Jeremy Lent  ​Author and Integrator

  • The Web of Meaning
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  • The Web of Meaning
    • Advance Praise
    • Explore Web of Meaning >
      • Introduction
      • Who Am I?
      • Where Am I?
      • What Am I?
      • How Should I Live?
      • Why Am I?
      • Where Are We Going?
    • Book Club Guide
  • The Patterning Instinct
    • Themes
    • Explore Themes >
      • Culture, Values, and History
      • Human Nature
      • Science and Religion
      • Power and Exploitation
      • Consumer Society
      • The Future
      • Sustainable Flourishing
    • Table of Contents
    • Praise for The Patterning Instinct
    • Reviews
    • Readers' Responses
    • Book Clubs
  • About
  • Media
    • Interviews >
      • Interviews | 2018
      • Interviews | 2017
    • Articles >
      • Articles | 2016–18
    • Talks >
      • Talks | 2012–18
  • Blog
  • Liology
  • Calendar
    • Event Archive
  • Contact
  • Requiem of the Human Soul

The Future​...

Is humanity headed for collapse?

For techno-utopia?
​


​Or for something entirely different?

Explore more in
​The Future

Book excerpts

How do civilizations collapse?

Are we headed for a technological Singularity?

Could humanity bifurcate into two separate species?

Is a future of sustainable flourishing possible?

Video

The Great Transformation, Or How We (Just) Avoided a Climate Catastrophe

Blog posts

Infinition: Our Acceleration to the Infinite

Review: More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement

The slippery slope to
​d-humans

A view from the 22nd century:
The human race is on trial. At stake… its continued existence

Recommended
​ Reading

Buy
The Patterning Instinct

Vertical Divider

Can We Achieve a
​Stable Orbit?
 


Imagine a satellite being launched into orbit, but its controls aren't working too well. 

If the trajectory gets too steep, it will break through earth's gravity field and soar into outer space. 

If it accelerates too rapidly, atmospheric resistance will cause it to come crashing down in a fiery ball. 

Only if everything is managed with great care will the satellite achieve a stable orbit. ​


The trajectory of our civilization is a lot like that satellite.

At the accelerating rate of technological innovation, artificial intelligence may soon transcend our own, and human DNA might be re-engineered to produce a genetically enhanced species – like the satellite leaving its home planet forever.

On the other hand, the rate at which we’re exploiting the earth’s resources is unsustainable: in addition to climate change, there’s a rapidly accumulating list of equally daunting crises, such as capacity limits in crucial resources, deforestation, and a massive extinction of species. If the convergence of these multiple threats becomes too much to handle, our global civilization could face a total collapse – like the satellite hitting too much resistance and crashing down.

To me, and perhaps to you too, neither of these scenarios is attractive. But is it possible for our civilization to manage its trajectory capably enough to reach a stable orbit? What would it take to achieve that?

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