The Authentic Futures blog chronicles a major global shift that may now be taking place – the emergence of what I have termed a “post-modern” consciousness. This level of consciousness is self-reflective, meaning that its identity is not subjectively embedded in what it is doing or what strategies it advocates. Rather, a “post-modern” person can step aside from his current strategies and ask, “what am I really doing here?” or “what world am I trying to create?”
The development of individuals up to this level has been documented for millennia – certainly Christ, Buddha, Ghandi, and others have attained at least this level of consciousness. What is unique today is that a much larger portion of humanity seems to be moving in this direction, and they are supported along this path by the technologies that have reshaped our world. The Internet, for example, allows us to see what is happening around the world to a far greater extent than we could even 20 years ago, let alone in the 19th, 15th, or 3rd centuries.
But that’s not all! Emerging technologies like nanotechnology and biotechnology may soon allow us to build buildings, products, and much more from the ground up. The only real constraint on what we can do will be our imagination. That could become a huge motivation to look beyond the conventional constraints that have been passed to us by our forbears, and to think about the world we really want to create.
This blog chronicles how this shift is taking place. There are technological issues to explore, but we must also explore how our own experience of reality (as individuals and as a society) is changing. At the junction of technology and humanity, we may have the opportunity to create a very different future that calls forth not just our survival instincts but also our greatest aspirations that come from within us. This is our authentic future.
