America’s Crisis of Maturity

America’s Crisis of Maturity:
 Democracy or Autocracy ?



The coming US Presidential election should provide a critical test of American democracy. It may be thought of as a national crisis of maturity.

The US  has always been challenged by a long heritage of right-wing threats, from the Civil War, Ku Klux Klan, and the John Birch Society. So, we have been here before — and survived. This time, however, polls show a slight edge favoring Trump, so this is an open question. Can Americans overcome their tendency toward isolationism, white nationalism, and stark conservatism — or will we reaffirm the heritage of law, the constitution, and democratic values ?
 
Yes, many take comfort in thinking “America’s not going to elect Trump” — but that’s what everybody said in 2016 ! The issue was noted in stark terms by Masha Gessen in Surviving Autocracy:  “You get Trump once, it’s a misfortune. You get him twice, it’s normal. It’s what this country is.”
 
TechCast accurately forecast the election of Biden in 2020, and we feel confident of doing the same for 2024.



Background Information:
Trends, Issues and other Forces Defining the Election 

 
Time of Crisis   Climate doom, multiple wars, loss of good jobs, technology threats like AI, mass migration, race and identify conflicts … you name it … modern life is in an existential crisis. During crisis, people become desperate, selfish, immediate. They are prone to embrace drastic measures … like empowering strongmen.
 
Strong Economy   The state of the economy tends to be a key factor in presidential elections, and indicators suggest the US economy is healthy. GDP growth was 4.3 % in the third quarter of 2023, with unemployment at 3.7 % and real incomes rising 2.7 %. Inflation has declined from 7% to about 3%; still above the preferred 2% level but far better than other nations.
 
Biden Gains   President Biden has succeeded in returning a sense of normalcy, In contrast to “the other guy,” and he passed bills on infrastructure, inflation, and climate.  He can also be credited by forming an effective alliance to support Ukraine’s defenses again Russia. These are solid gains.
 
Biden Losses  Despite the strong economy, Americans rate Biden lower than Trump in battleground states on economy, inflation and immigration. It’s not that Trump is riding high but that Biden’s ratings are the lowest for any president since polling began in 1940. This may be due to the fact that key prices and interest rates remain high by normal standards, and the president is showing his age as an octogenarian. If Biden should experience a senior moment, like Mitch McConnell did, it could all be over.
 
Trump Trials  With 4 trials and 90-some charges underway, at least a few of them are bound to stick. Sure, Trump plays the victim game to advantage, but a dozen states are trying to remove him from their ballots — advertising the charge of promoting an insurrection.
 
Border Mania   It may not be fair, but Biden and the Democrats are being charged with “open border mania.” The fallout of thousands crossing the Southern border daily was highlighted when Senator Lindsey Graham said, “It’s not a crisis – it’s chaos.”
 
Anti-Wokism   Liberals may be doing right by advocating against racism, gender bias, climate change – but they’ve overdone it by playing into the hands of the GOP. The result has tarred Democrats with such baggage that “woke” has become a pejorative. The Atlantic recently cautioned “The Left Can’t Afford to go Bonkers.” After all, who really wants to “defund the police” ?

Voter Suppression  The GOP has mastered the art of gerrymandering, reducing voting access, and placing partisans in control of the electoral process. Comedian Bill Maher thinks the actual tabulated votes will be overruled by state officials loyal to Trump. He thinks the actual voting is almost irrelevant. 

Independents Rule   Almost half of American do not belong to either Republican or Democratic parties, but are independent of party affiliations. They may not support Biden, but independents are also free of the blind devotion to the “other guy.”
                      

 


Analysis and  Conclusions

We are grateful for the following TechCast Experts who contributed estimates and comments: Victor Motti, Prabir Bachi, Jacques Malan, Carlos Scheel, Clayton Dean, John Coale, Michael Richards, Owen Davies, Clayton Rawlings, John LaPrise, Steve Hausman, Alex Bennet, Art Murray, Gerry Stoopman, Kent Myers, Steve DuPont, Flynn Bucy, Ian Browde, Kastuv Ray, Chris Jones, John Meagher, John-Clark Levin, David Gurteen, Michael Vidikan, David Zalkind, Pierpaolo Dotoli, Paul Haase, Linda McDonald Glenn, Dennis Bushnell, Denis Cioffi.

The results of our study announce the good news is that we can forecast that Biden will beat Trump. It gets even better. During their previous match up in 2020, our forecast for a Biden win was based on a 6 % spread in probability … that spread has now grown to 12 %. 

Results on the polarization of society and the rise of autocracy are not as comforting.  We estimate a 50 % probability that the US will continue to be polarized and a 53 % probability that the world as a whole will remain polarized. The data also suggests only a modest 31 % probability that the rise of autocrats will diminish. 

The sample of 32 for this study is largely made up of our TechCast experts. Although our experts are thought leaders, they have no monopoly on truth, and a lot could change before elections in November. Still, I think this study confirms our earlier forecasts of “Peak Trump” with confidence. Kindly look over the results below for details. You will really enjoy the comments for their rich insights.

The wisdom running through the comments also suggests four intriguing wild cards that could play to disrupt these forecasts:


Nikki Haley Wins     With Trump showing increasingly erratic behavior (confusing Haley with Nancy Pelosi, etc.) and felony convictions from some of his 91 indictments, there is a reasonable chance that Haley could replace him as the GOP nominee. Polls show Haley leading Biden by double digits, so you do the math.

Gavin Newsom Wins    President Biden’s age problem is obvious and it could easily impair him fatally before November, while Governor Newsom is waiting in the wings. Vice President Kamala Harris is a formidable  politician, but she is considered unelectable for some reason. Yes, a switch the Newsom seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened in normal times. These are not normal times.

A Third Party Wins     The most striking this about this election is the almost fierce dislike for both candidates Trump and Biden. The entire country seems to be aghast to see these same two old men as our only choices — again. Many astute political analysts think this is a perfect situation for a third party candidate to actually pull off an historic upset. 

A 2nd American Revolution    Yes, I know this sounds like Bill’s naive optimism again. Bear me out, please. Bidenomics is booming while Trump’s craziness can only mount as his trials progress. Sure, most MAGA maniacs will always support Trump, but even now about 1/3 say they will abandon him if convicted. And almost half of the public votes independent. All this suggests a perfect storm for a Biden landslide victory. That, in turn, could finally force GOP leaders to dump Trump en masse, leaving a diminishing group of mad followers trailing behind him into oblivion. After retreating from the brink of dictatorship, the Nation could redouble its faith in the democracy we almost lost. A 2nd American Revolution.

These scenarios are only wild cards, of course, and others may be possible in this zany time. I estimate the probability of each at about 5 %, but collectively that means a 20 % or so chance of some unlikely outcome. Another reminder that we are now living Beyond Knowledge
 

Results
 

 
Presidential Election Winner
1. Who do you think is most likely to win the 2024 US presidential election ? Please respond by stating probabilities and brief comments for the following options (answers should total 100%):
A.   Trump
B.   Biden
C.   Other (Nikki Haley, No Labels, Robert Kennedy, etc.)


 
Polarization vs Cooperation in US
2. Will the outcome of the 2024 general election (at the federal, state, and local levels) increase polarization or increase cooperation ? Please respond by indicating the probability and brief comments for the three options below (answers should total 100%):
A.    A deepening of socio-political polarization
B.    Maintaining roughly the same levels of divisiveness
C.    A shift toward more mutual respect and cooperation 

 

Affirm Democracy
3. What is the likelihood over the next decade or so that polarization in the US will be largely resolved to affirm the Nation’s democratic heritage ? Please respond by stating a probability from 0 to 100% and brief comments.
                 

Polarization vs Cooperation in World
4. More than half of the world’s nations will be electing heads of state in 2024. Will the outcome of these elections increase polarization or increase cooperation for the world at large ? Please respond by indicating the probability and brief comments for the three options below (answers should total 100%):
A.     A deepening of socio-political polarization
B.     Maintaining roughly the same levels of divisiveness
C.     A shift toward more mutual respect and cooperation 

 
Decrease Autocrats Globally
5. What is the likelihood that the 2024 US election will help resolve autocratic movements in the world at large ? Please respond by stating a probability from 0 to 100% and brief comments.
                   
 
For the complete study, including extensive experts comments, click here.

Promises and Perils of AI: Yes, a Powerful Tool … But a Singularity?

 

TechCast is proud to present results from our study on Promises and Perils of AI. This study was fortunate to include a synthesis of the best judgment from our experts and responses from ChatGPT … that fabled merger of humans and machines. We gently suggest this study may be a model for future decisions made jointly by both AI and humans.

The results lead us to conclude that AI is a powerful tool, but the bold claims and deep fears over a purported “singularity” may be overblown. This study is limited, but we find no evidence to support the prospect for an AGI that is superior to humans, mass unemployment and existential threats commonly professed to be all but certain. As we will show, the data clearly suggest that AI will become far more powerful, yet subject to humanity’s unique powers of higher-consciousness. Our results forecast moderate to strong capabilities for controlling the dangers of AI, only a modest rise in unemployment, and beneficial social and human impacts.

These conclusions challenge the current fears over the AI Revolution, although we readily admit to the possibility of being proven wrong. Because this study synthesizes expert and AI intelligence, it represents a small breakthrough in collective intelligence by including the intelligence of AI. TechCast is confident these findings could help dispel the dangers of a theoretical singularity and to plan for controlling this newfound power responsibly.

 

A quick summary of our findings:

Almost all 28 respondents in this study see no purpose to a moratorium on AI research; A halt would impossible to enforce and it would encourage rogue operators. It’s obvious.

While strong regulation is essential, we foresee moderate, and possibly even strong, capability to control AI, rather than the existential threats often foretold. That’s good news.

One of of our most salient findings dispels prevailing threats of mass unemployment. We confidently forecast modest increases of roughly 10-12% globally. More good news. Yet there is always the possibility of unemployment approaching crisis levels of 20% or more in some nations and industries.

Half of our respondents think present AI systems are close to AGI even now, and that a full-blown AGI is likely to emerge about 2037. The other half thinks that AGI will arrive “much later or never.” We think this means that AI will become far more intelligent, including simulations of human values, goals, emotions, purpose, etc. But only life possess consciousness, so humans will always prevail. In that sense, TechCast suggests that a super intelligent AI that surpasses human agency is not possible.

Finally, the data suggest substantial gains in social stability and prosperity as well as comparable advances in human intelligence and creativity. Maybe we could lighten up on all the “Sturm und Drang.”

Because this study compared our results with those from ChatGPT, we also gained useful insight into the limits of AI. ChatGPT answered only 3 out of our 6 questions, and its answers tend to favor the system itself. As our previous newsletters suggest, the greatest danger lies in the spread of errors, misinformation, and untold forms of subjective bias.

We conclude AI is likely to become another tool in humankind’s advancing ability to manage knowledge with intelligence, although vastly more powerful and provocative. But the widespread fear over super intelligence, mass unemployment and grave threats prophesied by advocates remains only a theory. Absent some unknown breakthrough, TechCast forecasts good control over AI, huge gains in productivity, improvements in society and gains in human creativity.

Details of the study and the expert comments are extensive, and the full report can be found here on TechCast’s newsletter. 

 

 

Clark Capshaw, USA

 

PROFILE SUMMARY

 

Experience in testing and evaluation of military systems (aircraft, army intel systems, Navy replenishment systems), and with automotive components (Delphi). Overseas experience in Africa, Indonesia, and Germany, with the Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity, and U.S. Africa Command, respectively. PhD in Higher Education Leadership and Policy. MS in Aerospace Engineering and in Administration. Several languages spoken.

 

Email:clarkcapshaw@hotmail.com

Forecasting the 2020 US Election – Trump or Biden?

Forecasting the 2020 US Presidential Election – RESULTS

 

TechCast has done many provocative studies, but results of this one are unusually fascinating, worrisome and even hopeful. Much of the world is anxiously awaiting either more “Trumpmania” – or Biden normalcy and some resolution toward a complex future.
 
The bar chart below shows the probability of a Trump Win, and the probability of a Biden win is the inverse. Comments from our responding readers are spread out below along a Biden-Trump Spectrum.
 
Some of the 21 respondents are not Americans, but they are following this election closely, which shows that interest is global. We heard from Michael Vidikan, Margherita Abe, Dale Deacon, Peter King, Art Shostak, Jonathan Kolber, Jacques Malan, Clayton Rawlings, Brad Hughes, Ted Gordon, Owen Davies, Chris Garlick, Fernando Ortega, Steve Hausman, Mark Sevening, Wendell Wallach, Hannu Lehtinen, John Freedman, Jose Cordeiro, and Hellmuth Broda. Thanks to all.
 
 
 
 
While the probability data favors Biden winning the election, the results are so close there remains great uncertainty. As the comments make clear, people think Trump will find ways to suppress votes, get outside interference, introduce doubt and challenge the results, while many fear Biden will introduce more socialism and higher taxes. 
 
We rely on the collective intelligence of 21 thoughtful readers from around the globe who have examined the Pros and Cons of our background data and made careful estimates. The wide diversity of the sample is especially compelling. If this study were replicated with 21 different  people, the results would likely be similar. TechCast has studied our accuracy many times, and this is a typical result, with accuracy roughly within +/- 1- 2 percent.  
 
Drawing on the probability data and comments, we sketch out the two possible scenarios that could result, noting both the dangers, challenges and gains. TechCast appreciates fully the heated nature of this issue, and we have strived to focus on the evidence summarized in the background data and comments, often with a touch of forecaster judgment.
 
Trump Wins would produce more confusion, a lingering pandemic and faltering economy, heightened social division and global isolation.  American democracy would likely become more autocratic. Apart from gaining a majority on the Supreme Court (more politicalization), it is hard to find benefits. Trump is often thought to be good on the economy, but the evidence shows growth was the same under Obama. And Obama started from the worst crisis since the Great Depression of ’29, while Trump slashed taxes and regulations with little effect. 

Biden Wins would require absorbing Trump supporters, controlling the pandemic, taxing the wealthy, improving health care, supporting people of color, rebuilding infrastructure, addressing climate change, immigration and repairing global relations – while fending off charges of socialism. All this seems unlikely, but it could prove a tipping point in the decline of the Republican agenda and autocrats everywhere.
 
Both scenarios are possible, but TechCast relies on the data and concludes that a Biden win is the more likely outcome. It could possibly be a landslide victory, enough to overwhelm Trumpian power plays.  We could be proven wrong, of course, but the outcome should be clear sometime after the election. If Biden does win, remember, you heard it here at TechCast.

Thanks for your support. The TechCast Team
 

Click here to get the complete blog in web format

Collective Intelligence to Solve the MegaCrisis

Collective Intelligence to Solve the MegaCrisis

William E. Halal, The TechCast Project, George Washington University

 

Note: This article is a summary of our three-part study covered in the blogs of  April 11,  April 25  and May 9.

……………………………………

The coronavirus is a stark reminder of the devastating damage that could be inflicted by cyberattacks, superbugs, freak weather and a variety of other threats. These wild cards are in addition to the existential challenge posed by climate change, gross inequality, financial meltdowns, autocratic governments, terrorism and other massive problems collectively called the Global MegaCrisis.

 

I sense the world is so frightened by recent disasters that people are searching for new solutions. They seem ready to break from the past that is no longer working. Climate change is starting to bite, for instance, and there is a growing consensus that the status quo is no longer sustainable.

 

I have studied this dilemma for decades, and I think it can be best understood as a transition to the next stage of social evolution. The Knowledge Age that dominated the last two decades is fading into the past as AI automates knowledge, forcing us to move beyond knowledge and develop a global consciousness able to resolve the MegaCrisis.

 

Yes, I know this is a bold claim, but that is how the shift to a world of knowledge looked 40 years ago. When computers filled rooms, I recall telling people that we were entering a world of personal computers. The typical response was “Why would anyone want a personal computer?”

 

Just so, today’s post-factual era illustrates how the smart phone, social media, and autocrats like Trump have moved public attention beyond knowledge and into a world of values, emotions and beliefs. Now the challenge is to use these new powers of social media to shape a global consciousness, or face disaster. While this may seem impossible, that is always the case before major upheavals. Nobody thought the USSR would collapse up until its very end.

 

In fact, the Business Roundtable’s recent announcement that business should move beyond the bottom line to include the interests of all stakeholders is revolutionary. It has now been promulgated by the World Economic Forum and other influential bodies. The gravity of this change is such that business is now being told to help resolve the climate crisis. Larry Fink, who runs the biggest investment firm in the world (Black Rock), directed the companies he owns to help address climate costs in their operations; within days, many firms announced climate plans.

This historic shift in consciousness could make corporations models of cooperation for society at large. In short, I think the world is heading toward some type of historic shift in consciousness, a collective epiphany, a code of global ethics, a spiritual revolution, a political paradigm shift or a new mindset. Without a consciousness based on global unity, cooperation and other essential beliefs, there seems little hope. And with a shift to global consciousness, it all seems possible.

 

Toward a Global Consciousness

The governing ideas inherited from the industrial past are outdated and heading toward disaster. It is a collapse of today’s reigning “materialist” ideology of Capitalism, economic growth, money, power, self-interest, rationality, knowledge, etc. These values remain valid and useful, of course, but they are now badly limited. Prevailing practices in the US, as the most prominent example, are failing to address the climate crisis, low wage employee welfare, universal health care, women’s rights, political gridlock, aging infrastructure and other social issues that lie beyond sheer economics.

 

This could become a “Collapse of Capitalism” roughly equivalent to the “Collapse of Communism” in the 1990s, and it stems from the same fatal flaw – failure to adapt to a changing world. Communism could not meet the complex demands of the Information Revolution, and now Capitalism seems to be failing to adapt to a unified globe threatened by pandemics, climate change and the other threats making up the MegaCrisis.

 

The big question remaining is, “What should be the new vision, values, principles, and policies?” At the risk of appearing pedantic, I integrate what has been learned above and my forthcoming book, Beyond Knowledge, to outline five principles of what I consider “global consciousness.”

 

1. Treat the planet and all life forms as sacred. The Fermi Paradox notes that no other civilizations have been detected after decades of SETI searching. This rarity of life reminds us what a miracle plant Earth really is, and that we are responsible for its well-being.

 

 2.Govern the world as a unified whole. Nations remain the major players in this global order, but they should be lightly governed by some type of global institution like the UN and other international bodies. Individuals should continue to be loyal to their nations and local institutions, but they should also accept their role as global citizens.

 

3. Collaborate with stakeholders to serve collective needs.  Free enterprise is the basis of society, and the good news is that business is on the verge of becoming cooperative. The Business Roundtable announcement that all stakeholders should be treated equally with investors seems an historic breakthrough. This move to a quasi-democratic form of enterprise could set a new standard for collaborative behavior and human values throughout modern societies. One of the benefits from a tragedy like this crisis may be a loss of faith in the status quo and an urge to cooperate. I see it everywhere, and it is a blessing in disguise emerging out of chaos.

 

4.Embrace diversity as an asset.  Rather than becoming a uniform pallid bureaucracy, a unified world should embrace the wondrous diversity of cultures and individuals. Working across such differences poses a challenge, naturally, but differences are also a source of new knowledge, talents and human energy.

 

5.Celebrate community.  Any society needs frequent opportunities to gather together in good spirit, enjoy differences and commonalities, and to simply celebrate the glory of life. The World Olympics Games, for instance, are special because they provide a rare feeling of global community. We could witness a flowering of celebratory events over the coming years to nourish the global soul.

 

Shaping Consciousness

This is only one small study, of course, but I hope it provokes thinking toward a widely held vision for planet Earth at a time of crisis. An historic change in consciousness is hardly done overnight, and the obstacles posed by the status quo are formidable. But the Information Revolution provides a powerful method for shaping consciousness by using the Internet and public media. Think of the explosion of ideas, hatred and forbidden desires released by billions of people blasting into loudspeakers like Facebook and Twitter. Anybody can use the media to shape public opinion instantly, for better or worse.

 

The task we face is to shape a unified consciousness out of this morass of differences to solve the global crises that loom ahead. Today’s threats to reason is challenging us to counter wrongheaded beliefs and to provide more attractive visions, such as the principles for global consciousness outlined here. I suggest the place to begin is by discussing these ideas as widely as possible, and to shape public opinion roughly along these lines.

 

Click here to see this article

 

A related version has been published in the Journal of Futures Research.
 
 

BEYOND KNOWLEDGE:
How Technology is Driving an Age of Consciousness

I am pleased to provide this summary of my forthcoming book, Beyond Knowledge. This is simply a quick outline of the central theme, but the book should come out later this year.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and constructive criticism at Halal@GWU.edu.

 

The Age of Consciousness Is Here

After flying large aircraft in the Air Force, working on the Apollo Project and a stint in Silicon Valley, I became an academic at UC Berkeley and promptly became fascinated with the revolutionary power of the technology revolution. Although I also study business, economics and the social sciences, I  introduced a course on Emerging Technologies in 1980 when information technology began taking off.  Soon, a few colleagues and I developed what is arguably the best forecasting system in the world. The project won awards, was featured in a full-page article by The Washington Post, and I was flooded with requests by corporations and governments.

I also began to understand that the real story was not about the technology itself, or even its social fallout. Instead, it seems the technology revolution is driving an unrecognized social upheaval from “knowledge” to “consciousness.” The most striking example is the advent of today’s “post-factual world.”

The post-factual phenomenon forces us to see that the Age of Knowledge, which dominated the last two decades, is receding under today’s flood of smart phones, social media, artificial intelligence and autocrats like Trump.  Knowledge is still crucial, but the tech revolution is driving the world beyond knowledge into a new frontier governed by emotions, values, beliefs and higher-order thought. I think this means that  an “Age of Consciousness” is here, though one may not like its current form. Whatever one thinks of President Trump, almost all would concede that he is brilliant at creating an alternative reality. He is a master at shaping consciousness.

But why should we be guided by this epidemic of fake news, ignorance and outright lies? Because this eruption of unreasonableness has enveloped the globe, and it provides a clue to the new world of consciousness now being born. It’s like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, and a shot across the bow of ships of state. Politicians in Russia, Turkey, England, and Brazil, to name a few, now take refuge in dismissing criticism as fake news. Authors have called it an “Assault on Intelligence,” “The Death of Truth,” “A World Without Facts,” “The Death of Expertise,” “Truth Decay” and “The Fake News Fallacy.” [1] 

This rule of unreason pervades life today, and numerous examples suggest it is epidemic.  The US government, for instance, has been locked in stalemate for decades, even though Congress has more knowledge than it can handle. Emotional issues like abortion, gun control, immigration and the other roadblocks to a sane society have been studied to death, yet gridlock persists because of conflicting values, self-interest, and a hunger for power – consciousness again.

This brutal reality should make it rather obvious that the roots of disorder that plague our time are not rational problems to solve. They involve all the complex, messy, emotional baggage generated by normal people; they hinge on matters of subjective consciousness. The domain of consciousness is where the problems lie, and so it is also where the solutions are to be found.

Beneath this tectonic shifting in consciousness is the driving force of artificial intelligence (AI), automating knowledge work and driving us into this new frontier. The rapid advance of AI is probably the most powerful force for change today.Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, said “AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on … more profound than fire or electricity.” [2]  The result has left business, government and the public alarmed at the impending crisis in which roughly half of present jobs are eliminated and causing social chaos.  AI poses one of the most perplexing questions of our time: what lies beyond knowledge?

As this book will show, everything beyond knowledge is subjective consciousness, and the advance of AI is more evidence that we are moving into this confusing new domain. This historic shift in social evolution is illustrated by the graph below which makes the case vividly. I have struggled with this problem for years, and the result is this accurate plot of what I call the “Life Cycle of Evolution.”  The logarithmic time scale is needed to encompass the billions of years at the start of the LCE as well as decades today. Without a log scale, the shape of the LCE would not be recognizable.  The curve would simply make a sharp turn up.

In this clarifying light, the next stage of social evolution becomes rather easy to envision.  The data show accelerating progress through the earlier stages, and the logical next stage is the culminating birth of an Age of Consciousness, about now in 2020. A global level of consciousness is needed because it is increasingly clear that we are all dependent on one another in this single planet, that we should strive to become global citizens. The inspiration for this concept is provided by the brilliant insight of the Jesuit anthropologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who envisioned the world guided by a web of consciousness that envelops the globe. [3]

A close up of a map

Description automatically generated

 

Yes, this is a bold claim. I have earned a good living and a small measure of fame by forecasting change. Publications attest to the accuracy of my forecasts in the 1970s that the Knowledge Age would arrive about 2000. [4] At that time, I recall telling people that personal computers were coming, only to be greeted with “Why would anyone want a personal computer?”

Yet in 2000, PCs were everywhere, books on knowledge became rife, corporations competed to become “knowledge organizations” and the majority of jobs required working with computers to manage knowledge.  I am equally confident that an age of consciousness is here today, and we simply do not yet understand this intriguing new frontier.

Consciousness has been around throughout history, of course, so what is really new? Information and knowledge have also been used in ancient civilization, but the Knowledge Age occurred when information technology matured into the most powerful force on Earth, occupying the bulk of the labor force and our very minds.

In a similar way, consciousness is becoming a powerful technology, although barely understood, and it is changing the world. The most prominent example is public media. Think of the explosion of opinion, hatred and forbidden desires released by billions of people blasting into loudspeakers like Facebook and Twitter. Anybody can use the media to shape public opinion instantly, for better or worse. We are awash with seeing actors, TV stars, politicians, athletes, ordinary people with heart-breaking stories, cute kids doing smart things and influencers like Kim Kardashian.

The challenge is to shape a unified consciousness out of this morass of differences to solve the global crises that loom ahead. As we will see in a moment, today’s threat to reason is challenging us to counter these wrong-headed beliefs and to provide more attractive visions that offer hope. To put it more sharply, we are all shaping consciousness because that is where the action is.

This historic transition also poses enormous threats that must be resolved to avoid disaster and reach global maturity. Climate change, automation of jobs, gross inequality, government gridlock, financial meltdowns, terrorism and more have formed a constellation of end-of-the-world challenges that a colleague and I call the “Global MegaCrisis” or the “Crisis of Global Maturity. [5] Our studies estimate that roughly 70 percent of the public thinks the present world trajectory is not sustainable. People have deep fears over today’s global crises and failures in governance, and they attribute it to a lack of leadership, vision and cooperation.  The World Economic Forum published a report on Global Risks that stops just short of panic. [6]

The technology revolution will add even greater threats. I draw on my state-of-the-art forecasting system to show how the entire technology revolution is likely to unfold in the years ahead. It shows the vast range of benefits in store, but also the enormous problems of “eating fruit from the biblical tree of knowledge.” Smart cars, for example, will follow a similar path as smart phones. “A car is very much like a cell phone, and that makes it vulnerable to attack from the Internet,” said Jonathan Brossard, a security engineer.[7] Among the AI threats, many are horrified at the prospect of robotic weapons turning on people.[8]  Now ponder what could happen when billions of intelligent devices like these are wired together in the Internet of Things?

Even today, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a global disaster, and it has shifted public opinion in favor of social unity and cooperation, the very changes in consciousness proposed in this book. This crisis serves to warn us of the even greater dangers ahead as climate change and the other threats comprising the MegaCrisis hit home in a few years. 

This difficult transition can be compared to the transformation every teenager faces when passing through their own crisis of maturity. At some point, the problems become so severe that most teens eventually find the courage to act more wisely and become responsible adults. In a roughly similar way, this is humanity’s challenge to grow into a sustainable civilization. We are being forced to grow up, to develop a responsible global order, or suffer catastrophe.

This book will provide a sophisticated evolutionary perspective that shows how a global consciousness is emerging to resolve these threats and create a mature civilization. More than a theory, chapters will support this view by showing how people are changing their lives, their work, social institutions and global mindset.  As seen in the chapter outline, I make a point of fleshing out these concepts with details, evidence, supporting examples and steps to consider.

I will show how consciousness is that inner place where we live our mental lives and it is changing rapidly. People are practicing mindfulness, living with Nature, using psychedelics and other “technologies of consciousness” to develop compassion and other integrative attitudes that improve health and well-being. Personal shifts in consciousness are also underway as many abandon the dogma of religion to use diverse spiritual resources to guide their own “human spirit.” All this work on consciousness is being used to make sense of a confusing new era and to help us to perform our jobs in a slightly crazed, high-tech world.

We will also see that our collective consciousness is shifting to transform the major organs of society that define how we live our public lives – government, business, universities, religions and other institutions. In each case, I will show that a small avant garde is quietly bringing a mature awareness to these varied facets of society. Drawing on numerous examples, we see how government can become lean and responsive, business is turning democratic, education becoming student centered, and religions moving from doctrine to a personal relationship with the spiritual dimension of life.

For instance, the Business Roundtable announcement that firms should serve all stakeholders rather than profit alone is historic. The New York Times called it a “watershed moment … that raises questions about the very nature of capitalism.” [9] Leading corporations like Whole Foods, IKEA, Nucor Steel, Nortel, and Unilever collaborate with employees, customers, suppliers and governments to solve tough problems and create value for the company and stakeholders. Larry Fink, who runs the biggest investment firm in the world (Black Rock), even directed the companies he owns to help address climate costs in their operations; within days, many firms announced climate abatement plans. [10]

Corporations are the most powerful institutions in the world. This impending shift to a cooperative form of business could set an example for societies at large, spreading tendrils of collaborative problem-solving throughout the social order.

Following these ideas for institutional change, I discuss methods being used to manage our consciousness in order to cope with the demands of high-tech life. We focus on applying what I have labeled “technologies of consciousness” (ToCs). ToCs are techniques, tools and methods we use to guide our awareness, mood, understanding and other facets of consciousness, or “human spirit.” As we will see, this includes hard technologies (drugs, brain prostheses, virtual reality, etc.); ordinary parts of everyday life (coffee, alcohol, media, etc.); leadership (purpose, cooperation, etc.) and many other tools for guiding consciousness.

A striking example serves as a case in point. A few years ago, the chairman of Aetna defused an audience of angry shareholders by wading into the crowd and asking forgiveness for his mistakes and shaking hands with the critics. Here’s how a board director described the result: “In 15 minutes he changed the mood of that entire room. It was one of the most skillful demonstrations I have ever seen.” [11] The chairman’s actions illustrate why higher-order forms of consciousness are likely to take off – they are simply more effective.

We briefly look at the use of meditation, prayer and other forms of inner guidance, the healing balm of Nature, and psychotropic drugs that relieve stress and provide insight. For instance, I cite a poignant story of a housewife who uses small doses of marijuana to relieve insomnia and anxiety, allowing her to become a “better mother to her children.” We then summarize evidence showing that managing the mind can instill higher-order values of cooperation, empathy, gratitude and compassion that are essential to a unified globe.

The superior power of higher consciousness provides the key to resolving the MegaCrisis. As shown in the LCE, each stage of evolution has been propelled by revolutions – the Agrarian Revolution, the Industrial  Revolution, Post-Industrial Revolution and, most recently, the Information Revolution. Now, the world is awaiting a “Mental/Spiritual Revolution” to kick start the Age of Consciousness.

This transition can be explained using the Hegelian dialectic. [12] In Hegel’s terms, the Information Revolution forms the “thesis” that has been driving the world into a Knowledge Age, while the Global MegaCrisis represents the “antithesis” challenging this status quo. The coming Mental/Spiritual Revolution provides the catalyst to resolve this crisis and create a “synthesis” that becomes the new status quo – a unified global order.  

This may seem outrageous, especially at a time when hostilities seem hopeless, and I could be proved wrong as the world descends into disaster. But the evidence outlined throughout this book supports this possibility pretty well. I suspect this transition is a normal but difficult process, and that it probably occurs on countless civilizations throughout the universe.

The main reason this seems optimistic, and even foolhardy, is because we have no experience in global consciousness. Huddled in our small section of a limitless universe, humans have little conception of planetary evolution, much less the transition to a unified world. Our understanding is roughly similar to a naïve person who first witnesses the agony of a human birth or a teen struggling to adulthood. Without previous knowledge, these painful transitions would seem awful, too hard to bear. Yet they are entirely normal and usually successful.

So too will our  passage to global maturity appear in years to come. The current global order is not sustainable, and I think we should see a rising mental/spiritual revolution, global ethics, universal moral code or something similar about 2025 or so. A functioning global order is then likely to appear about 2050 +/- 10 years. In fact, I am as confident in this forecast as I was in 1970s that the Knowledge Age would arrive about 2000.

A unified global order will still bear the normal human failings, but it will make our current strife look as primitive as the brutal battles between kings’ armies in the feudal ages. This may sound too good to be true, yet I think most people today will live to see the coming of a unified planet and the triumph of human spirit, once again. Then it’s on to the Space Age.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved. William E . Halal


[1] Hayden, The Assault on Intelligence (New York: Penguin, 2018) Anne Applebaum, “A world without facts,” Washington Post (May 20, 2018)   Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise (New York: Oxford, 2018) Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael Rich, Truth Decay, (Santa Monica: The Rand Corporation, 2018) Adrian Chen, “The fake news fallacy,“ The New Yorker (Sep 4, 2017)

[2] World Economic Forum, Jan 24, 2018.

[3] The Phenomenon of Man (Harper Perennial Modern Thought, November 4, 2008)

[4] Halal, “The Post-Industrial Organization,” The Bureaucrat (October 1974)

[5] Halal and Michael Marien, “Global MegaCrisis: A Survey of Four Scenarios on a Pessimism-Optimism Axis,” Journal of Future Studies (March 2011)

[6] Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker, and Anders Wujkman, Second Report to the Club of Rome, (New York: Springer Science (Jan 2018). The Global Risks, (Switzerland: World Economic Forum, 2018.

[7] “Security researcher warns cars can be hacked,” (CSO, Jan 2014)

[8] New York Post (Jun 15, 2017)

[9] Sorkin, Op. Cit.

[10] “Can Corporations Stop Climate Change?” (NewYorkTimes.com, Feb 24, 2020)

[11] Ben White, “SEC Nominee Donaldson Has History of Calming Investors Fury” (Washington Post, Dec 11, 2002)

[12] For a modern explanation, see Michael Allen Fox, The Accessible Hegel  (Prometheus Books. 2005)

Steven J. Hausman, USA

PROFILE SUMMARY

I am a futurist and professional speaker on topics related to emerging and disruptive technologies that include robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, 3D printing, bionics (artificial limbs and organs) and human enhancement, the Internet of Things, drones, electric and autonomous (self-driving) vehicles, cybersecurity, climate change, future trends, technology-related employment issues, and medically-related topics such as health, aging, nutrition and gene editing. I have written articles on subjects ranging from identity theft to biometric authentication to tracking technology and have been widely quoted in many national publications.

I was employed at the National Institutes of Health for 31 years as a researcher, administrator, Senior Executive and ethics officer.

steve@hausmantech.com

John Coale, USA

PROFILE SUMMARY


DoD Electrical Engineer, Cyber Intelligence Analyst and Planner
Professor of Homeland Security, Military History, and Intelligence
Technologist, Amateur Radio, Scuba Diver, Historian


professorjohnc@yahoo.com

Sami Makelainen, Australia

PROFILE SUMMARY

Sami Makelainen has been involved in building the online and mobile worlds since 1990s. From building the early online commerce and banking platforms in North America and Europe, Sami then spent several years with various aspects of the mobile business, from applications development to network systems research for Nokia in Finland. 

Since 2009, Sami has been with Telstra Corporation in Australia, in roles spanning from a mobile platforms subject matter expert to CEO Communications and Innovation Program Management. Currently in charge of Technology Foresight, focusing on long-term technology and other trends and how they impact the business, industry and society. 

Sami holds an MSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki and lives with his family in Melbourne, Australia. His current research interests include complex systems and architecting for resilience.
smakelainen@gmail.com