Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

In terms of the sheer quantity of reflection … I tend to focus on my past. The reason is self-evident, at least to me. I am an octogenerian. Bottom line, I have a lifetime of experiences on which to ponder. Most have been positive, a few negative. Most importantly, all have been instructive.

Eight decades gives one both perspective and the possibility of wisdom. An attentive observer would realize just how much they have absorbed in the time they have spent spinning through space on the periphery of a single galaxy among some two trillion other such collection of stars. That fact alone testifies to our insignificance. Yet, we realize that we may be relatively unique as a species in that we can appreciate our insignificance. That epiphany alone causes one to pause. We might be among the very few in our vast cosmos capable of pondering our role in the immense universe around us.

The past has blessed me with many insights and epipanies. Key among them is the recognition that human evolution is accelerating at an unsettling pace. I was born during world war at a time when most people suffered under right-wing or left-wing totalitarian governments. Compared to today, I grew up in primitive conditions. We had no TV, survived with a single party-line telephone shared with 3 other families, an icebox and not a refrigerator, no hot running water nor central heating, and no family car.

I watched in amazement as every personal convenience became available that rendered life simpler and more enjoyable. Today, everyone I know lives in a level of comfort that would make the highest royalty of former times blush with envy. Better yet, levels of conflict around our globe still exist but at remarkably diminished levels. Diseases that once ravaged communities and nations have been understood and constrained. Perhaps our most remarkable advancement has been in automation and the creation of our digital world. We have worlds of information that we carry about on our smart phones. In my youth, primitive computers were behemoths that filled up large rooms yet could do far less than hand-held devices today.

The sheer pace of change has been breathtaking. It threatens to be cognitively and socially destabilizing. When I was about 25 years old, I wrote a Masters thesis that argued our technological advancements might well presage an evolutionary transformation on par with the the transition from nomadic to agricultural societies, or the emergence to urban societies, or the shift from rigid belief systems to inductive and science-based understandings of life. In fact, we just might be in the midst of the most electrifying and consequential change ever.

That brings me to the other aspect of this question. I also think of the future. When I do, it is mostly with fear and concern. Though we have made so many remarkable technical advances, those breakthroughs have not been matched by corresponding enhancements in political or philosophical thinking. Our technology speeds ahead while we conduct our social interactions with outmoded concepts and irrational prejudices. That is a very dangerous imbalance.

Lately, I have said many times that I’m glad I am old. I look with trepidation at climate change, at a trend toward hyper-inequality that threatens social cohesion, and at emerging Artificial Intelligence innovations that will restructure society in profoundly fundamental ways. Each of these transformations could end society as we know it.

Then again, every evolutionary transformation introduces a sense of dread and threat. We have managed to survive and advance in the past. We might do the same once again. Perhaps, however, just perhaps our luck will run out this time. Time will tell, likely after I have passed from the scene.