Ramez Naam Says Economics is Not Considered Enough When Thinking About the Future

 Economics of Futurism  

Author Ramez Naam recently talked with Adam Ford about futurism, the Technological Singularity and transhumanism. According to Naam, we need to think more about economics if we are to get a truer understanding of the future.

Adam Ford of The Rational Future sat down with author Ramez Naam to talk about genetic engineering, space, risk, group think, supply and demand of science and technology, social divide, the Technological Singularity and transhumanism.

For Naam, the two conditions that are most important to consider when thinking about the future are human nature and economics. What people actually want drives technological trends. "Why have we done so little in space in the last few decades?" asks Naam as an example. He suggests that it is because there is a low return on investment.  "There is very little way that going into space has made human lives better."

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"People fundamentally miss the fundamental question of the economics of these things," he says. Combining economics and human nature, with the fact we live in a market world, you need to think about what are the things people want, and how much they are willing to pay for them.  These will drive the majority (not the entirety) of directions in technology development according to Naam.

"Ignoring actual human nature is one of the biggest mistakes we make in futurism," Naam says.

Naam is an author of Nexus and Crux that explore transhumanist possibilities, although he would not call himself one. He thinks most people are already transhumanists — they wear glasses, use smart phones and get hip replacement surgery.   "Transhumanism is not a word people know, but it is a word they live out all the time."

According to Naam, people who do something to increase their abilities beyond what most humans have ever had, do it because it offers them value.  The economic underpinnings in human nature therefore make us transhumanists.


SOURCE  Adam Ford

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