It’s Time for a Reset: Why Most of the Things We Worry About Aren’t Actually a Threat
Fears. Sure, we all have them. At times they are rational, sometimes, not so much. Over the course of humanity, fear has grown as an evolutionary safety mechanism and is responsible for much of our survival throughout the centuries. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself whether the fears you’re carrying around are legitimate?
Most people worry a lot about the world and the dangers they imagine lurking around every turn. Why is that? A large part of it is due to the media, and a lot of it is because we’ve been taught to believe there are lots of things to worry about in this world. However—and this is important—the things we’re taught to worry about aren’t actually a threat, at least for most of us.
It’s time to reset and understand the real dangers we face. Although still present in some regard, the fears that have motivated humanity for hundreds of years are no longer a significant threat.
Most of us have jobs; we have families and friends or children to raise. Managing our day-to-day robs us of the mindset to properly dissect the noise and manipulation we face from the real threats we should be worried about. However, to truly thrive in the world of today and the world of tomorrow, that’s exactly what we need to do.
Our Fake Fear
Evolution, especially human evolution, is driven by fear. The fear of starvation or not having water takes a high priority. Then we worry about not losing what we have acquired, not being enslaved or killed by others. Maybe then we try to absolve the fear of dying from infections, diseases, or the bitter cold.
We worry about more specific catastrophic events, too. We’re told that we have tensions hitting tipping points around systematic and cultural racism and discrimination, a global COVID pandemic that is running wild, continuous terrorist threats, countries at constant war, and some global powers even playing Russian roulette with nukes.
The reality, though, is the gravity of these fears are often misrepresented and politicized. Yes, food security and health and war are huge problems that need to be addressed, but from the existential viewpoint of humanity as a whole, these are no longer the greatest threats we face. What we need to fear today looks nothing like what we’ve spent the last thousand years being afraid of.
We’re Afraid of the Wrong Things
As our intelligence has evolved, we have become better at understanding and addressing our known fears. The problem is that fears that motivate us are no longer a threat to our survival.
Before today, humanity faced three major problems that threatened our very existence: starvation, disease, and war. Although these are still problems today, they are not existential ones. In fact, these problems have reached the other end of the spectrum. People eat too much and die from diabetes. More people die from old age than a disease. More people die from suicide than those killed through crime, terrorism, and war combined.
In 2010, obesity killed three times more humans than starvation and malnourishment combined. In 2014, over 2.1 billion humans were obese versus the 850 million humans who were malnourished. By 2030, 50% of the human population is expected to be obese.
It’s a similar story when it comes to disease. The spread of infectious diseases has threatened the existence of humanity for a very long time. While epidemics are still a problem and devastating, they are not the same threat as they once were. There are numerous examples of this, but let’s just take one: smallpox.
In 1967, the smallpox disease had infected fifteen million people and killed two million. In 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a global vaccination initiative to eliminate smallpox. By 2014, there was not a single human that was either infected or killed from smallpox. We can eliminate disease with science.
What About Terrorism?
One of the primary functions of most governments is to keep their citizens safe. As the threat of violence continues to decrease, a government’s ability to mobilize the masses and shape behavior through fear also decreases. As a whole, the idea of government is about citizen control. What does a government do when its primary function of protecting its people is obsolete? When fear doesn’t do it, bring on terror.
Terrorism is very much real and has found a way to take up vast airtime and overrun media coverage. With politicized agendas and unfounded media claims, the show of terrorism haunts our dreams as we imagine all the terrible violent ends we may face.
But how much of a threat is terrorism, really? In 2010, 7,697 people died from terrorist violence. In the same year, three million people died from obesity. While the number of terrorism-related deaths varies from year to year, it is still nominal on the global scale of death.
Globally, terrorism is a relatively nonexistent threat to the whole of humanity. This is not to downplay lives lost due to terrorism, of course. However, it should show you that it’s time to step back and look at what you’re actually afraid of, and whether that fear is legitimate. Terrorism isn’t going to end humanity, or even you, but the reaction to terrorism just might.
The World is Changing
The industrial revolutions worked to solve the large-scale existential threats to humanity. Machine production in the First Industrial Revolution led to the creation of steam engines, which led to locomotives that built vast distribution networks for supplies and food.
The Second Industrial Revolution ushered in the age of science and mass production, helping us understand the spread of infectious diseases and the diseases themselves. The Third Industrial Revolution brought us semiconductors and mainframe computers, which led to personal computers, smartphones, and the internet.
As we continue to advance and build on all these inventions, we will continue to minimize the risk and impact of our existence’s previous threats. Everything, expected and not, that comes with the megatrends of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will only further resolve these problems, making our fears even more obsolete. What then?
The emergence of technological advancements and innovation is creating a new existential threat that humans must deal with. We must move on from our perceived existential threats to addressing actual existential threats. Food shortages won’t wipe out humanity, but the inventions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution might.
Let me put it another way. You might rather starve to death than face the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence.
The True Threat
We’ve gotten this far because of our potential for intelligence. Every generation overcomes challenges thought impossible by the previous generation because of our intelligence. This is why the most pressing threat any of us will face in our lifetime is a new form of intelligence: AI. It’s not sci-fi; this is a growing reality.
Better understanding this new form of intelligence is not only essential to our survival but will be vital to shaping our short- and long-term futures. This is much more than the humanoid robots Hollywood loves to play with; it could be an invisible, cloud-based form of artificial intelligence. It could be a human who has augmented their brain through a wireless connection with endless amounts of digital storage and exponential computing power.
Regardless of the exact form, a monopolistic form of singularity can occur. This will be the endgame for humanity unless we address all of the ways AI can be catastrophic. The early stages of this change are underway right now. This is the time for the conversation, and you must play a part.
We Must Redefine Our Ethics
As a global community, we must work together to redefine our ethics around the current and future technological developments. When considering these ethics, we must have as many people as possible, with as many views and opinions as possible, involved in the process.
No technical prowess is required. Instead, all we need is a basic understanding and education around the concept and topic and a clear open mind with a selfless focus on humanity. We all can participate. The key, though, is we must be willing to put aside our fake fears and focus on the true threat that’s coming.
For more advice on how to thrive in the world that’s coming, you can find Surfing Rogue Waves on Amazon.
Eric Pilon-Bignell is a pragmatic futurist focused on addressing disruption by increasing the creative capacity of individuals, teams, and organizations to ignite change, innovation, and foster continuous growth. Eric has an undergraduate degree in engineering, an MBA in Information Systems, and a Ph.D. in Global Leadership. His doctoral work primarily explored complexity sciences centered on executive cognition and their use of intuitive improvisation, decision-making, artificial intelligence, and data-based decision models. When he is not working with clients, researching, or writing, he can be found in the mountains or on the water. He founded PROJECT7 to raise awareness and money for research on brain-related illnesses. Eric is currently working and living with his wife in Chicago, Illinois. To connect or learn more about this book, Eric, or PROJECT7, please visit www.ericpb.me.