Experts and scholars of the past have divided the eras past into the following eras; Pre-historic, Agricultural and Industrial. In pre-historic times human beings were hunter-gatherers and foragers and mostly nomadic people. The lived in harmony with the planet and were part of the sustainable ecosystem of the Earth. Nobody really knows how long this period lated, but it was the longest period of our existence in total.
The move from hunter-gather to the agricultural era took place over millennia, and at different times across the planet. At this point humanity began to negatively impact the planet, causing the extinction of many animals, especially large mammals like the marsupial lions of Australia, and plants alike. Humanity became the "most successful" creatures on the planet, although I would argue that that crown belongs to fungi, but that's a different story for a different day.
The industrial age, which phased in over centuries, happened first in Western Eurasia, a place now popularly referred to as "Europe", and spread across most of the world. Some of the last places to become industrialised include the Canary Islands and Northern Scandinavia, the inhabitants of which were basically still in the Stone Age well into the 1400s.
We are now, at present, in the very late Industrial age and the transition to the next era has already begun. It's hard to pin-point exactly when it started, but the invention of The Internet is one inflection point. The arrival of the Computer is another. Perhaps the day Bitcoin, hence the concept of the block chain, was launched will eventually serve as the definitive start. This will be decided in retrospect sometime in the future when the transition is complete.
The transition, following the same trend as the past, will happen much quicker and virtually simultaneously around the world. Decades, rather than centuries. Since it has already begun, we are looking at perhaps one decade from now, maybe two, for the full transition. This means there are people reading this now that probably will be around when the transition is complete, and live to experience the full Information Age.
So what is it anyway? It is an era when the human being becomes a sovereign individual. At last the technology is here for this to be achieved. Information will become ubiquitous and universally accessible. The advantages and disadvantages of information access due to factors such as geography and social class will become a thing of the past. New stars will rise from around the globe, having shed their previous limitations. Likewise new kinds of villains will arise, more dangerous than ever before. Two sides of the same coin.
Governments will love control of the individual in the Information Age. Taxes will drastically reduce because, inevitably, individuals will remove themselves physically from nations that impose high taxes. The authorities will resist with everything they've got, as evidenced by current events, but the individual will inevitably overcome. Governments will be reduced to service providers with the individuals as clients. Competition between governments will lead to improvements in everything.
Nationalism will end, or become a fringe ideology, since individuals will divorce from the concept of the nation. As such, geographical borders will become pointless. There will be no need for humans to perform many of the manual tasks in society - AI bots will be doing those things. Your doctor will be an AI bot. Your accountant will be an AI bot. Your lawyer will be an AI bot. Your cleaner will be.. you get the idea. The human will be left to his own devices and must create value for society to receive value back.
Depending on which direction we go, which I can't be certain about till it happens, society will either ascend towards utopia, or descend into dystopia with the latter being more likely in my opinion. In the utopian world, humanity becomes enlightened with the individual becoming godlike - a creative force on the planet, in control of finally resolving all problems. Death by old age and disease will be finally defeated, leaving trauma as the only cause of death. At which point, reproduction becomes unnecessary and the global population will drastically reduce (unnaturally as well as naturally).
In the dystopian world, well, we have many movies and books to chose from. George Orwell has given us a few glimpses. The Matrix, The Walking Dead, Terminator, Gattaca, and so on and so forth. Any one of these, including the Matrix actually, could really happen. If you still think the above are in the realm of science fiction, then see the video below that I made a while ago. It's 25 minutes long so you may want to make a cup of tea or coffee first.
Peace & Love,
Adé
