The Society of the Future, or what some call the “future society” is a concept first put forward in the mid-1990’s. This concept was written by Philip Mirowsky. In his book, the society of the future was defined as one in which there would be no longer any need for work due to the existence of a single platform at which work could be done. This would free up resources from the constraints of scarcity that exist within the present society. This would also cause changes in how work was to be done, because with no longer having to go through the routines of labor there would be a greater emphasis on what is important to be done, and that would free up time for more important activities.
In their book, the contributors to this idea, Mirowsky and colleagues, suggest that society should be approached from three perspectives: the individual, society, and big data. According to the individual, society is defined by the way society interacts with the individual in everyday life, and this interaction is influenced by technological systems. The society of the future would then be defined by big data, and this would include both technological and non-technological systems that affect how people interact with one another. These inter interactions will become increasingly important over time as society and technology continue to improve.
Another perspective that is important for anyone considering the society of the future, is that it is a human-centered society. As mentioned above, this society would have no need for economic development because everything that needs to be done to be able to interact with the technological systems already existing can be done with machinery and humans won’t need to work. However, this doesn’t mean that there will be no need for economic development because there will always be some way for humans to profit from the production process. This is especially true given that humans are excellent capitalists, that they can create new goods and services at a much cheaper cost than capital.
Big data is one of the ways in which humans will be able to benefit from economic development. For example, many health problems currently plague society, such as obesity and diabetes. However, thanks to new technologies, researchers have been able to create new technologies that monitor and measure different aspects of human health. The result is a large database of information that can inform and guide decisions about health and medical care. It can also help prevent these diseases through prevention and early diagnosis.
While this might seem like a new technology, what it really means is the implementation of knowledge management – combining computer science, information technology and economics. With the aid of sophisticated new technologies, knowledge management allows the automation of all the processes that currently manage the distribution of information in society. All human intervention in any economic activity becomes a form of knowledge management, and this creates the possibility of optimal efficiency in business, politics, government and society as a whole.
As society becomes more automated, new solutions to social problems will become available. In addition, the automation of society opens up all kinds of opportunities for future economic development. For instance, the creation of AI (artificial intelligent computers), will allow humans to gain control over the distribution of resources and therefore allow them to pursue an agenda that is economically productive while doing the most good for everyone.
In addition, the process of automation will also create the opportunity for the expansion of human-centered society. The expansion of human-centered society will enable the expansion of economic, technological and political systems, resulting in a much larger scale of society. However, the expansion of human-centered society also brings with it its share of problems. As society becomes more automated, there are limited ways in which humans can interact and deal with the physical space beyond the level of their computerized minds. For instance, the expansion of society means that humans may be able to interact more physically with other beings, but this will require that human interaction conform to the norms of physical space.
Another example of a potential problem arises when the scope of human-centered society expands to include artificial intelligence. Once artificial intelligence is developed sufficiently, it may not be limited by the physical space and the norms of physical space, therefore it could access and abuse sensitive information. In addition, the development of artificial intelligence could be a potential threat to the privacy of those within a society, because a system developed sufficiently well could potentially be superior to all current methods of keeping information private. These two potential threats to the security of society should be very serious concerns for those who support the concept of society. In the end, however, all these problems may be easily overcome, as human-centered societies expand their influence into the outer physical space and begin to merge with the cosmos.
