Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Risk & Business Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 24

A BRIDGE TO ABUNDANCE
BY: DR. PETER H. DIAMANDIS
ENTREPRENEUR & AUTHOR
A Bridge To
W
Abundance
hen looking at the
most pressing issue
humanity will face in
the next 100 years, I
do not believe it will
stem from those typically highlighted by
the media: a scarcity of water, energy, or
other resources.
As described in my book Abundance, I
believe in the next 30 years we truly are
heading to a world of abundance where
we will be able to meet the basic needs
of every man, woman, and child.
Through advances in exponentially
growing technologies such as artificial
intelligence, 3D printing, synthetic
biology, and nanotechnology, we are
dematerializing and demonetizing the
cost of energy, food, healthcare, and
education to the point where it will
be accessible to anyone on (or off) the
planet at near-zero cost.
Over the next 20 to 30 years, I believe
that our most pressing challenges will
be driven by AI and robotics. Not in
the style of the Terminator, though.
Instead, my concern comes from the
potential for significant technological
unemployment.
McKinsey & Co. predicts that 45 percent
24
of jobs today will be automated out of
existence in only 20 years. While we’ve
seen this magnitude of change in the
past – America went from a land of
84 percent farmers in 1810 to under
2 percent today – what worries me is
actually the speed of the coming change.
My goal through my work at XPRIZE
and Singularity University is to help
build a “bridge to abundance.” To help
bridge the challenges we’ll face over the
next 10 to 30 years. In the longer term,
society will adapt, and humans will
partner and merge with technology to
reskill, evolve, and become even better
workers.
I’d love your ideas on how we deal with
the coming challenges of technological
unemployment. Please tweet them at me
@PeterDiamandis.
IMHO, the challenge is not that people
will lose their buying power (for food
and healthcare). I’m confident that
much of the world will eventually adopt
Universal Basic Income (UBI) programs
while, at the same time, exponential
technology will continue to rapidly
demonetize our cost of living.
The challenge is a psychological and
sociological variant. Humans don’t
like having nothing to do. We love
challenges, and have a deep need for
significance and contribution. For many,
a person’s job title provides them with a
standing in society and is part of their
identity. Lose that identity and people
may revolt (some violently) against the
technology that took it away from them.
How will we tame such (potential)
societal unrest? Who will be to blame?
Please send me your thoughts.
This year at Abundance 360 I was joined
by Tony Robbins and experts across
a wide range of fields to investigate
solutions and ideas.
I truly believe that advanced
technologies and entrepreneurial
innovation will allow us to address
this issue. As I teach at Singularity
University, the world’s biggest problems
are the world’s biggest business
opportunities. +
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is an
international pioneer in the fields of
innovation, incentive competitions,
and commercial space. In 2014 he was
named one of “The World’s 50 Greatest
Leaders” – by Fortune Magazine.