Transitions: The synergistic impacts of major technologies in the twenty-second century and beyond

This essay attempts to give an overview of what the author anticipates to be a major period of sociotechnical change that we are now entering. He believes we are already in the early phases of a transition of such scope that it will make the transition from medieval Europe to the ‘modern’ world seem like a hiccup. The source of this amazing possibility is the potential synergy among three major technologies that can transform the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘where’ of the members of the human race and their social interactions. This speculative essay focuses on the impacts of the long-term trend of increasing closeness between the human being and technology. It attempts to lay out what may be the general features of a substantial transformation based on this increasing intimacy and to indicate the importance of stretching the imagination to contemplate our human future, which, for better or worse, is embedded in technology. The central issues are not fascinating new technologies, but new configurations of the human individual and society. The interaction between technology and its human and social milieu has never, in the author’s opinion, been so important as it is now and will be through the foreseeable future. The purpose of this essay is to stimulate thought and indicate potential directions. It makes no pretense of being a comprehensive or detailed analysis because all consequences of sociotechnical interactions cannot be identified in advance.