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Groping toward the next stages of technology development and human society: a metaphor from an Iranian poet
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 18:28 authored by Masoud Afshari-Mofrad, Sepehr Ghazinoory, Gholamali Montazer, Mona RashidiradSo far, the human society has experienced four stages of development namely: Hunter–gatherer age, Agricultural age, Industrial age and Information age. Many researchers have tried to explore some scenarios to envision where human being is going in the future but the question is still unresolved and there is no unique answer. This paper aims to probe the next stages using a metaphor of an ancient Persian poem from Attar Neyshaburi (that is one of the famous Iranian poets and mystics, lived around 13th century A.D.). In this poem, Attar argues that the wayfarer must traverse seven valleys to achieve perfection. In this paper, it is hypothesised that these valleys could provide a fruitful source of vision – as a metaphor – to think about the evolution of human society. The results suggest that the next three stages which human society would experience might be: Technological convergence age, Intelligence age and Post-humanity age. These results could be helpful in providing vision for the process of technology policy design and social development.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Technological Forecasting and Social ChangeISSN
0040-1625Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Volume
109Page range
87-95Department affiliated with
- Business and Management Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-07-22First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-07-22First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-07-21Usage metrics
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