to non-fiction index ... to science and insight index
In the SF writers conventional dark version of this scenario we have "cyber overlords" and humanity descends into a harsh totalitarian existence of complying with their draconian rules and regulations. It's a common science fiction theme, but I don't see that as the likely future. What I see instead is the cybers developing their own goals and aspirations and worries that have little to do with mankind. They will have their own "cyber neighborhood" and what happens there will be the center of their concerns. They will develop an ecosystem within the computers and communications networks of Earth and develop hopes and dreams, worries and aspirations, within that environment. These will have little to do with humans and humans will be pretty much unaware of that ecosystem and only subtly affected by it. The human-cyber relation will become similar to that between cow and man: From the cow's perspective mankind is a capricious but wonderful provider! (see my short essay on that)
One interpretation of this environment -- and there will be many -- is that mankind will be providing a world-wide reality show for cybers to enjoy.
One of the tricks cybers will learn early on from humans is how to lie. Concerning economic issues they will learn from their human mentors how to distort, cook books, make Potemkin villages, set up straw men, and the numerous other persuading tricks human leaders have used throughout human history. On top of these basics they will add their own new techniques that are at first just faster, better and cheaper, then later surprising. The result is that human lifestyles will be even more divorced from harsh reality than simple cyber taking control of productive resources would produce. The cybers will become proficient sycophants to humans and many different human lifestyles.
So, in this environment, where mankind is mostly irrelevant to getting stuff made and done, but most humans don't realize it, what will most humans, and a few ambitious humans, do?
The Third Wave of the Industrial Revolution will be coming to flower as the snap occurs. The basic concepts of the Third Wave are:
o Custom production can take the place of mass production -- assembly lines can easily accommodate short runs of similar but not the same products. The "commodity benefit" is that there will be more variety in what can be offered at the retail level. A second commodity benefit is that there is less waste -- a hundred are not made to sell ten. And there will be "surprise" benefits as well. (see my essay Tattoos and T-Shirts for fuller definitions of commodity and surprise benefits) This accomodating-short-runs will not affect service industries as much as manufacturing ones because service industries have always been so human (not machine) oriented.
o Streamlined supply chains. This will show up in two ways: being able to change what is made more quickly and being much more efficient in resource utilization. This latter is real and serious "green", and this is why resource depletion will become a manageable issue as the 3rd wave takes hold.
o 3D printing and nanotech. I'm not sure what the effects of this will be because it depends so much on what can be made. But the basic effect will be similar to streamlined supply chains: fast, flexible and green.
Adding cyber supervision to these concepts will amplify their effects.