A collection of theses

2023-12-23, post № 281

opinion, #future, #technology

’Tis the season, it might: I herein present a handful of theses^[1] prospecting the non-past. For each, there has existed at least one day for which I rigorously upheld it.

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a) Climate change’s increasing biotope transformations spawn novel living conditions in which adapted novel creatures thrive. Widespread fear about extinctions gives way to excitement witnessing new forms of life. Humanity quickly adapts and the decade-old fearmongering halts. Reflecting on how the optimisation engine that is emergent evolution has not marooned us, a new era of futuristic excitement is ushered in akin to the third quarter of last century.

b) State executive incompetence regarding internationally organised crime can no longer be upheld by societies making way for mandatory backdoors in all cryptographic processes. Soon, efficiency considerations lead to a wide-spread acceptance of unprotected communication. In turn, implementation pressure is massively reduced on now defunct cryptographic libraries, sparking a resurgence in new programming languages which are able to carve out a foothold in industry since the barriers for being a usable language have fallen. This explosion in artistic expression nestles into the fabric of human art output, is handed down across generations and respected as a societal cornerstone.

c) Politically powerful lobby-backed forces are offered resignation in political affairs with full compensation in all monetary regards by the state indefinetely; since this is most likely less expensive for the population. I see few other ways apart from utter mayhem how societal problems the likes of sugar consumption or web reliance could be resolved.

d) Privacy enthusiasts more and more retreat into a background of insignificance, leaving the majority of our population with a vacuum of position which is swiftly filled by rhetoric supporting the general desinterest in ethical or philosophical endeavours regarding data.

e) One fascinating fact about the about fifty year old saga of conducted high-frequency computing is how few software exists. Compared with the plethora of minds buzzing around on this planet, there are only a few dozen programming languages worth considering. Only a few terminal emulators in common repositories. Only a few browsers to choose from. Not a single e-mail client at offer. Comparing, any half-decent pottery has an order of magnitude more variety to show for itself. This monopoly inherent to computing appears to be an entirely new facet to human endeavours, representing the culmination of end-user-used high-complexity technology. It sustains itself and culminates in literally one or no option.

f) Big media’s profit-oriented scheming leads to products of such pittyful quality that animation pictures leave the public’s minds out of boredom.

g) Many technologies taken for granted in the olden days (C++, Git, popular UNIX kernels, ...) reach a tipping point of complexity and die overburdened by their own heritage: no compiler is able to confidently claim correctness, no file is safe in the humongous stack of abstraction meddling with bits and getting anything to boot is a miracle. Technological progress (progress here interpreted as the ratio of achieved state compared with the olden days’ status quo) falls back but probably gains a similar track as it once had. I’d wager intrinsic complexity’s convergence is nigh impossible to steer away from.

h) Due to English being a predominant tongue which both simplifies itself as it creeps into other languages whose diversity in dialects twindles the same, under linguistic constructivism the realm of thoughts humanity can conceive shrivels to a uniform, puny version of its former glorious potential.