What Happens in the Dark?

We are mesmerized by media. Whether it’s smart phones, tablets, TV or God forbid, newsprint, we can’t take our eyes off the ‘news’. Yet every day we complain, “There’s nothing new.” But somehow our lives keep changing.

There’s an explanation for this: Everything important that happens, happens in the dark. A watched pot never boils, a televised revolution never changes things (The Who). Let’s look at just a few concrete examples:

‘God’ invented solar power in 1954 (the date of the first solar panel). In 2023, the world installed more solar panels in one year than had been installed from the invention of the solar cell in 1954 through 2017: 

1 year > Σ (1954…2017)

For many years alternative energy sources (wind and sun) were controversial. Will they work? If they do, will they make a difference? Do the economics make sense? Will the hardware (turbines and panels) negatively impact the environment? Will Quixotic ‘Giants’ threaten the aesthetics of our landscape?

These questions were never entirely answered, at least not to the satisfaction of all parties. But a tipping point was reached, escape velocity was achieved, and our countryside became La Mancha overnight. And we are better for it!

Next up: Americans were justly proud of landing a man on the moon in1969. An incredible achievement from a standing start just 10 years earlier. All the more remarkable considering that the onboard computers were less powerful than a 1980’s Commodore or Atari.

But nothing breeds contempt like success: “The whole thing was staged in an airplane hangar in Houston, why are we spending money on space when we have hungry people to feed on Earth, who has time for this when there’s a war to stop and civil rights to gain?”

Space exploration was in trouble even before the Challenger disaster; after 1986 conversations about ‘space’ were limited to suburban lot sizes and closets. Now, look up! The sky is crowded with satellites launched by dozens of countries and private firms and every few months a new deep space probe takes off. 

Soon China and the US will be returning ‘men and women’ to the Moon. And no one’s talking about a ‘visit’ anymore; future trips will focus on building a ‘space-base’ and ‘Making the Moon livable (again)’. Next stop, Mars…and soon! Farming, generating water, replenishing Mars’ depleted atmosphere, establishing a New Jamestown colony (if the indigenous Martian life forms will allow it). 

Where was the global debate? The popular referendum, the democratic consensus? Never happened! An oligarchy of global leaders, not just politicians, ‘decided’ that it was time for humanity to leave the confines of Planet Earth. A more cynical person might ask, “What do they know about the future that we don’t?” 

Finally AI, the staple of comic books, cartoons, and low budget TV shows. But when 2001 finally arrived, HAL 1000 was nowhere to be found. Traditional approaches to AI development ran up against unexpected practical and theoretical barriers. Plus, despite our fascination with robots, there was broad popular distrust of ‘artificial intelligence’ per se: “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Now less than 25 years on, AI is proliferating at a break neck pace. It will certainly transform every aspect of our lives in just the next few years. It is quite possible that AI poses a more serious threat to humanity than either nuclear weapons or climate change, yet it is spreading through the Technosphere like a nasty corona virus. But did we want these changes to begin with? And who decided to take us down this path anyway? 

Does AI pose an existential threat? You bet…but in my view that’s a risk worth taking. As a species, we are unable to abide status quo; we are, therefore we search. Eve was bored, even with Paradise; she wanted more, and she risked everything for it. And according to Judeo-Christian theology, we’re still paying the price, and reaping the benefits, of Eve’s curiosity: ‘O happy fault!’ 

No surprise here. In today’s culture it is impossible to do anything in the open. Democratic political process has frozen solid. In its place, we are now governed by public demonstrations, journalistic sensationalism, and a perpetual cascade of never resolved litigation. 

Public policy is held hostage by a species of non-violent domestic terrorism. This has nothing to do with ideology or partisan politics. Disruption can come from the right, the left or the technocratic center. It’s just how politics is done now that constitutional processes have broken down. And it’s not just in the US. The same seems to be afoot on every inhabited continent. 

21st century Political Science has turned 20th century Physics on its head. According to the laws of Quantum Mechanics, nothing happens unless and until it is observed; according to 21st century Political Science, nothing happens if it is observed. And according to centuries of folk wisdom, ‘a watched pot never boils’. 

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