Reflecting on the Future..

Thinking once again of those three biggest questions that impacted an epoch.. I think I should first summarize quickly what it was that happened in this epoch since I hadn’t done any previous entries on this one.

We are living in the fifth epoch. We’ve had technological advancements in communication unlike any other thing experience in all of the four previous epochs. We have also come to realize that the effects and resentments that were left after World Wars One and Two are still very much present and that they were intensified by the fall of the Soviet Union. But while the political leaders of the world were working hard on dealing with the problems brought by the collapse of the Soviet Union and also working on the genocide in Rwanda, technological leaders around the world, introduced us to the internet. Although at first, it was primarily for college students, by 1995 it had become part of thousands of homes trough out the world. Through the internet, our world became more united and closer together as it had never been before. It helped thrive all, from small businesses to big corporations. Another thing that helped was the laying of thousands of miles of fiber optic cables at the bottom of the ocean, this made international calls cheaper and more possible. But of course, all of this technology wasn’t only used for positive and constructive reasons, it was also used for negative and contra-constructive reasons by those attempting to destroy things. An example of that was the events that took place September 11, 2001. This devastating attack was one of the reasons why we became aware the growing instability in the world that had been growing since the fourth epoch and that was intensified after the collapse of the USSR.

So two of the biggest questions that I can come up with for Epoch Five are, What are some effective ways that terrorism and the usage of technology for negative purposes can be controlled or eliminated? And, What is the next step in the technological advancement of communication?

I’m not really sure which ways would necessarily be effective for eliminating terrorism and the use of technology for negative purposes because it isn’t something that is really in OUR hands. Its more of something that was caused by our previous generations and resentments that were passed down into our new generations. What I think would be good way of dealing with it would be to try and make a treaty with the terrorists or some kind of binding promise on both sides and to try and understand what it is that they want and why. It’s probably not this simple but that’s why I thought this would be a good question. It really forces one to think.

And then on what is the next step in the technological advancements of communication for future generations. It’s difficult to predict the future, but there are many possibilities. I mean, the invention of the internet is right at the level of impact that the invention of the printing press was at. I think that we are too early into this epoch to really expect something big to happen soon. Just think of how much time went by between the invention of the printing press to the creation of the Internet. I think that first we have to expand more as a civilization with help of the Internet and focus on also advancing ourselves in more than just weaponry and communicative technology. I think that there is still a while left to go before we experience something as big again.