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There is no Dune future. That's a fantasy. Without accelerated technological progress, the only future is extinction over the next century.

I don't mean this to be pedantic, I mean that there's no fantasy of "untouched human intellect" in the future. No such thing is going to happen. If humanity rejects accelerating technology and overcoming self-destruction, the only future is death.

this is a pretty strong claim. what limitation of 2026 tech condemns us all to death?

The inability to quickly decarbonize with more efficient materials, lack of coordination around environmental efforts, energy chokeholds that demand using oil and gas, and the extreme and unsustainable effects of the meat industry that could be replaced with synthetic food products.

Completely agree with you that these are the big societal problems, but I don’t think we’re being blocked by tech: It’s our inability to make good decisions and implement them. Without progress on some combination of tech and social axes our future will suck. But we will not (all) die.