A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree

Slides I used for the presentation at CCRC International Conference 2022: Towards a Cyber Civilization – Risks and Opportunities, on February 1, 2022.

Transcript

1. The Golden Age is Not in the Past, it is in the Future A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree Kenji Saito Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.1/11
2. The slides are also available at : https://speakerdeck.com/ks91 A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.2/11
3. Brief Self Introduction Kenji Saito, Ph.D. Professor, Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University Senior Researcher, Keio Research Institute at SFC, Keio University Chief Science Officer, BlockchainHub Inc. Representative Director, Beyond Blockchain Representative Director, Academy Camp Bio M.Eng in Computer Science from Cornell University in 1993 Ph.D. in Media and Governance from Keio University in 2006 (for digital currencies research) Research interests include P2P (Peer-to-Peer), digital currencies, the Internet and society Since the summer 2011, organizing Academy Camp for children in Fukushima with friends Examples : OK Google, Do My Homework! (2018.8) Automation for Girls (2019.2) STAY HOME, ENJOY LIFE (2020.5) VR 2021.7 You Create! The Moon-Base Society VR 2021.8 PREFAB THE WORLDS VR 2021.8 ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS (except Europa) VR 2021.9 You Explore! Amazing Modern and Near Future Medicine VR 2021.12 Cells World and a Hackathon (Online (VR) camps are for children nationwide) → In my mind, these are connected (designing the future society with children) A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.3/11
4. To Put it Briefly, Machines and algorithms will continue to replace even many of the intellectual activities considered to be the mainstay of human abilities Through the expansion of automation and social autonomy, a new natural environment will emerge in which even pencils grow on a tree, metaphorically speaking Instead of the modern society as we know it where even a single pencil is produced through the involvement of many people and the division of labor We call this new environment Meta-Nature We will stop being consumers, and the realities, desires, and values of many people will change Hunter-gatherer society will be revived in a new form A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.4/11
5. Introduction Today, even a single pencil is produced through the involvement of many people and the division of labor [Read, 1958] Read, L. E. (1958). I, Pencil. The Freeman, December 1958, pages 32-37. The two main points of the above essay are : The economy of a division of labor is not controlled by a central authority, which allows for creativity and productivity to meet the needs of people That is why specialization is the cornerstone of our freedom But wait a minute “specialization is in fact only a fancy form of slavery” [Fuller, 1969] In addition, the division of labor or specialization has made our society vulnerable to so-called natural disasters, hasn’t it? Natural disaster = natural phenomena × social vulnerability (e.g., earthquakes and tsunamis, climate change, infectious disease pandemics) A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.5/11
6. The Three-Way Structure and Its Destruction Security by the State Money Market (division of labor) Specialization of Expertise support support support DX finance issue taxes "Individual Perspective" and "Individual Construction" "Individual Perspective" and "Individual Construction" "Individual Perspective" and "Individual Construction" Automation, efficiency, inclusion and democratization To Unspecialization! A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.6/11
7. Tetrad (4 Questions) of Monetary Economy Exchange, Consumption, Saving, Investment Specialization Agricultural / Industrial Society Economic Gaps, Exploitation, Bankruptcy Bullshit Jobs True DAO Meta-Nature ENH REV RET OBS Domination and Obedience Hierarchy Profit Maximization Trust, Sharing, Gift Economy Omnipotence Hunter-Gatherer Society enhancement obsolescence retrieval reversal DAO : Decentralized Autonomous Organization New media will restore what was made obsolete in the past → Towards a new form of hunter-gatherer society?! A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.7/11
8. Concept of Meta-Nature 19th - 20th century Social System Social Environment Division of Labor Network of Machines and Algorithms Machines Technology Human Automation System 21st century and onward Turn on the light OK OK (when to) Turn on the light Autonomous and Networked Technology Human more like Nature (Meta-Nature) ⇒ Technological and social environment will gradually change into something semantically similar to the natural environment A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.8/11
9. Architectural Shift Today Hardware Applications User OS Human Business Financial System Human Business Earth-Scale OS Automation System Earth Earth Ongoing Shift Human Earth Second Half of This Century? Meta-Nature ( Highly-automated decentralized social environment ) A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.9/11
10. A Path to Meta-Nature : Backcasting Premise Decentralization of society will precede the attainment of a perfect level of automation Version 3 (Meta-Nature) ↑ Increase the level of automation to the extreme Version 2 (Meta-Nature with human agents) (or True DAO) Like future Japan in “Maneki Neko” [Sterling, 1999] ↑ Promoting the principles of the monetary economy results in the decline of the monetary economy Version 1 (Mash-Up Organization) Organization’s services are programmable by combining components ↑ Push for automation, efficiency, and democratization Version 0 (Today; early 2020s) False DAO (web3), blockchain, metaverse, etc. ← Many just think in the way of the 20th century A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.10/11
11. Conclusions In the second half of this century, pencils may grow on a tree On the other hand, “I, Pencil” would remain correct in many aspects No one can make a pencil (or its equivalent) alone The effort to understand everything (in the universe) will continue as science Creativity and productivity will be unleashed because we are not controlled by a central authority However, freedom will come from our omnipotence, not specialization What can we do now? We will live through the process of blowing up the monetary economy If it doesn’t blow up, it will only reinforce slavery Based on this premise, we will be able to realize changes in the way social order is formed and in finance (basically, it has been about circulating tokens with the power to drive manpower) A Path to Meta-Nature : Automated Environment Where Even Pencils Grow on A Tree — 2022-02-01 – p.11/11