Inflection Point

We are at an inflection point. But what is an inflection point? In differential geometry, it is a point on a plane curve at which the curvature changes. In other words, one can infer that it is a directional change. We are at a civilizational disruption point, and it is going to be an irreversible directional change in terms of how life will be lived in the years to come.

We can vividly see _ this metamorphosis happening right before our eyes: an old way of being is rapidly giving way to another. This disruption is taking place in every aspect of our lives and transforming us from within. The way we consume social media, what we eat, our health, demography, social and cultural beliefs—all of these are changing, or perhaps being nudged toward a particular way of being and becoming.

Of all these shifts, the most fundamental is in what it means to be human, for that too will change. Our deepest concern is with the human being. How will our children be ten or twenty years from now? Let us quickly revisit some timelines to see how we have been, where we are, and what is likely to follow. In 2004, Facebook came into existence, followed by Twitter in 2006.

That was the beginning of social media, a world in itself. Until then, we had no idea how we would engage with such a world. Today, not only do we engage with it, it has become our world—a world radically different from the pre-2004 era, or what we might call B. FB (Before Facebook, if you will). It was not the launch of Facebook or Twitter alone that was disruptive.

It was the technological interface that made the difference: an extraordinary, groundbreaking, life-altering, and unprecedented innovation in mobile phones—the launch of the iPhone in 2007, introducing the ‘touch screen.’ Post this, we saw the emergence of many social media platforms. In 2009, Facebook introduced the “like” button— our reward system.

Your post or picture would attract likes; the more likes you had, the greater the reward, and the higher the reward, the stronger the boost to your self-esteem. In 2010 came Instagram, followed by Snapchat in 2011. It is interesting to recall what Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker, admitted in 2017: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?

We need to give you a dopamine hit every now and then.” The consequences soon followed. Since 20II, mental health among school and college students began to suffer. Data from 2019 showed rising suicide rates in Finland, Austria, and Norway, while depression and anxiety worldwide increased to affect 3-4% of the global population. Human attention span has also declined.

In 2000, it was 12 seconds; by 2013-14, it had dropped to 8.25 seconds. By comparison, the attention span of a jellyfish is 9 seconds. Fast forward to 2023: OpenAl’s ChatGPT-4 achieved SAT scores better than 90% of test takers. More striking is the rate of adoption of algorithm-driven applications. ChatGPT reached 1 million users in just five days of its launch, and 100 million users within two months. This is unprecedented.

It shows that we are adopting disruptive technologies at lightning speed. The case of identity: How do we then identify ourselves today? What is our digital identity? What follows large language model (LLM) applications is the adoption of material hacking— the Internet of Bodies (IoB). For example, Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, followed by body-hacking gadgets that enhance physical and cognitive abilities (e.g., RFID implants).

Then comes bio-hacking: genetic manipulation via the CRISPR-CasQ technique. We are in transition—from being Homo sapiens to cyborgs, people who use machines to enhance intelligence. We are becoming connected faster than ever before. While 4G can support 4,000 devices per square kilometer, 5G can now support | million devices per square kilometer. We are surely on our way toward transhumanism and technological singularity.

The choice will be ours A non-biological human intelligence merging with our biology, or a conscious human. being, sourcing higher intelligence—an intelligence born of consciousness.? A technology-driven future or a consciousness-driven future? A smart human being—clever but not wise—or a conscious, wise human being? The capacity to recreate and renew in the human species is evolutionary.

It is this evolutionary potential that the human race possesses. Education must endeavour to awaken this— enabling us to realize the evolutionary impetus within.