The human mind is and amazing thing. But it certainly has its (sometimes rather frustrating) limitations. 

But luckily, we have almost 8 billion of them on planet Earth. If all these minds could work together as one, the world’s problems would suddenly look like child’s play. 

I believe that this will happen one day through the creation of a shared universal mind (SUM). 

Google on steroids

Through the SUM, anyone will be able to tap into the combined knowledge and experience of society to instantly find the best answer to any important question. 

On an individual level, this would be most applicable to lifestyle choices. On a governmental level, the SUM would be of great assistance in policy design. 

Simply put, the SUM will give everyone on Earth the ability to make all the right choices to build a happy, healthy, wealthy, productive and sustainable life.

Big data

The SUM will be a machine learning engine that mines a continuously evolving set of data collected from the lives of billions of individuals. 

Data will be collected automatically through things like smart watches and scales (health), tax records (wealth and income), digital device use (productivity), credit card statements (purchasing decisions), and online track records (results).

Such data can then be cross checked against various factors like age, gender, occupation, place of residence, marital status, personality type, etc. 

With all this data, the SUM will be able to give personalized recommendations on all of life’s big questions based on the successes and failures of millions of similar people. 

To protect privacy, any link to the individual will be instantly broken upon data collection. Only the link between all the collected data points will be preserved.

The truth

In today’s interconnected world, those with the most influence are often not the most sensible ones, but rather the loudest and most sensational ones. 

The SUM will put an end to all the misinformation, propaganda and false advertising flying around the web. Instead, it will always report the indisputable facts derived from trillions of datapoints. 

Equality

Anyone with an internet connection will have access to the world’s combined knowledge and experience to design their lives. 

In other words, even the poorest person will have a mentor team of the world’s brightest minds to help him make the most of his life. 

In combination with our previous technology revolutions, this will contribute to the gradual elimination of inequality of opportunity, creating a much more just world. 

A universal consciousness

As more individuals and governments adjust their actions based on the SUM, humanity will develop a shared universal consciousness. 

We will be able to work together seamlessly to exploit the results of 8 billion continuous experiments (this thing called life) for the good of humanity. 

Any trends that are detrimental to society will be automatically stopped before they get started.

And any trends that truly improve the human condition will be automatically incorporated into the lives of billions worldwide. 

The post-SUM society will be a fascinating place to live in. I really hope it happens within my lifetime!