Humanism, the Internet of things and Tomorrow by Femi Owolade.

The idea of humanity was first developed by the Greeks in the 5th century BC. They conceived mankind as a group defined beyond gender, race, and class, by a characteristic common to all humanity. To the Greeks, that characteristic, which held humanity together was ‘reason’. This idea was further developed by the Romans who added virtues such as sympathy and kindliness to the Greek’s conceptualization of humanity.

Thus, since Greco-Roman antiquity, to be human has meant one thing: being civilized i.e. having good habits, and governing one’s life rationally. One was not born human. One had to become human, through the indoctrination of attributes such as good habits and through the liberal disciplines that during the Italian Renaissance (14th-16th century AD) came to be called the ‘humanities’.

About 500 years after the Renaissance period, by the year 2039 AD, the concept of humanity- and the world as we know it- will be buried in the sand of times. Gone will be halcyon days when our specie aimed to be ‘human’. Instead, after decades of unprecedented technological advancements, homo sapiens will be posthuman; a transformed being whose basic capacities greatly exceeds those of the past human. Our transhumanism would not have been possible without the development of sophisticated technologies, cohering for the benefit of man, in a system called the ‘internet of things’.

In the 1900s, the internet was created by people, for benefitting and unifying people. It became the digital fabric woven into the lives of every human, changing the world and the way people interacted.

By the early 2000s, a new type of internet followed, poised to change the world again. This new form of internet didn’t connect people, it connected (non-living) things, and thus the name: the internet of things. Under this new system, like the internet of people allowed people to share their experiences with other people (e.g. on social media), things/objects will be able share their own experiences too.

How will this work?

 You take things and give them the 5 senses, enhance their ability to taste, touch, hear, smell and see. And then you have things interacting and collaborating with each other for the benefit of human beings.

The internet of things will change the way we do things; from how we drive, to how we buy items and even how we pick clothes in our wardrobe. Sophisticated sensors and chips will be embedded in things around us, each transmitting data- data that lets us understand how things cohere to work for us.

By the 2020s, our planet will have nearly 25 billion connected devices. So whether we are improving the level of production in a factory or monitoring our personal health, a single ‘internet of things’ platform will bring a set of devices together, and create a common language for these devices to communicate with each other. The platform to unify these devices will be known as ‘Lifebook’ (an imitation of the biblical ‘book of life’), owned by Mark Zuckerberg, who by this period will be the most powerful man on earth.

Through Lifebook, Zuckerberg will pilot humankind into a new evolutionary epoch, a new world order, where nation-states will collapse and merge into a powerful e-government, led by Zuckerberg.

By 2039, Nigeria- united by a single religion, would have experienced a decade of unprecedented economic growth, romantic nationalism and scientific development (2020s), and thus will be the only autonomous and independent country- but our independence will have a caveat.

In the year 2035, during the recolonization of the earth and the Lifebook’s establishment (2022-2037), Zuckerberg will coerce the Nigerian government into signing an agreement in return for the country’s independence. The agreement will ensure that the next Presidential election in Nigeria (2039) is conducted on the Lifebook platform, under the watchful eye of Zuckerberg.

FEMI'S TOMORROW.

Love Your Neighbour as Yourself by Usman Rayyanu Dabai.

When I was in the school of Remedial studies, ABU Funtua, I shared a room for nine months with a fellow student who was a Christian!

In the morning, I prayed my Subh prayers at one end of the room mentioning 'Allahu Akbar' almost a million times, while he knelt at other end of the room praying in the name of Jesus. I prayed in Arabic, he prayed in tongue!

Back then, my trousers stopped at my ankle, and I kept bears and took pride in it. My friend wore jeans and shirts and was happy.

I hardly shook hands with the opposite sex, but my friend could shake hands with the entire women in Africa. 

I only played Islamic songs, while he played Christian songs.

 But we respect each other. We knew our boundaries.

Each time he swept the room, even in my absence, he treated my Quran with the same level of respect he did his Bible. 

We had mutual respect for each other, and knew our limits.

He's many things I'm not, and I'm many things he's not.

We did not hide our faiths and beliefs from each other. 

5 years after leaving Funtua, we still keep in touch.

We were only together for few months, but he won my affection. We became great friends!

It is not our religious difference that make us fight one another. It is our lack of understanding and negative attitude.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.