In recent times, human societies have been undergoing a great deal of change at an accelerated and global level. The processes in which we find ourselves are unprecedented in history and so, at least in part, we are in unknown territory. This cycle, which timidly commenced in the seventeenth century, has progressively accelerated. At present, it is not possible to anticipate when or how this speed will be stabilized. It is logical to conclude, however, that it will not be possible to sustain the current momentum indefinitely.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the changes in our world have been impressive; however, in the last ten years, we have entered a completely different phase: this is mainly due to the generalization of the internet, smartphones and social media, but also owing to the advance in the development of algorithms oriented towards artificial intelligence.
One of the consequences of the present moment is that our senses receive an increasingly massive flow of stimuli and data. Our brain has not changed substantially, yet has to handle more pieces of information in a month than all the data that a person processed during the course of their life a couple of centuries ago. Moreover, the experiences that we have, must be integrated – not only sensorially, but also emotionally. Even if we think that the torrent of information to which we are exposed is innocuous, we need to understand that every sensory or emotional stimulus is producing changes in the mind and the body, and responses towards the environment that, depending on each individual, will have different characteristics and intensities. The nervous system has a series of filters that rearrange the external information in the psyche after processing it internally; deciding what is stored in the conscious and what is diverted to the unconscious. As a consequence, we will frequently not even realize, at first, the impact that the stimuli we receive have on us.
One of the results, and not necessarily a negative one, of the hyper-stimulation in which we live, is that our mind has the opportunity to increase its complexity in proportion to how society and the environment are increasing their own, and thus adequately adapt itself. Complexity is concerned with the number of elements that make up a system and the way in which these components are hierarchically organized and connected to each other in order to generate a set in which both the parts and the whole make sense. From a purely organic point of view, one could say that complexity increases the amount of cognitive objects that the brain can handle during a given time and the way that it builds neural networks to interrelate all these elements, with the aim of forming a whole that is as unified and as coherent as possible, unifying the experience that the individual has with themselves and with the world. However, complexity is not always accompanied by sound organization and symmetry. It is possible to increase complexity without implementing sufficiently stable or efficient levels of organization. A complex but unstable system will become maladapted in relation to its environment; sooner or later it will be disintegrated by the effect of entropy, previously passing through states of incoherence, imbalance and partial ruptures.
In the field of human emotions, these maladaptive fissures can appear in the form of stress, anxiety, anguish, frustration, demotivation, depression, dissociative disorders, attention deficit, behavioural alterations, lack of respect for others, violence, dependencies, addictions, escape from reality, existential emptiness, suicide, et cetera. In a societal context, compensations for disintegrations due to the loss of symmetry in collective systems are manifested in the form of social fragmentation, social injustice, poverty, recessions, loss or misuse of freedoms, populism, radicalism, extremism, fundamentalism, totalitarianism, war, corruption, collapse of states, end of democracy, dystopias…
The concept of terminal velocity has to do with the maximum speed that an object can reach when in free-fall. In theory, it could accelerate indefinitely due to the effect of gravity, however, in practice, friction interferes with movement – the latter is a force that prevents the object from accelerating further. If the right conditions are met, a maximum speed will be reached that will remain constant from a given moment onwards. The problem is that friction can destroy the object before it gains its terminal velocity, or even after it has reached it. This is why most meteorites break up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground.
What is clear is that the world continues to go faster and faster, and every day it has to contend with a little more friction. In the coming decades, we are virtually guaranteed to see more and more of the effects of climate change, we will witness an increase in the ageing population and overpopulation, the emergence of artificial super-intelligence, the widespread use of human genetic editing techniques, the automation of services and production processes (at first progressive and then large-scale), the massive destruction of jobs and the subsequent social disruption, and the exodus of human experiences from external reality to virtual reality. There also exists the possibility that we will witness the death of the economic system that we are in, experience the end of democracies, and the emergence of cyber-dystopias with absolute control over citizens and their privacy, among many other things. Those of you that know me will know that I am a positive person, but the problems of the world will not go away simply by being optimistic. Meanwhile, many people fantasize that tomorrow will be the same as today. It is difficult to know if we are approaching a purifying catharsis through which a transition to a better model will be made or if we are heading towards a destructive apocalypse. Nevertheless, the world has changed and will continue to do so.
As a society, the time has come to ask whether there is so much friction that we are in danger of being torn apart. As individuals, it is necessary to reflect on whether we are close to terminal velocity and to think about the developments and evolutions necessary to bear it. I do not believe that the solution is to slow down, as this speed is probably part of an inevitable cycle.
Therefore, our current era is a fascinating one. In this time of change, in an environment of unprecedented complexity in human history, is it possible for you to continue as "always" without being affected by the speed at which the world is going? Does it benefit us to go on without understanding our emotions or without positioning ourselves as part of a mysterious and infinite universe, merely reacting, desiring or acquiring? Can your individual evolution be beneficial for humanity? Does your life have meaning and purpose? Do you work toward this end? Is a modern spirituality, in which a thought oriented towards science and a transcendent vision of life and consciousness coexist, possible?
When stormy times arise, there is little point in complaining. The interesting thing is to take advantage of the periods of calm to prepare oneself, to become excellent in the art of navigation, to acquire a good ship. The warrior of conscience knows that he or she is here in passing and will die one day. Circumstances are the means by which to continue to grow, to continue to forge the vital attitude, to continue to cultivate impeccability, to strengthen virtues, intent, intelligence and will; because the destination – or, rather, what is done with it – is the journey. Whether you have prepared yourself or not, the attitude to follow is the same: keep going. You have to do what you can to stand firm in the face of that huge wave that you see in front of you, because more can follow. The good thing is that all storms pass. The bad news is that there are no guarantees of survival. Fight anyway, every second, with every breath, and rejoice because, for the moment, you live!
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Terminal Velocity by Chema Sanz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.