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In their book, The Future Is Faster Than You Think (2020) Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler devote an entire chapter to the exponential changes in the field of entertainment. This 20 year progression, through the convergence of independent technologies, continues to shift the “landscape” of entertainment in ways that integrate A.I. into more collaborative, immersive and personalized forms of entertainment. As the power and influence of these changes increase, we find ourselves now, in a newly emerging world of holograms, personal assessment, affective computing, and uber creators, while brain computer interfaces begin to merge content creators, media companies and neuroscience labs.
The convergence of technological innovations, A.I. and virtual reality, is not without significant tradeoffs, that often can only be viewed from the perspective of hindsight. Newly emerging leaders and insightful “whistleblowers”, such as Tristan Harris (The Center For Humane Technology) have exposed the impact of moving forward “blindly” with tech and media that offers immersive and addictive brain based amusement, distraction and social media feedback loops, without the accompanying levels of information and knowledge to provide the necessary understanding of our brain based psychological development.
What we see now, is more and more of a distinction between short term, pleasure based ideas about artificial intelligence and long term, more intentional and deeper focused wisdom. This distinction is nothing new, and has always been controlled and directed from the “top down”, by the major corporations and the profit motive. The introduction of accelerating levels of technology and artificial intelligence into the entertainment mediums comes with the tradeoffs and disregard for a deeper understanding of the foundations of wisdom, and the wide range of factors that make it possible.
As the dominance and power of entertainment increases, we’ve reached a point in time, where entertainment can and must be used to play a major role in the process of BOTH, enjoyment, diversion, relaxation and distraction, AND personal growth, wisdom and human development. This begins to take place, when we can view OUR STORIES and THEIR STORIES from an ELEVATED perspective. We must now be able to counter balance the powerful and often addictive forces of more superficial and shallow stimulation, by using these same mediums in unique and powerful ways, to develop our elevated potential for long term growth.
When we ask ourselves how to accomplish this, we can discover an underlying and profound level of psychology at play. This level uncovers and relates to the universal elements of our humanity. This includes an understanding of how and why we identify with the STORIES, genres, plots, themes and characters, that are an integral part of our entertainment media. As humans, we’re born with a natural curiosity and desire to learn. Our human predisposition and developmental dimensions move us toward growth. By exploring and relating to new and unique places, events, people, and ideas, we are constantly learning from the media information we process. We enter entertaining new worlds and become part of them, often losing a sense of time, while releasing our reality based personal environment, in favor of alternative and more compelling worlds. These worlds are a reflection of our human diversity, offering new potentials for learning, engagement, excitement and involvement.