Plenty to think about here & i'm still thinking! Apart from the Industrial Revolution being a precursor of AI, don't you think that cinema & television also were?
Yes, mass communication totally changed how societies worked, both in the sense of controlling the population and liberating the imagination. Always trade offs!
Ah, I forgot that my friend Chris (https://whereabouts.substack.com/) mentioned this on Saturday, saying that in a post-scarcity world all the drama comes from rare moments of scarcity.
In those books that I have read it is mostly about the human shenanigans involved in persuading the non Culture societies to be a bit more Culture like - which is pretty much how it is in Star Trek too when you think about it. Soft power in modern parlance.
I think contemporary Star Trek is getting a bit more like IMB's stuff, with Section 31 being more like Special Circumstances in the Culture, or the real life CIA, secretly meddling in other organisations and cultures to manipulate outcomes. Intrigue and spying another way to generate conflict in otherwise benevolent societies.
I seem to remember a megatrend from John Naisbitt which anticipated “hi-tech > hi-touch”. Which implies for your argument that there will be a mad rush for human to human spaces, where maximum idiosyncrasy is expected (good for live musicians!), as the routinised becomes the province of artilects. The next worrying vector of change is plausible humanoids moving thru space/ time… that thankfully seems to be a very high technical bar. (Tho that depends on how much people existentially commit to their virtual existences, where sims can present with any digital physicality they like).
Plenty to think about here & i'm still thinking! Apart from the Industrial Revolution being a precursor of AI, don't you think that cinema & television also were?
Yes, mass communication totally changed how societies worked, both in the sense of controlling the population and liberating the imagination. Always trade offs!
Iain M Banks had a lot to say on this in his Culture novels. sad he is no longer around to tell us more.
Ah, I forgot that my friend Chris (https://whereabouts.substack.com/) mentioned this on Saturday, saying that in a post-scarcity world all the drama comes from rare moments of scarcity.
In those books that I have read it is mostly about the human shenanigans involved in persuading the non Culture societies to be a bit more Culture like - which is pretty much how it is in Star Trek too when you think about it. Soft power in modern parlance.
Yes, I think Star Trek is my main reference point for these ideas.
I think contemporary Star Trek is getting a bit more like IMB's stuff, with Section 31 being more like Special Circumstances in the Culture, or the real life CIA, secretly meddling in other organisations and cultures to manipulate outcomes. Intrigue and spying another way to generate conflict in otherwise benevolent societies.
I seem to remember a megatrend from John Naisbitt which anticipated “hi-tech > hi-touch”. Which implies for your argument that there will be a mad rush for human to human spaces, where maximum idiosyncrasy is expected (good for live musicians!), as the routinised becomes the province of artilects. The next worrying vector of change is plausible humanoids moving thru space/ time… that thankfully seems to be a very high technical bar. (Tho that depends on how much people existentially commit to their virtual existences, where sims can present with any digital physicality they like).