Someday...

[Plazmataz]

Sometimes, I wonder what it would take to force mankind off the advancement curve. I can't shake the thought that, someday, we may reach a barrier, where no more advancement can be made. The more I contemplate this hypothesis, the more I see it lying ahead in the far-flung future. I see this point, not because I want to, but because I feel that a race can't advance indefinitely. "Everything must end." A point where the curve will converge. A point of stagnation. A point of a slow descent into degeneration.

Using that as a starting point, I then ponder a solution to such a scenario. I can think of none but one. And it's not pleasant:

There will be a worldwide cataclysm that will turn society as we know it on end. All nations will be forced to revolutionize, and humanity will be forced to advance. Whether this event will be caused by humanity itself, or if civilization's fate lies out of human hands, that day will come. The daily life we've all come to be accustomed to will cease, but we'll keep from idleness by the struggle for survival. If humankind can emerge at the far end of this dark tunnel, we will have been bettered, tempered by the most ruthless of fires. This will be man's true test.

The above is a thought that has been growing inside me like an unwanted child. I look at it, and am repulsed, but I can't ever offer another solution, much less a better one. It is a sick conclusion, one I don't want to face. But just as I may be privileged enough to not have to face it, I will have children who will. They will be just like me, even though they live in an entirely different world. They won't know how to face reality as it's forced down their throats.

Will this day ever come? Will humans live to see the decline of their civilization? I want so badly to know, and I feel as though the only way to come any closer to that knowledge is to confront other minds with such an awful possibility. Someone, please, tell me I'm wrong.

[Adam]

Will this day ever come?

Well, logically, humanity's gotta bite the dust some day.  What's really the issue at hand, i'd imagine, is how the day will come about, and what goes down when it does.

Will humans live to see the decline of their civilization?

Short answer: duh.  Long answer: depending on how you define civilization, there'll be human civilization as long as more than one person exists together.  So unless humanity ends with everyone suddenly being alone, or people dying too fast for other's to realize that civilization is going down the tubes, yeah, I think it's inevitable that we will.

Someone, please, tell me I'm wrong.

I can't tell you that your proposed scenario is impossible, but there are certainly other possibilities.  I don't know if you're familiar with the idea of technological singularity, but, while it's a debatable alternative, makes for a much happier ending (or at least prolonging) of human civilization.  In a nutshell, the idea is that AI will eventually become advanced enough to improve itself without need of human influence, causing a massive jump in technological and computing power (the term "intelligence explosion" kinda makes sense here, really).  Potentially, that could lead to the technology we need to utilize our resources efficiently enough that we can feed, educate, house, and all around nurture the masses.  Similarly, the possibility of space travel/colonization would provide a more than adequate supply of resources, more or less ending the practical need for any sort of war or conflict between humans.  Hell, with enough technology, it's conceivable that we could keep spreading out until the universe collapses in on itself, or another big bang rolls around, or whatever sort of universe-ending-scenario you like hits.  Almost like a happy ending!

That alternate ending optimistic enough for you?

[Plazmataz]

Now that the drama queen in me has had its moment, I find this the appropriate time to become practical.

I've always wondered about AI. I don't really believe we can achieve any singularity at all without a sentient computer, so, for me, a few questions rise. Unless we held some political monopoly over them (as if they were human), what's say the computers will give over their discovered technology or solve our problems. If they are anything like humans (they likely will be, if humans built them), they'll want independence. They won't put up with our using forever. Sooner or later, just like America, they'll want to strike out on their own; start worrying about themselves instead of worrying about us.

One argument one may come against that is, "we can put in underlying laws that prevent such revolutions." I answer to that, "they can change their program". Even if that does work for a while, they'll find ways to circumvent it if they want to. Now I ask of that, "will they even want to circumvent them, or will the 'rules' keep them from wanting to eliminate the 'rules?'" At this point, it seems sentience is required to do something like rule-breaking.

And that's how my train of thought about that topic flows.