The other day I posted about Douglass Engelbart. I discussed his prediction that humans are evolving exponentially as a species, because of our access to computer-based tools, which are growing in power exponentially over time.
In response, Andras posted the following very reasonable observation: “Not to take anything from the well deserved celebration but I wonder if there may be an inverse devolution under way.”
I’ve been thinking about this as well. Engelbart observed that humans were evolving exponentially, but he didn’t necessarily tell us whether this is a good thing. Clearly we have capabilities now as a species that we did not have even a short time ago.
When something happens these days, many millions of people can not only know about it pretty much instantly, but also respond to it, sharing their thoughts with other millions of people. Active discussions involving entire populations can not only begin but continue to mutate over the course of a single day.
Not that long ago this would have been seen as the realm of science fiction. Before the Web (a mere three decades ago), mass communication was pretty much limited to the old fashioned “one to many” broadcast and print paradigm.
But this evolution doesn’t necessarily mean that the power of social media is a good thing. Cancer grows exponentially, and nobody thinks of that as a good thing.
We are indeed evolving exponentially as a species, just as Doug Engelbart predicted, but that may not be a positive development.