Today, humans are constantly pursuing the next best thing, but it wasn’t always this way. Modern humans originated in Africa around 200,000 years ago. In terms of technology, it seems that we’ve accomplished 99% of the progress in the last 0.1% of our timeline. Just 250 years ago, the average person was lucky to make it past their 30th birthday; now, I’m fortunate enough to visit my 94-year-old grandpa who wouldn’t be here without the help of his triple heart bypass surgery and shiny pacemaker. It’s night and day when you look at what humans have been able to accomplish in the last couple hundred years (maybe thanks to… caffeine?). Imagine telling someone in 1900 that in their children’s lifetime, they’d be able to get in a giant metal tube that holds 400 people and fly to Europe. They simply wouldn’t believe you.
We’ll be in the same boat in not too long, which can be frightening to try to wrap my head around. Moore’s Law used to state that the number of transistors on a microchip will double every two years, which in turn increases the capability of technology exponentially over time. Not so fast! Neven’s Law, named after the founder of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at Google, says that computing capacity from quantum computing is growing at a doubly exponential rate. What does this look like?
n 2n 2(2n) Quantum Computing ( 2(2n)) Power Relative to Classical Computing (2n)
1 2 22 4
2 4 24 16
3 8 28 256
4 16 216 65,536
5 32 232 4,294,967,296
6 64 264 18,446,744,073,709,551,616
7 128 2128 3.4028236692093846346337460743177e+38
8 256 2256 1.1579208923731619542357098500869e+77
9 512 2512 1.3407807929942597099574024998206e+154
10 1024 21024 1.797693134862315907729305190789e+308
Quantum computing, which experts believe to see in action by 2030, has a much higher processing power than we can imagine, and it will revolutionize the way we can give and learn pertinent information. This is one example of many wonderful innovations that improve the way we can use technology. We’re finally coming up with the tools to be better, faster, and more efficient at practically everything in our lives, and this is just the surface.
We must be careful not to dive too deep too fast, as technology is already at the forefront of everyday life across the world. Following the invention of the Internet, we are now able to connect and interact instantly with someone 5,000 miles away with the click of a few buttons. Better connection and faster communication at an overall lower cost. I believe that technology is generally good for humans altogether but can carry many negative externalities, many of which we are yet to realize the full detriment. The best example of this double-edged sword is social media. It’s crucial to remember that Gen Z can hardly remember what life was like before smartphones; I’ve probably checked either Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat at least once 95% of the days for the past 8 years (maybe even 100% of the days). This is the new normal. We are the test dummies for Big Tech in a social experiment that has tremendous stakes and unknown magnitude. Did we even really have a choice?
One doctor sums it up well, saying “social media platforms drive surges of dopamine to the brain to keep consumers coming back over and over again. The shares, likes, and comments on these platforms trigger the brain’s reward center, resulting in a high similar to the one people feel when gambling or using drugs.” TikTok is the newest of the bunch and could be the worst of them all even apart from all Chinese ownership/data as a weapon conspiracy. An algorithm that knows exactly what you want to see and feeds you short hits of dopamine to keep you scrolling for more, all the while making you feel worse about your own life – why would anyone want to do anything else? No wonder there has been a significant uptick in reports of anxiety and depression.
Another scary one: “when the outcome is unpredictable, the behavior is more likely to repeat. Think of a slot machine: if game players knew they never were going to get money by playing the game, then they never would play.” Pleasure and dopamine are available 24/7 in our pocket, and it’s a battle we know we can’t win, yet we still play the game. In the book Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke argues that with prolonged and repeated exposure to pleasure and stimulus, our capacity to handle pain decreases, and our bar for experiencing pleasure increases. A developing brain is susceptible to changes that can affect behavior for life. That alone can have devastating consequences for Gen Z along with everyone else who spends a noticeable chunk of their time on social media.
Did 13-year-old me know what he was getting himself into? If I could do it all again, I’d probably act differently. It’s negative psychological effects haven’t gone unknown, as legislators are acting on the influx of bad news about young kids using social media. What age is too young? A House Republican from Utah introduced a bill last week that would require companies to verify their users are at least 16 years old and allow parents to sue if they fail while empowering federal and state organizations to enforce the law.
Social media is just one example of many where advancing technology has led to new digital innovations that offer an abundance of both good and bad. It’s near impossible to quantify the real-world implications given its recency, and strides will have to be taken by the right individuals to ensure digital innovation relies on communities of trust and love with human well-being at the top of the totem pole.
I wrote this with the intention to become a conversation between peers. So what do you think about all of this? Do you agree? Leave a comment below.