The Post-Human World is Here
Like most people, I periodically collapse into existential crisis, and this drive induced one. What kind of world are we now living in? Is this weird place even human? I've been traveling for a month, and my current residence is a dusty hotel room with moldy peeling wallpaper. At night, another huge neon sign beams eerie red light through my sixth story window. These sky rises are too big, these apartment towers have no relation to human scale.
Humans used to have definite places and purposes. We were born into villages and practiced our ancestor's crafts. Our jobs were necessary. Everyone needs farmers, blacksmiths, tailors, and butchers. Does anyone really need a social media manager? Most humans have become frivolous accessories society could cast off whenever it feels like it. We aren't necessary.
Everyone stares into their phones. Here in China, every photo is automatically edited to make people's skin whiter, eyes bigger, and face thinner. Plastic surgery has exploded in popularity. If you go for a midnight drive around a major city here, you'll see girls lining the streets whose features are all eerily similar. Their fake robotic faces illuminated by blue phone light. Social media posts are just AI approved selfies that look nothing like the humans they allegedly depict. Massive advertisements float above fake girls, avatars of famous people selling products we don't need. Famous brand logos flash everywhere... embedding themselves in our subconscious.
Fertility rates are falling, marriage rates are falling, families aren't forming. China will lose over half its population by 2100. This world we live in, this neon consumerist utopia of same-day delivery and endless smartphone entertainment, is unsustainable. Everyone knows that... we hear it all the time. But is it really unsustainable? Or, is it just unsustainable for human beings? How long until the AI is done with us? How long until this sterile technological machine we've built learns to run without us? How long until the majority of humanity no longer has the IQ necessary to service the machines better than they can service themselves? This is already happening, but we don't think much about it because we like the convenience.
The world is rapidly becoming trans-human, some might say post-human. Life has been automated, we don't need to do anything. We don't need humans anymore, we can live alone with our phones… and people do.
My city is currently trapped in another coronavirus lockdown. Half the businesses are closed, and the other half don't have customers. Everyone is terrified of the virus after being subjected to endless propaganda about how dangerous it is. Even the parks are closed, security guards stand around driving people away. Nobody is supposed to come together because the virus is lurking… somewhere.
We're being told the best way to help society is to stay in bed and play on our phones. Even national emergencies don't require humans anymore. Gone are the days when Christians tended plague victims in Rome when nobody else dared. Today, charity has been automated and centralized. We all scan QR codes and self-quarantine. Occasionally, professions arrive in hazmat suits or send robots to treat infection cases.
We're living at the end of history, the end of human meaning. Perhaps history will continue online, but it's rapidly ending IRL.