The Next Big Thing usually extends the Last Big Thing.
A useful Rule of Thumb.
A Useful Rule of Thumb: The Next Big Thing usually extends the Last Big Thing.
This pattern refers to how innovations and technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence often build upon or extend existing successful technologies or ideas rather than emerging in isolation. It suggests that significant breakthroughs are frequently evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
Some critical aspects of this pattern include:
Incremental innovation: New developments often improve or expand on existing technologies rather than completely replace them.
Leveraging existing infrastructure: New technologies frequently utilize established systems or platforms as a foundation.
Solving adjacent problems: Innovations may address limitations or extend the capabilities of current solutions.
Market readiness: Building on familiar concepts can make new technologies accessible and adaptable for users.
Technological convergence: Combining existing technologies in novel ways can lead to breakthrough innovations.
The five patterns show how we arrived at what we now call the Autonomous Revolution, the new age of Artificial Intelligence, and the societal phase change we are experiencing. These five patterns were present when we moved from the Agricultural Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, marking significant shifts in our societal and technological landscapes.
Societal Phase Change was addressed through the various Encyclicals. Those Encyclicals gave birth to the mission of Catholic Social Teaching, which is rooted in a set of core values expressed in themes. These core values are embraced by the various Encyclicals of the Popes, people, workers, and leaders of movements for social justice and workers' rights, as well as the foundational aspects of Catholic Social Teaching found in the Themes.
Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
dignity of the human person.
The common good.
Rights & responsibilities.
Preferential option for people with low incomes.
Economic justice.
Promotion of peace & disarmament.
Solidarity.
Stewardship.
Now consider the work of Joseph Cardinal Cardijn, Pope Leo XIII, and the popes up to and including John XXIII and Documents of Vatican II. The themes found in the Encyclicals and documents and the teachings and actions of people leading and educating movements were in the context of the Industrial Revolution.
As we evolve within the Autonomous Revolution, it is our job to build upon and innovate, educate, and collaborate to bring awareness of the Themes of Catholic Social Teaching in a new era of technology.
The worker is not going away, but the nature of work is changing with the advent of AI. Workers who do not adapt and learn to use AI effectively may find their role diminishing in the future job market.
AI Ethical Principles
The following broad ethical principles are based on Catholic Social Teachings' core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence—these principles set forth ideals that all Christians should follow and promote.
Value: Service
AI Ethical Principle: AI creators, promoters, sellers, and workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems. Think Sermon on the Mount.
Our job is to elevate service to others above self-interest. We draw on our collective knowledge, values, and skills to help people in need and address social problems. The rise of AI can often be manipulated to serve a few and the greater good of all human beings.
Value: Social Justice
AI Ethical Principle: Ethics and moral behavior must challenge social injustice.
As AI becomes the technology of choice worldwide, workers need to pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups adversely affected by the shift AI is bringing. Their efforts focus primarily on poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice.
Value: Dignity and Worth of the Person
AI Ethical Principle: Creators of technology and companies employing technology need to understand and respect workers and respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.
The role of education will drive collaboration, and this will treat each person caringly and respectfully, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity. Our job is to raise awareness of how to be socially responsible for self-determination in the era of Artificial Intelligence.
Value: Focus on Human Relationships
AI Ethical Principle: AI creators, promoters, sellers, and workers need to recognize the central importance of human relationships.
Understand that relationships between and among people are an essential vehicle for change. As a community, we engage people as partners in the helping process and seek to strengthen relationships among people in a purposeful effort to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities as we embrace emerging technology.
Value: Integrity of every worker
AI Ethical Principle: AI creators, promoters, and sellers behave trustworthy.
Workers are aware of the mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards, and they practice in a manner consistent with them. AI creators, promoters, and sellers should take measures to care for all workers, buyers, and technology users professionally and personally. AI creators, promoters, sellers, and workers act honestly and responsibly and promote ethical practices in their affiliated organizations as AI gets implemented.
Value: Competence as a Virtue
AI Ethical Principle: AI creators, promoters, sellers, and workers practice within their competence areas and develop and enhance their professional expertise openly and fully transparent.
AI creators, promoters, sellers, and workers continually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills and apply them in practice. They should aspire to contribute to the profession's knowledge base. Together, innovate, educate, and collaborate.
Photo: The Jesuit Post. Dublin Ireland.