Imagine human history were written in a big 1,000-page book. Every page would cover 250 years. If we tore out all the pages, it would look like this.
The very earliest permanent settlements started around page 760 and recorded history doesn't start until around page 775.
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The very earliest permanent settlements started around page 760 and recorded history doesn't start until around page 775.
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Looking at history this way reminds us that we are living in an insane anomaly. Here's a chart comparing the most recent page (which runs from the early 1770s to today) to all the pages before it.
We're now collectively turning the page to the mysterious page 1,001. As exponential technological progress gives our species increasingly godlike power, the stakes on page 1,001 are astronomicalβtoo high to do the historical pattern of getting wise through catastrophe.
Our challenge is to build a good future wisely before things get catastrophic.
This is the existential thought that got me writing my book. We have to have our wits about us right now, which only happens when societies have a strong immune system against collective foolishness.
This is the existential thought that got me writing my book. We have to have our wits about us right now, which only happens when societies have a strong immune system against collective foolishness.
Get the book as an ebook, audiobook, or on Wait But Why here:
waitbutwhy.com
waitbutwhy.com
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