Fighting for Human Intelligence (in the age of AI)

In the future, much of our day to day will be outsourced to advanced technology, Artificial Intelligence, and other quantum intelligences.

Between now and then, human beings will continue to cohabitate with, and rely on integrative technology as tools to advance their productivity, their outputs and their lifestyle; with little consideration of how their interconnectivity will, in fact, effect the future of the human race. It is however, of ever impending importance that individuals consider how they choose to utilize technology, and how, technology is using them.

For the most part, today’s technology has been designed to support the efficiency and ease of modern human beings. However, over the past decade, technology conglomerates have preyed on their consumers attention, data and digital identities as a resource to scale globalized movements and economies. This market is known as the #attentioneconomy.

During this time, technology companies have been scaling at unprecedented rates, both as a result to consumer “interest,” and more prominently, intelligent design.

As harmless as they may seem to be, digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Wechat, and TikTok have been heavily programmed to hijack the minds and eyes of worldwide consumers at such high volumes that consumers have lost their ability to interact powerfully online, and maintain full control of their choices and habits.

This example, is only a small hint toward the massive disaster we are charting towards. None of this information is new, and yet, consumers have willingly abandoned their freedom in order to stay up-to-date and in-the-know of all things #trending.

In a world, where a globalized population is prioritizing their screen time over their personal time, we are starting to see evolutionary shifts in the health and wellbeing of rampant consumerism.

Countless studies have outlined the physical, mental, emotional, and social impacts of digital overuse, and yet, we are seeing little action being taken by technology giants to ultimately support the future evolution of our human race.

Which means, WE have to take responsibility for ourselves. This responsibility will not come easy, it will be not be widely embraced or accepted, however, it will be the key to our evolutionary preparedness.

The more time we spend on screen, consuming the digitized market, indulging in click-worthy content, and bypassing our personal power, the less time we will have to invest in upgrading our understanding of reality.

Something to consider…

For what reason exactly, if any at all, would technology giants have interest in designing more human-centered products, when the mass majority of their revenue comes from increased viewership, consumer data, advertising and click rates.

The challenge we are facing is not that technology will overcome us (at least not yet) but that in the process, human beings will forfeit all of their autonomy to the globalized attention economy, and ultimately lose their freedom of choice, power and sense of self.

The most important element of this statement here, is to recognize that human beings DO in fact have freedom of choice, power and a sense of self. However, given the current statistics that show the average consumer spending between 8–12 hours on their digital devices, it is clear that human beings are falling behind in more areas than just the 3 listed above.

Whose fault is this? I’d argue to say, neither the consumer, or the designer. Istead, I’d rather invest energy and attention in focussing on whose responsibility it is to chart change for the future.

We may not ever have the opportunity to convince technology conglomerates to redesign and develop their tools to better support the evolution of humankind, but we absolutely will have the opportunity to redesign our choices, habits and behaviors around the technology we utilize, the time we spend plugged in, and the type of content we choose to consume.

In other words, the current design of the digital landscape has been a force against our natural capabilities, and there are few predictions that support it changing anytime soon.

If we, as a human race, are to evolve toward the future with more choice, power and self awareness, we will have to take responsibility for our attention; which includes how we spend our time, both on and offline.

The next time you catch yourself spending more time than necessary online, bear in mind, that behind every viral video, meme, and news story, is a technology company that is making an exorbitant amount of money off of every minute you scroll, click, download, and share.

As a human race, we have a responsibility to look after ourselves, and our planet. And while many people are fighting the fight against global warming, there are only few people fighting for the future of human intelligence.

Here’s where EDEN comes in. EDEN is a integrative agency that prioritizes human intelligence as a means to the next generation of evolution. Clearly, this race towards technological transformation, comes with severe complications, ethically, morally, and civically.

In the meantime, the most important element to focus on, is how to guide human beings toward their innate human intelligence, their conscious capabilities, and their emotional exchanges, none of which will ever be replaced by artificial technologies and learning softwares (close as they may be.)

Without this critical attention, the evolution of humankind will be left in the hands of technology giants, with only a glimmer of hope that new technologies will be created (and not overtook) by companies that actually have human beings at the center of their design ethos.

Learning to engage with, and ignite human intelligence is no longer a lofty hobby, it is exactly what we need to evolve with, and alongside the ever impending expectation of accelerated technology.

For more information on how you can begin your evolutionary journey, please visit www.alexaeden.com or email me directly at connect@alexaeden.com.