The way you interpret the title of “What Future: The Year’s Best Ideas to Reclaim, Reanimate & Reinvent Our Future” reveals a lot about you, says Torie Bosch, one of the book’s editors. People who think we’re on the edge of disaster put the emphasis on the first word. More optimistic folks read it as “What Future!!” Bosch takes a balanced approach, reading the title as “Which future are we heading toward?”
“Every day we choose a path toward a different kind of future,” she says. “This book is about what kinds of futures we are shaping with the actions we all take every day.”
The essay collection — which Bosch will discuss at Politics and Prose at The Wharf on Wednesday — covers a wide variety of topics, including genetic engineering, Mars colonization and self-driving cars. Here are a few of the book’s possible scenarios and their pros and cons.
Torie Bosch is the editor of Future Tense, a project of Slate, New America, and Arizona State that looks at the implications of new technologies. Prediction: Cash is history
Current situation: Cash appears to be on its way out around the world. In Sweden, for example, cash is used for only 15 percent of sales transactions.
Pros: A cashless society with traceable transactions would put ordinary muggers out of business, Bosch says. “The argument is, if there’s less cash, there’s less to steal,” Bosch says. “If you can’t sell a stolen iPhone for cash, there’s less incentive to commit crime.”
Cons: Many non-criminals aren’t exactly comfortable with the government or banks having a record of every transaction they make. Also, criminal activity may shift entirely from street muggings and physical thefts to online fraud and identity theft, Bosch says: “Criminals can always find a way.”
Prediction: Robots will take care of the elderly
Current situation: Computer scientists are working on robots that can fold laundry, tidy up homes and even provide companionship for lonely seniors.
Pros: “We have a lot of elderly people and not a lot of people taking low-paying caretaker jobs,” Bosch says. “Robots might help fill a need that isn’t going to be filled by the labor market.” Plus, some people might prefer to have a robot’s help with intimate tasks, like washing up in the bathroom. “Robot caretakers could help preserve your dignity and independence,” Bosch says.
Cons: We may be tempted to abandon the elderly, leaving their care to bots that are unable to meet their need for love and companionship, Bosch says. Additionally, the robots could malfunction, leaving vulnerable seniors in peril. “I think safety is really a key point here,” Bosch says.
Prediction: Machines will take our jobs
Current situation: Machines are already displacing factory workers. With the advent of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence, computers will start taking over the jobs of lawyers, doctors, accountants, computer programmers and reporters.
Pros: People will be free to focus on creative work, such as writing novels and coming up with ad campaigns. “There might be the creation of new jobs that we never dreamed of,” Bosch says.
Cons: We may be heading toward techno-feudalism, where Silicon Valley overlords hold all the wealth and the rest of us work in low-paying service jobs — if we work at all. “You can already use an app to have food brought to you, your laundry brought to you, make a frictionless appointment for house cleaning,” Bosch says. One potential solution: The government could give everyone a guaranteed income to live on. “I think we are going to see a lot more discussion of the universal basic income, maybe with some sort of volunteering requirement,” she says.
Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 70 District Square SW; Wed., 7 p.m., free
