hidden tax on all of us, called inflation.

Having a job is a relatively new concept in human history. Prior to the industrial revolution, many people spent their entire day obtaining resources through farming, trading, hunting, etc. And for millennia, humans never thought life would be different.

So why must the concept of a job persist in the upcoming era of unlimited abundance?

Robots, artificial intelligence, 3D printers, drones, and other upcoming technology is about to create a Cambrian Explosion of new ways of life.

These technologies will also result in a deflationary economy, where nearly everything is free. And while it may seem like a foreign concept, not everyone will have a job. Many will be able to pursue life trajectories drastically different than what we can comprehend right now.

And those of us who want to live above the baseline, we will create jobs to obtain additional resources. But a job will no longer be a requirement for survival.

Want to know one of the root sources for society’s problems?

This graph shows how much the Federal Reserve has devalued our hard-earned US Dollars. And every time the Fed prints more money (à la stimulus), the value drops even more.

Besides the obvious, here’s why it’s a problem:

The buying power of the dollar has dropped while wages have stayed constant. This means minimum wage workers and the middle class continue to lose its ability to function in society.

When the American Dream of owning a home with a white picket fence continues to slip through peoples’ fingers, it causes a feedback loop of disappointment and despair.

This problem is masked by the continued advancements in manufacturing and technology, keeping the prices of consumer goods low. Which manipulates the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the main measure of inflation within the economy.

Because as goods get commoditized, the average person can buy pretty amazing products, like TV’s and TV dinners, for dirt cheap. But is this the best gauge of the economy? I’m not so sure.

At the same time, hard assets like stocks and real estate are becoming dramatically more expensive. So a share of Tesla or that house in a good school district is quickly becoming unattainable for most Americans.

And so, back to the topic at hand. With the endless money printing by the Fed, these trends are only going to speed up in an exponential wealth transfer. The middle class is disappearing and the American Dream is dying. It’s happening in real time and not many are paying attention.

What are we to do?

Start businesses, buy assets, and continue to educate ourselves.

ps. Massive wealth gaps are hypothesized as a leading reason the Roman Empire fell.

Imagine two boats on a large lake. They start out going in the same direction, completely parallel.

Now imagine one of the boats turns the wheel just a bit away from the other boat.

At first, this slight angle isn’t noticed. They could go a long way without noticing the boats are starting to move apart from each other.

But after a few miles, these boats really start moving away from each other. And by mile four or five, it is almost unrecognizable that they once were right next to each other.

Now let’s imagine the boats are filled with passengers of all ages and precious cargo which can’t handle much turbulence. So if the two boats want to come back together, it’s unlikely a sharp turn will happen, as the passengers will be thrown around the boat.

So the only solution to safely bring these two boats together is a slight turn back towards the other boat. They won’t come back together right away, but just as they gradually departed, they gradually get closer and closer.

After a couple more miles of this revised course, they are finally back traveling in parallel and have safely come together. Yay!

If you haven’t guessed the analogy by now, these two boats are representative of society. Wherein our divisions happened long ago and only now are they becoming more and more apparent.

And so, as a nation, we must all slowly do our part to turn the boats back towards one another. Drastic shifts are dangerous, instead every small action to bring people together is the safest way to connect society again.

It starts with every one of our daily actions, every act of kindness, every compliment, every time we show compassion to others… this is the way to bring the boats back together.

❤ 🇺🇸 ❤

It’s interesting to me how people take direct quotes and, usually out of context, add subjective words to them. These subjective quotes are then interpreted into bite-sized headlines and spread as news. Which are then further interpreted and spread as social media commentary.

And all of a sudden, our collective knowledge around a subject isn’t based on truth, but rather a fuzzy memory of an interpretation of an interpretation of an event.

For instance, a few weeks ago I watched the press conference where Trump mentioned the now infamous quote around injecting disinfectants.

Instantly, the social web lit up with articles, jokes, and controversy around his comments.

Many articles mention things like injecting bleach. And then folks on social media start talking about drinking Clorox.

But that’s not what he said. Here’s what the actual quote was:

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me.”

No where did he mention bleach or Clorox. But if you ask most people about this quote, they’ll quote the misquotes.

Personally, I think it’s dangerous to brainstorm life-altering medical procedures in front of the entire world.

But in general, people like Trump need to be more aware of this phenomenon for twisted quotes of quotes and be more selective with their words. Though, ultimately, it is the fault of the people who misquote sources.

Anyway, the lesson in all of this?

Don’t blindly trust folks who offer interpretations, rather if it’s important, go directly to the source.

Yesterday I was the keynote speaker for UW Stevens Point’s STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math) day.

Spoke to 150 seventh and eighth graders about my experiences in technology. And focused on three main areas: challenges, mindset, and success.

In school, we are told failure is bad, but when doing big things, failures are simply learning lessons. Fears once allowed our ancestors to carry-on the human race, now they just hold people back from their full potential.

Understanding goals and habits are key to pursuing AND achieving their dreams.

And to discover success, they must never stop learning. Set big goals and take massive action to achieve them. Don’t let classmates, family, friends, or even teachers tell them their goals aren’t achievable. Anything is possible with the correct amount of positive energy focused on achieving their goals.

After the talk, Rubie and I taught a couple classes to the students on how to code their first website. Was a fun day at Treehaven.

For the first time in about a year, I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday buying a book and realized that bookstores , as we currently know them , are on their death bed.

As I stared blankly at the business section, I noticed some favorites and some new books. Most had an attractive title and compelling cover art. But something was missing:

Social proof.

I’ve read hundreds of books and know not to judge a book by its cover. Literally. It may have the most captivating inside flap, yet will leave you wishing for your time and money back.

Big-box bookstores, no matter how well staffed, will never have the ability to guide you into a buying decision the way Amazon or 800-CEO-Read does. I among most other book buyers, base 99.9% of the buying decision on reviews and chatter online for a book.

While yes, they could integrate some kiosks or what not into the store to read reviews, but at that point why leave the house? I can do that from the comfort of my couch and my iPhone’s Amazon app. And have the book on my doorstep the next day.

So What Is A Bookstore Owner To Do?

Over the upcoming years, I’m predicting a huge transition in the ways bookstores position themselves. Just as any other business must focus on a niche in a highly competitive market, bookstores will start segmenting themselves.

If a bookstore is to compete successfully against online stores, the staff and offerings must become extremely compelling. Someone should be able to walk into the store, rattle off a few favorite books to a well-read worker, and within minutes be happily walking out of the store with a book perfectly suited for their desires. If the bookstore can’t accomplish this, they will follow in the footsteps of Borders.

This past weekend I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and they had a great segment on a bookstore doing just that:

Pretty interesting huh?

How I’d do It

If I were to create a bookstore tomorrow I’d include the following:

• Less than 1,000 books in the store that at least one of the members of the staff have read and enjoyed.

• An online blog reviewing every book read by the staff.

• A book club to create a community of enthusiasts and brand advocates.

• Specials on new arrivals in exchange for reviews of the book.

• A membership database that tracks what books they’ve read with an algorithm to predict what books they may enjoy.

For the most part, this strategy isn’t rocket-science, but also it isn’t generally implemented. In my experience, even the corner bookstore tries to carry everything from Harry Potter & The Da Vinci Code to Rachel Ray’s Cookbook & Think and Grow Rich. There’s no focus with their offering… and ultimately, no appeal.

So the questions I pose to my fellow book readers:

What do you foresee happening to bookstores? How would you improve the customer experience? Would a mix between an online/offline community be a good fit?