tech
Introducing Noema Issue VII: The Next Axial Age
Nathan Gardels is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine. He is also the co-founder of and a senior adviser to the Berggruen Institute.
TL;DR
- The article posits that humanity might be entering a new "Axial Age," characterized by scientific and technological leaps (AI, synthetic biology) and the climate crisis, forcing a re-examination of fundamental questions about origins and destiny.
- This potential new era is compared to the original Axial Age (800-200 BCE), where major religions and philosophies arose in response to societal upheavals and the advent of written language, leading to "theoretic culture" and universal ethics.
- Current technologies, especially AI, are seen as enabling a new "symbolic competency" and "planetary sapience," potentially fostering a "re-embedding" of transcendence into a sense of nature and community, and expanding self-awareness through data analysis.
- Concerns are raised about AI potentially leading to an "epistemic monoculture" that flattens understanding, contrasting with the potential for AI to foster "collective interiority" and a deeper awareness of ecological interdependence.
- The emergence of inorganic intelligence surpassing human intelligence and synthetic life forms presents unprecedented possibilities, raising questions about humanity's future role and autonomy in a co-evolving cosmos.
- The article concludes that securing humanity's place as an active participant in co-evolution is a "sacred vocation" for this potential next Axial Age, crucial for maintaining self-determination.