Harnessing the power of new technologies

So far, the human experience comprises about 40,000 years--a period, as the historian Arthur Schlesinger points out, of approximately 800 generations. One of the most striking realities of our collective experience is that the development of what we would consider new technologies has all been essentially within the most recent 10 or so generations. Not surprisingly, the speed and scope of technological innovation has led to struggles in learning to understand and then harness the capabilities we have developed and will continue to develop.