Age of the Obsolete

Entering into a digital environment draped in virtual reality can be an intense, emotional experience. Technology has progressed so rapidly, that full immersion will soon be achieved. So much so that to the degree that many of our senses will be hijacked to the degree that our mind believes these digitally constructed worlds are actually real.

One of our core myths is the belief that individualism is the driving force that forged this nation and makes it great.  It was rugged individualism that tamed the West, created our industries, built our cities, our dams and bridges and highways, individualism that enabled us to hold firm when confronted by tyranny and aggression, individualism that continues to stand as the bulwark of both democracy and the American Way.

We are a nation of immigrants, and our ability to absorb and integrate 80 million people since 1820 (when records were first kept) has been an achievement without parallel in world history. So successful have we been, indeed, that many nations with no similar history have come to take it as axiomatic that democracy and mass immigration are synonymous

The term Manifest Destiny was first employed in 1845 by magazine editor John L. O’Sullivan in an  article on the annexation of Texas. It expressed the belief that it was the providential mission of Anglo-Saxon  Americans to expand their civilization and institutions across the breadth of the North American continent. This expansion would involve not merely territorial acquisition but promote the progress of liberty and individual economic opportunity as well

Today, we live in a world of continuous change.  One in which the verities of the past have given way to uncertainty.  Like military planners confronted by invisible foes and asymmetrical forces beyond our control, we can no longer assume that our current skills and knowledge will serve us in the future. Instead, we need to embrace new strategies that enable us to successfully adapt to change and uncertainty. And the only way to do that is to place ourselves in a constant State of Readiness.

Transhumanism is a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively early phase.  Many transhumanists wish to follow life paths which would, sooner or later, require growing into posthuman persons: they yearn to reach intellectual heights as far above any current human genius as humans are above other primates; to be resistant to disease and impervious to aging

Since the 19th century, the goal of American schooling has been to provide for the fullest possible development of each individual.  And yet today, there are those who believe the opposite.  That a liberal education is irrelevant and that job-specific training is the new path forward; the only way to ensure that Americans survive in an age defined by technology and shaped by global competition.

In an article titled 9 to 5 is for Losers, the New York Times reports that an entire cottage industry has sprung in in Silicon Valley; a movement that celebrates workaholism as a desired lifestyle. The operative word is HUSTLE.  The prevailing belief:  If you want to succeed, you have to be ready to give up everything.

By the year 2025, it’s estimated that the confluence of Artificial intelligence, Automation,  E-commerce, and Outsourcing may result in The elimination of 47% of the jobs that exist in the U.S. today. Not simply low-wage, low skilled jobs, But, also white-collar positions in the financial, legal and healthcare professions.