Digital Void

Two nights ago, I had a seriously messed-up experience. I almost wrecked my phone, or at least I messed up its software booting system or something like that. You see, after completely draining the battery, I plugged it in and tried to power it back on. But it didn't work anymore.

It booted up for a while but without the usual end result. So there I was, holding a phone that wasn't working, and half of my life was in there. I know it might sound a bit outrageous, but most of what we consider our lives nowadays resides in the digital realm.

Our cash, our internet friends, internet money, the news, the shops we like, our memories (photos), and so much more. After multiple attempts to revive the phone, I almost lost hope. Given my currently messed-up financial situation, the last thing I needed was to buy a new phone right now.

Luckily, it booted up in "safe mode" for a while. The only reason it lets you do that is to save your personal data and factory reset it. Unfortunately, I couldn't save anything because I was running some Samsung app that lets me disable bloatware from my phone, and I had the "back up options" deactivated within that app. So, I had to factory reset the darn phone and start from scratch.

I ended up going to bed at 3 AM, and if I had the money for a new phone, I would have definitely wrecked this one. Anyway, I'm back to being able to use Hive, my crypto wallets, Twitter, and my messaging apps on my phone. But, all my photos got deleted, and this situation made me ponder for a bit.

We often like to think of ourselves as a highly developed species, and we believe that technological progress is nearing its peak. Well, we might be dead wrong about that. I just read on Twitter today that so-called scientists have managed to "grow an entity" that closely resembles an "early human embryo" without using sperm, eggs, or a womb.

Take a moment to let that sink in. Half of my life revolves around a darn phone, and these folks are creating entities out of thin air. Well, pun intended. Can you imagine how far we are from reaching the peak in what we now call technology?

So far, technology has had its own life, so to speak, mostly working separately from us. But I bet it will be integrated into human existence much sooner than we think. On one hand, we find it odd that kids nowadays are immersed in various virtual worlds. On the other, these worlds are gradually becoming an integral part of our so-called normal existence.

We often talk about AI, but do any of us have an idea of the exponential growth this tech could experience over the next couple of decades? We haven't even scratched the surface when it comes to AI. Generating images, sounds, and text is not the pinnacle of what this tech can do. Reading one's thoughts through some sort of AI device or chip is close to the pinnacle of its potential use.

And perhaps, even that is far from reaching the peak in tech. Imagine AI doctors, cops, judges, lawyers, nutritionists, personal trainers, teachers, and more. How will life be on Earth when we reach that level of blending the human species with technology? But do we really want that? Well, it depends on who you ask this question.

If you ask a billionaire who's healthy, fulfilled, and eager to experience as much as possible through their five senses, you might not find much excitement in their answer. But if you ask the same question to a blind person who can regain their sight through some implanted chip or whatever, you'll probably get a different answer.

Some of us, including myself, used to think a few years ago that blockchain technology and cryptocurrency were the pinnacle of technological progress in the 21st century. But when you consider other technologies and their impact on our everyday lives, crypto doesn't seem like such a breakthrough anymore.

Just pay attention to people at restaurant tables, and you'll notice that over half the time they spend together is while glancing at their phones. Often, we can't fully express ourselves using language. Maybe, in the future, some form of technology will allow us to send our thoughts to other connected individuals, facilitating even deeper interconnectivity.

It feels like just yesterday that cell phones seemed like such a technological marvel, and now so much of our lives depend on an internet-connected smartphone. What will the technology of tomorrow bring?

Thanks for your attention,
Adrian