Unsupervised

CHAPTER 10Reinventing the Planet

“If anything can go wrong, fix it. To hell with Murphy (Peter's Law #1).”

—Peter Diamandis

Our world has undergone many radical changes over its history—from ball of fire, to wild, hostile, and virtually uncontrolled animal kingdom, to hunter-gatherer, to agricultural, to industrial—and now perhaps in an entirely new direction. Changes have historically been evolutionary or largely dependent on major “natural” events and the growth of and changes in mankind. Homo sapiens have, over time, become the dominant force, not because of brawn but because of our ability to think, innovate, and adapt. From harnessing fire, to managing water and the wind, to using steam, we have created technologies that have changed the face of the globe and of the role of human beings. As human lifespans have increased and the risks to life have changed, the population has mushroomed. Some of this is good; however, the impact of our growing dominance has also had some less salutary effects.

Today, with an array of incomparably powerful new technologies, we are at an inflection point that should permit us to solve many of the problems we have created or, if not, further exacerbate them or perhaps even much worse.

Resources

The following are areas most likely to disproportionately impact our futures and that of the planet.

People

Although far from universal, technology-driven improvements in productivity, logistics, communications, manufacturing, farming, medicine, ...