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Depending on the specific details of the future tech, people could be empowered, restricted, or both. Some technologies, such as internet communication, cheap storage and sensors coupled with AI for analysis and the governmental thirst for surveillance are stacked against freedom. On the other hand, 3d printers, solar and battery tech, promise to free small communities from economic dependence on other countries and large corporations. A small community could be almost self sufficient and thus, maybe, future people will not depend on the state so much. So I don't think we'll get to choose what is our future, the specifics of the technologies we are going to discover will shape us, just like the internet does. To make an analogy, humans don't get to choose their walking style, but rather the human walking style is emergent from the size and shape of the body. We don't even get to choose which domains are going to advance and which are going to stagnate. It depends on the difficulty of the discovery process. Interestingly, the rate of advancement of science and tech doesn't get perturbed even during war time. It just marches on, almost unaffected. So, I see it like Pandora's box - it's open and we have no idea what will come out, but we're going to see a lot of it during our lifetime. |