The Next Human Evolution

It is not mutation. It is not surrendering our biological forms. It is not turning into cyborgs. It is not the development of supernatural abilities. It is no less radical. Yet it is not fiction or fantasy. It may or may not happen, and it depends on us. We need it to happen. We would want it to happen. I am talking about the next Human Evolution.

The Technological Canvas

Whatever the human mind is able to logically conceive, technology is able to do. We are reaching that reality with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, Brain Computer Interface, Internet of Things, Robotics and much else.

We are heading into a reality, where without the gift of a melodious voice or the ability to play an instrument, purely by converting imagination into sound, one will become the next Rock Star. We are heading into a reality, where a filmmaker will only need to dream, and allow that dream to be captured by a software, to be streamed for viewers, to live virtually inside that dream. We are heading into a reality, where we will all be able to design and instantly a produce a custom product suited to our needs, on our own, with our household 3D-Printers. We are heading into a reality where no physical handicap will be a bar. We are heading into a reality, where anything that can be mathematically explained, will be done by machines. No human being will ever be needed to do a job that is dirty, dangerous, laborious or unpleasant ever again.

The Business Canvas

The bar for entry into commerce will be lowered, firstly because of universal access to information and knowledge. And the future product is not necessarily a costly physical good, but an idea, a concept or a formula. The likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook and Uber are just preludes, precursors and samplers of what is to come ahead. That does not mean that the companies that have been around for since much longer or the traditional brick & mortar businesses will no longer exist. The opportunities to be in business however, will explode, to end in a state of limitlessness. And the business of tomorrow, beyond just new models, will also be different, in that it will be less about competition, and more about synergistic collaboration, regardless the industry.

The Societal Canvas

It will not be about a pyramid of a few on top anymore. The Serf-Master relationship has survived the first 3 industrial revolutions. It will not survive the fourth. We will have to accept and deal with the shift of society from being employee-oriented to entrepreneur-oriented. There is resistance to this concept, because of an extensive lack of appreciation and understanding at many levels, as to how we can get there, what it will entail or how it can persist. That resistance will prove costly for those who resist it. Very costly.

The Need for Evolution

With so much power that technology promises to hand to humanity as well as the upheavals of the orders of things that must come for those promises to be delivered, humanity or human society, or the constituents to be precise, humans, will need to have the capacity to harness, handle and live with that power. And this will definitely require some shift at the individual level through to the societal level, on a global scale.

The shift in question will have to be evolutionary in nature, given, what it is required for. It is to allow for humanity to continue to create beyond what has previously been imagined as possible, and then to also collectively benefit from that condition of creation. For the sake of creation, humanity will have to increasingly collaborate for and co-own processes of creation. Then for the sake of the collective all, humanity will have to be able to allow, without exclusion or prejudice, the benefits to all. This implies a devolution of control, authority, privilege and power. This also implies placing greater collective interests before one's own.

Evolution has always occurred to ensure a survival. The next evolution is no different. If we are building and pushing for the technologies of tomorrow, today, it is for the sake of our survival whether we realize it or not, consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously. In effect, we are creating a technological evolution, though which, however, will be worthless, without our own evolution.

The technological evolution, that is setting up the technological canvas of tomorrow, will only be worthwhile if it supports the societal and business canvases of tomorrow, which can only be possible, if we are evolved ourselves, enough to accept, embrace and make the most of them.

Each evolution is about overcoming the barrier to our survival. The next evolution of us, is no different, in that, it is about overcoming the barrier that will not allow us to otherwise make what we need to, of the technological future we are making, which will in turn render possible the best possible scenarios for business and society. And that barrier, is evil. The evil we are collectively or individually capable of, susceptible to and prone to.

The next Human Evolution, is the Erosion of Evil.

Evil

Evil is not just blowing up bombs to kill innocent women and children. Nor is evil just flying planes into civilian office buildings. Evil is also accumulating wealth without regard for others, including our own who are yet to be born. To take resources from the earth without regard for the environmental and climatic impacts, is evil. To burn fuels or engage in processes that reduce the habitability of the planet is evil. To gather resources for one's self by denying opportunities to others is evil. To hog anything, be it material, information, access or power, is evil. To exclude others, from that, which we benefit from, is evil. To exploit, is evil. To manipulate is evil. I can go on without stopping.

For the great technologies some human beings are working so hard on today for manifestation tomorrow, will only do as much good to our reversal of our negative impacts on our biosphere, as we enable all of us, and our descendants to create solutions. Those technologies will only serve our happiness, as much as we ensure, that those technologies deliver happiness, to everyone. And that means the best benefit of any and every technology, must be availed to any human being, who can desirably benefit from it. That is a lot of selflessness. Anything that stands in the way of that selflessness, is evil.

The evil as I describe herein, is an inherent human flaw. Or at least it has been, till now. The next Human Evolution, is about overcoming just that, by and through its erosion. That it will never again be a part of our future, any future, is without room debate, an impossibility, as long as humanity exists, if not in action, then at least in thought or sentiment. Evil is on the reverse side of good, and it cannot end, without the end of life, a fact without even us wanting to be philosophical. It has always existed and will exist as long as we do, and beyond perhaps, in other species. That it can be overcome, that it can be eroded, is not impossible though. And that erosion, is no less than an evolution, if it does happen. And for our survival, we need it to happen.

The Evolution

It is no coincidence, that all the key technologies you can think of today, are developing in a direction where they depend on collaboration. It is no coincidence that all the biggest game-changing businesses that have been emerging since the beginning of the current century to disrupt others in existence since before them have been of the platform kind, digital and dependent upon a community.

Collectively, the shared human social-psychology has been driving those so intellectually endowed in such a direction. We are designed by nature to survive as such, where even without us realizing we work out means to survive, before we need to, but only in part. The other part of survival, still depends on the conscious will, thought and action.

In history, we have shown the adequate conscious will, thought and action to survive. We will have to show the same again. We will have to match what we have achieved subconsciously so far, with the conscious achievement and attainment, of collectively evolving, with active and conscious erosion of our evil.

If collectively, we reprogram ourselves to consider the whole of humanity, rather than anything lesser, the erosion of evil will begin in us.

A key to our reprogramming is the reinvention of education. Whatever it is today, globally, education needs to be something that is free and completely accessible at all levels to every human being born of sound mind, everywhere, without interruption, limits or conditions. That education also needs to be individually tailored to suit each individual's unique needs as well as make-up or combination of intelligences (if you appreciate the concept of multiple intelligences). Instead of being a tool for societal filtering, fragmentation or social engineering, education needs to be a vehicle of bringing the best out of each individual, and making the best of it, in a world where hierarchies, divisions or classes have no place. Education has to be a vehicle for delivering both equality and equivalence to all. It also needs to become values based, where human values are prioritized over formulas, methods or techniques.

What if we fail to evolve?

We are close to losing the ability to live on the only planet that we are able to reach, on which we can survive; Planet Earth. Its climate is transforming, in ways that aren't good for us. The fault is ours. Without our biological states, we have no purpose, reason or meaning for existence. We are designed by nature not to survive without these biological bodies, which are dependent on certain environmental conditions. When those conditions are lost because of new climatic manifestations, we will cease to exist.

If we somehow develop a global epiphany today, to stop all mining, drilling, burning and emissions, matched with rapid mass reforestation, we can start slowing the damage already in progress to some extent, but we will still need more innovative efforts, to reverse the cycle, which can only best be assured if as many people as possible are empowered to be thinkers, with access to intellectual empowerment, through technology, so that solutions can be sourced optimally. Even before achieving that, we may all be slaughtered by terrorists or radical religious nut-jobs before we can accomplish saving the planet environmentally, who will then proceed to deliver human extinction by killing each other over the last mule or goat to copulate with. Here, I will refrain from adding further examples by which we may see the end of humanity, perhaps even within the span of the millennial generation. What I have presented herein, should suffice.

What if we Evolve?

You only need to know and worry about the laws, if you are at risk of contravening them. Good people, do not need to know the laws, because they mean to do no harm, and are careful not to do any harm. If righteousness prevails in society, in actions, in words and in thoughts, there will not be a need for laws. Consider this thought.

Now imagine a society, where you do not need a police force, a prison or a court. How can this be possible? It can, if in general, human beings are responsible, enough to regulate themselves and their actions.

Consider a society, where all resources are fully dedicated to constructive creation of positive solutions, causes for happiness and preservation of quality life for all individuals.

Consider how technology is abused today. With the kind of power that technology with its evolution to what is being forecast today to be in coming years promises, consider how it may be abused. What if it isn't abused, but only constructively used, and we are able to trust each other, to only use it responsibly and constructively?

Consider in business, we are able to fully trust each other in our negotiations, transactions and collaborations. Whether internally within the organisations we form or externally, within the wider system of community, industry or market.

It may never fully be achieved, what I am asking you to consider here, but we can get close, with the erosion of evil, that makes such scenarios outright unthinkable today, everywhere, altogether. And being close, may just be good enough, and suffice, for our survival. And that is what the evolution promises to deliver for us.

Our Survival Ensured

An upgrade from Democracy to Holacracy, will credibly be rendered possible, whether at work, or in wider society, where every individual regardless of background or conditions of birth, has an equal voice, opportunity and role, where one's unique strengths or competencies are fully utilized by all, positively. And each individual takes, then, responsibility, for self-regulation.

The focus can shift from enriching the self, to species preservation, where work is less about enhancing monetary returns for shareholders, and more about making sure the planet remains livable, diseases remain at bay and peace prevails.

A life of dignity and comfort for all, resultant from empowerment and inclusion of all individuals will end polarization, divisions, factionalism, strife, social discontent, revolt and fragmentation of society.

Values based thinking over material thinking, in itself an evil, will mean camaraderie, cooperation, communion and collaboration prevailing over a sense of competition at levels from individual, group to community.

Proper values based education will also mean enhanced spiritual understanding, taking away space from radical religious opportunists or terrorists for their recruitment. No recruitment, means discontinuity for such elements.

Empowerment and enhancement of life quality, means deterioration of incentives for crime, criminal thinking or the criminal life.

Collectively, these benefits of evil's erosion deliver an ability for humanity to unite and together concentrate on existential level issues. If that is delivered, the surfacing of necessary solutions to threats, whether giant meteors heading towards our planet or seismic activity, is made possible.

Now consider all the reasons, why all of humanity collectively, today, is not focused, or prepared, for the existential threats we can credibly think of? I rest my case.

The Business Case for the Human Evolution

Evolution means not just survival, but also continuity and progress, which translate to profitability. Makes sense to you?

Harish Shah is Singapore's first local born Professional Futurist and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting and Keynote Topics include EmTech, Industry 4.0, HR, Digital Transformation, Marketing, Strategic Foresight, Systems Thinking and Organisational Future Proofing.