The Second Renaissance; Divergent Technology and Convergent Behavior
Technological advancement is something we’re all familiar with, new things change our way of life on a daily basis. Generation after generation, the young look towards the faults of the old and find a better way of doing things. We’re told to do things one way or another from points of view that are out of touch with the new world. We’re told we need to choose a path and stick to it, that we can’t do it all. The question, why not? often gets answered with various subjective answers based off of past experiences. In the new and emerging world, we can do it all. In fact, it’s human nature to do it all. We are and have always been creatures of divergent exploration and expression.
The Past
Long before the modern world we had to do it all. There was little room for specialization. Everybody was a hunter, a farmer, a butcher, a chef. If you had no shelter, you built one. You went and extracted raw materials for yourself. You sewed your own clothes and washed them in the creek you collected your drinking water from. Communities still had some roles, but things weren’t so cut and dry. You did what you needed to do to survive. Whatever need you or community had, it was up to those involved to take care of it.
Civilization developed further; specialists became more common as practice of skills developed to become more advanced. We started relying on the services of others more than we relied on ourselves. This worked to our benefit at the time. It allowed us to create more efficient societies with a higher quality of life.
As society kept growing, so did our skills and our creations. The tools we once used to engage in our crafts evolved into machines. The industrial revolution helped usher in a new era in humanity. What were once skilled and multifaceted crafts became broken down into a series of sub-roles that striped away the value of the individual and turned them into yet another machine. This divergence of skills and abilities was necessary and beneficial to the advancement of society and creating a increasing our quality of life. But at what cost?
What were once small, self-reliant economies evolved into a highly complex globalist system. Mom-and-pop shops were replaced by huge megacorporation’s that centralized and streamlined their supply chains for the sake of profit. Eventually this well-oiled machine developed computers. Computers did for humanity what the industrial revolution had done not terribly long ago. While it did create some new opportunities and industry, computers signaled the start of convergence, rather than divergence of human activity.
How did computers do this? The same way tractors turned workhorses into play horses, they can do the same thing we can do, but better. Word processors trimmed down the teams at newspapers. Spreadsheets cut back the number of accountants it took to balance company books. Algorithms could detect and visualize patterns and insights that previously took entire teams of people to accomplish. They didn’t necessarily change what we do, just how we do it. What previously took the combined effort of many people began to be managed by fewer and fewer workers.
The Present
The power of computation was only amplified by the internet. Once a purpose-built military communication tool, it became an unavoidable part of modern living. Rather than computer activity being limited to single devices or wired networks, anything anywhere can now work in sync with anything else. It has fundamentally altered the structures of our society. The COVID-19 pandemic further exemplified the change it can give us, given the reason to change. Nobody thought the world could operate fully online, yet we all did it.
The recent developments in Ai, natural language processing, and other forms of generative computing pose a deeper dive into the convergence of human activity. These tools allow us to work faster and more efficiently than we previously could, and further lowers the barrier to entry various opportunities. While the quality of work is debatable, it undeniable that these things enable individuals to continue to do even more work with less effort than ever before. It is easier than ever for anybody to be an entrepreneur and start a very professionally presenting business.
The entrepreneur of the future is likely to look quite different than what most people consider it today. Even in the current era there is a divide between what traditional business considers an entrepreneur, and some of the most influential entrepreneurs of the modern world, internet creators. People like Mr. Beast have created multi-million-dollar empires that encapsule various entities that historically have been independent enterprises. Live event production, large scale media production, physical merchandise, fast food, and more, all under one entity.
The Future
Many of these new-age entrepreneurs have no formal education in anything that would enable them to easily find success in these ways. They are a prime example of what these tools have done for us, made human knowledge universally accessible. It is no longer about what you know, but your unique perspective and what you do with it.
What does this mean going forward? It means we have an incredible opportunity to be part of creating a return to a holistic way of living. We can help build tools and shape systems that enable the individual to engage with the world how they see fit. No longer do people need to find a specific role or career path that defines who they are. We can help the masses get in touch with their core desires. Social media lets people express their perspectives, but how easy is it for people to live exploring their identity these ways? It’s not, but it doesn’t have to be.
As things have always gone there will be some growing pains, but we will no longer be required to sacrifice exploring ourselves in order to survive. A tipping point has been reached. Another renaissance. We can do what we want to do rather than the paths society has defined for us. We can find a way of living however we see fit.