Where we're at...

Humanity has, over the past several thousand years done some pretty incredible things. The majority and perhaps the most amazing of these feats have occurred in the last 50 years. 

One of the first articles I read in the first weeks of embarking upon a new degree at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) was written by John Hartley. Instantly I became a fan. I found that as I read this article my understanding of the world and how it works changed. Hartley observes that a man or woman, familiar with life in 1900, would be surprised by how society had developed by the 1950's, but an individual familiar with society as it was in the 1950's would be absolutely dumb-founded by the changes that occurred in the fifty years between 1950 and 2000.

I think Hartley's observation is perhaps the most colourful depiction of human development because it not only considers the scientific and technological development but the social. An individual from the 1950's would be absolutely shocked by our modern standards of dress, the abundance of women in the workplace let alone in positions of power, inter-racial and same sex  couples holding hands and kissing in public, the technological gadgets, the internet... The list is endless.

As a student of the Creative Industries and Business and as a previous student of Medicine, I have been exposed to some of the most recent technological developments and their application in each of these fields. It is suffice to say that some of the technologies are truly ingenious. The ever increasing processing and storage capabilities of computers have transformed how we live and will continue to do so at an exponential rate known as Moore's Law. Interestingly, the other exponential phenomena are:

1. the rate of human population growth
2. the rate of developing nation's industrialization
3. the rate of natural resource consumption as a result of the previous two growth factors
4. the rate at which CO2 and other thermally insulating substances are pumped into the atmosphere as a result of unsustainable consumption
5. the rate describing species loss and the homogenization of biodiversity  

I propose that the relationship between technological development and human development does not necessarily need to be a detrimental one. Hence, the solution to the global climate crisis, in all likelihood, already exists. Humankind just needs to connect the dots, change societal values and affect individual behaviour. It is possible, in fact I believe it simpler than many believe it to be. We have the tools and the motivation, the revolution, our revolution is gaining momentum.