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The year is 2015 and the world markets have just collapsed. The rising price of wheat, coupled with less than expected earnings from agricultural companies triggers a massive sell off across the big board. Overnight, the international markets follow suit and the world is suddenly facing total economic disaster.

Could it happen? Certainly. In the absence of sound reasoned judgment, panic always ensues. So, what can we do to stop such a thing from ever happening?

We need to slow down.

Events are moving faster than the human brain can process these events. When the banks collapsed in March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt declared a four day "Bank Holiday" during which time he soothed fractured nerves with legislation from Congress and a nice fireside chat over the radio. Everyone took a collective breath and processed what was going on. Today, we no longer have the luxury of such a "time out". We're on a 24 hour news cycle on a global scale. A ripple can easily turn into a tsunami overnight.

Most of what is pushing all of this is technology. Access to up to date information is now possible any time of day or night. Besides the information overload, technology itself has grown faster than our expectations. It was once thought that there were limits to Moore's Law, the exponential growth of microchip technology. Today, futurists such as Ray Kurzweil are speculating that new technologies will move beyond the perceived limitations of chip technology and that there is no conceivable end in sight for exponential growth.

What this means for us humans is that the gap between our evolution and technological growth is going to get wider. Aside from the fear that cyborgs are going to rule the planet, we have some serious health issues to deal with.

We've already heard of the "Pokemon" seizures that children have experienced from watching too many programs and playing video games for prolonged periods of time. It's going to get worse. During the 1970's television commercials would make editing cuts every few seconds. Today, it's not unusual for a commercial to employ 2 to 3 cuts per second.

The human animal wasn't engineered for this. It was only ten thousand years ago that we were hunting on Savannah grasslands that swayed gently in the breeze. Dealing with frenetic images is something totally new to our species. Physiologically, many of us are one synapse away from blowing a gasket.

There is also evidence that this societal rapidity is actually hurting our economy and investments in our future. Companies like to plan for the long term. The rapid pace of change upsets those plans and causes corporations to rethink their long term development strategies. Think of it this way: Why should a company invest millions in an emerging technology when that technology will be obsolete in one year?

We are creating two classes in our society, one savvy and one without knowledge. Only a few elite will be able to work in nanotechnology because of the training and brainpower needed to grasp the concepts. This is far beyond the accessible technology of the V-8 engine. Only a small percentage will be able to create the new technologies while the rest of us will be relegated to playing Ms. Pac-Man.

The most troubling of these rapid changes is the inability for our ethics to keep up. We're so focused on our ability to create that we lose sight of our responsibility to act wisely.

However, our society doesn't have to be a runaway train barreling into the future. Perhaps it's time we give the old engine a rest and have a nice cup of coffee together.

Decaf, of course.

We're moving fast enough already.

Learn more about this author, Neal Acito.
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