Forgiving Humanity: How the Most Innovative Species Became the Most Dangerous - The Curse of Exponential Change

Summary

Why has the most innovative of species become so dangerous? The answer, suggests Peter Russell, lies in humanity’s accelerating pace of development. He shows how innovation breeds further innovation—a positive feedback loop leading to exponential rates of change. But our minds cannot grasp the full implications of exponential growth. We think more in terms of linear change, leading to a blind spot on the future. 

However fast the pace of change may be today, it will be even faster in the years to come, bringing ever more rapid scientific and technological advances. But ever-accelerating change also creates stress on the systems involved. The faster the change, the greater the stress, and the more likely systemic breakdown. We are heading into a future with technology beyond our dreams, but in a world that is breaking at the seams.

Russell argues there is no blame for this. Spiraling rates of development, with all their consequences, positive and negative, are the inevitable fate of any intelligent, technologically-empowered species. 

How do we live with such unsettling conclusions? How can we prepare for a world that is becoming increasingly unpredictable? What does it mean for the future of humanity?

Peter Russell, the widely acclaimed author of The Global Brain and other pioneering works, earned an honors degree in theoretical physics and psychology —as well as a masters degree in computer science —at the University of Cambridge. He subsequently went to India where he explored meditation and Eastern philosophy, and was one of the first people to introduce personal development programs to corporations in the 1970s. His other books include The TM Technique, The Upanishads, Waking Up in Time, From Science to God, and Letting Go of Nothing.