Growth of Technology
The rate of technological growth is now faster than it has ever been at any point in the history of the world. Moore’s law explains we can expect the speed and capability of computers to double every couple of years, creating an exponential effect.
I was speaking to a friend recently about the strains this technological change will put on us as people, as the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ continues to grow. He told me that compared to our parents’ generation, we have a higher need to expand our human capacity and knowledge at a much faster rate because the rate of technology is so much higher.
To me this is terrifying. I’m not the only one terrified either.
Elon Musk predicted on a recent, famous Joe Rogan podcast interview, that since its inevitable we cannot control the growth and power of artificial intelligence in the future, the best case scenario is “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
This 20-minute documentary predicts that technological change and artificial intelligence will continue to happen so fast, that we will eventually reach ‘technological singularity’ where exponential growth of technology makes human knowledge inept and useless. Artificial intelligence will end up being our last invention as humans, and AI will have the choice on whether to ‘switch off’ humanity. How can we even try and keep up, or at least know how to ‘join them’ as Elon Musk said?
While this technology talk is far beyond me, I’m interested in the idea that we need to adjust our learning frameworks to keep pace with technology more than our previous generations did. I believe the fundamental mechanism that positions our brains to learn in a way where we can keep pace with singularity is to learn publicly by submitting a hypothesis and point of view. I’d like to explain a few we ways we do this.
In Language
Language is a ‘technology’ that English-speakers use every day. It is a linear language that is headed exactly in one direction but does not allow for more complex systems. I found this 3-minute video explaining. We read right to left, and we read in a linear way seeing a subject impacting a noun through a verb.
This video’s hypothesis is that the English language leaves us wanting because it does not explain how the noun affects the subject, only how the subject affects the noun. Of course, there will always be effects both ways because they are complex systems, but English does not allow for this.
Often, we think of learning as one-directional. Teacher gives a lecture, author writes a book, parents instruct their children. This is not learning. Learning comes from developing your own point of view, then testing it in real life so that you gain true understanding. In scripture, this is the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
In Selling
In the selling industry, the gold-standard reference book for all sellers this past decade is called, “The Challenger Sale.” The book’s point of view is that to build trust with the customer, the seller must come into the meeting with an informed point-of-view even before ever having done ‘discovery’ of the client’s needs.
This ‘hypothesis-based selling’ is the only way to earn the right to gain ‘discovery’ into the client’s needs. When you’ve gained the customer’s trust that you can help them, the customer will share their most pressing needs.
Active Learning
Some call this “active learning”. Shaan Puri is a respected silicon valley investor that has built his entire courses off this active learning and produced what he calls a ‘do-learn-do’ model.
This active learning is a mechanism that will keep us up to speed with the tremendous acceleration of learning and technology currently happening.
We need to train our brains to understand complex systems and having a point of view is the best way to test our ideas and grow in our understanding. To grow at exponential rates, we will need to use technology as our tool for this. We all have Google in our pockets to instantly get the information on anything in the world, but we also need to record our own hypotheses learnings as much as possible.
I use a method created by David Perell and Thiago Forte, called the 2nd Brain. By using digital tools like Evernote or Google Docs, we can create searchable memories and points of view that can be accessed for decades instantly. This puts us in a whole new ballpark for learning than our parent’s generation had.
I hope the next few decades can be ones of explosive growth for me in my learning as I partner with my 2nd brain and constantly test my hypotheses to deeper knowledge and wisdom.
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Joshua Ballantine 