Renowned Technological Archaeologist, Sara Polak, captivated the audience at the recent WebExpo event with her thought-provoking presentation. She discussed social structures, historical technologies and old-new realities where she analyses the primal evolutional mechanisms of society.
The talk began with Sara sharing information on how she and her team studied human behaviour and virtual reality. Their aim was to be able to visualise the progress between humans and technology. In order to do that, they reviewed three separate timelines, that of; social systems, technology and consciousness. Sara shed light on the fascinating interconnections and advancements that have unfolded over the years. Each timeline, she emphasized, played a crucial role in shaping our collective journey. For an in-depth exploration of these timelines and their intriguing overlaps, the WebExpo video presentation provides an invaluable resource.
In the next portion of the presentation, Sara went on to discuss how these timelines have now reached a point in time where there are “unlimited realities”. By this, Sara explained, that in today’s tech-forward, modern world, we are in a position where, with the likes of artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality – the way we live is drastically changing, to an extent where nation-states are not able to keep up with the pace of growth. During the talk, Sara gave some examples of just what she meant by this, before going on to confirm her own theory on where the timelines will go next.
Social structures
Continuing her insightful presentation, Sara delved deeper into the topic of social structures. Essentially, discussing the way in which society organises itself. Some examples of this that Sara shared are; tribalism, democracy and other models. One point she shared was her own thoughts on how these social structures may not remain relevant in the future and went on to say that there are other ways we can manage ourselves outside of what we know as the norm.
Illustrating her points through engaging slides, Sara emphasized that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to social structures. Instead, she advocated for a fresh perspective that considers the unique context of a new environment, for example, on Mars.
Historical technologies
Transitioning seamlessly into her exploration of historical technologies, Sara shared her insightful perspective on their transformative impact. During her talk, she covers; upper palaeolithic, social complexity, industrialisation and digital, AI and blockchain – which, in her opinion, are the technological revolutions in history that have dramatically changed the way in which we structure ourselves.
Through a series of examples, Sara went on to provide further information on various technology applications over the decades and just how each of the seemingly small changes over time have dramatic consequences for society as a whole.
Old-new realities
In the last part of her talk, Sara explored the concept of old-new realities, focusing on three main topics of discussion: decentralization, multiple identities, and state restructuring. In this section of the presentation, Sara covered some of the key components of how we, as a society, communicate with one another – often in a centralized manner whereby, particularly within the workplace, a conversation with a leading question works its way through a “chain of command” before returning the answer to its’ seeker. Something that Sara alludes to as being a not-so-practical approach to conversations within the workplace and hopes to provide a more practical approach in the future.
As Sara’s talk neared its conclusion, she unveiled some of the current projects that her team has been working on. To get further details on those ongoing projects, you can watch the video in full (below this article).
The final point that Sara left us with was the statement: “mobilis in mobile” i.e. moving within the moving. In other words, Sara believes that staying true to evolution is the only principle that we need to adopt on Mars, as well as letting go of tradition. Because ultimately, we’re only here for a short time – so it’s important that we use that limited time as effectively as possible, whether that be here on Earth or on Mars.