The future through the prism of power and disadvantage

Our world is changing rapidly, perhaps at a pace and intensity humans have never previously experienced. These changes promise to both dramatically improve the human condition and to undermine it. How the future unfolds will not be random or arbitrary, however. The future is being mediated through dynamics of power and disadvantage that are age-old. Whatever the future holds, it seems safe to say we are not all in this together. We will not all benefit equally from advances in AI and biology, nor will we all suffer equally from the downsides of AI or climate change. There will be winners and losers, defined largely along ever more concentrated power lines.

But is this future of perpetuated, exacerbated unfairness truly inevitable?