Predicting the Unpredictable

Predicting the Unpredictable Adaptability is what sets human beings apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. As stated by Kevin Kelly in What Technology Wants, 2,000 species in the last 2,000 years have died off at 4 times the natural rate. Granted, humans have caused much of the pollution we have today by poising lakes, damming rivers, and dirtying the air. However, species still go extinct at their own rate regardless of human interaction. Humans are able to overcome all obstacles due to natural evolution, and environmental adaptability. While some might argue the recent surge in technology as undesirable, I believe it is essential to become more efficient. Through these new technologies we prepare ourselves for unpredictable processes. Linda stone argues “we’re so accessible, we’re inaccessible”, in mentioning that technology is the disease of the Internet age. Humans have become highly specialized in the tasks we perform, characterized by the mythologized job descriptions of countless industries. Ricardo’s law states as humans become specialized creatures, the more time we save. However, the more time we save, the more time humans have the ability to learn other trades or expand on current processes. Job descriptions about thirty years ago were not nearly as complicated in the duties expected to perform by one person. In the 1800’s, if you were to be a farmer, you had countless number of slaves (human labor) to harvest crops every rotation. As technology became more advanced human labor decreased, and machines designed to complete the task of harvesting crops became the norm. We have become more sophisticated animals, designing tools to make us more efficient, and these tools have changed the way we live forever. Take the stock market for example, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), performs millions upon millions of trades per day. While the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is only

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