Bryan JohnsonFounder of Blueprint and Don't Die

Future of tech? Better. Future of human?

28 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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In this short monologue, Bryan Johnson challenges the common assumption that technology will inevitably improve humanity over the next few decades. He points out that while we readily imagine futuristic advances such as nanobots repairing DNA or artificial general intelligence, we accept these outcomes as "better" without questioning the underlying dynamics—whether progress will accelerate, stagnate, or even decay. Johnson proposes a different focus: the crucial change will be humanity learning to "attach" itself to the compounded rate of technological improvement, a concept he dubs a "human Moore's Law." By aligning human development with the exponential growth of technology, we could shape a future where humans actively ride the wave of progress rather than passively assuming it will be beneficial.

Chapters

If we say, how good is technology going to be in 20 years time without questioning it, you and I are going to agree it's better. Now, are we going to say there's nanobots in our bloodstream repairing our DNA in real time, or is it AGI? Whatever our speculations are, it has this dramatic assumption that it's better if you and I say, what are you and I going to be like in 20 years from now? We don't even question it. It's worse. We just don't know how slow or how fast the decay is going to be. But what if in the 25th century, people were talking about what humans in the early 21st century change that fundamentally altered the future of human existence? It was that humans figured out how to attach themselves to the speed, the compounded rate of improvement that we see in our technology today. So when you and I go through that second thought experiment, we say what are you and I going to be like in 20 years? We don't know. But better. Unquestionably, we believe that it's like the human Moore's Law. Affiliation.