The Ultimate Use of Technology is Manifestation

Look at the arc of technology.

We began with simple tools. We now have mobile apps that deliver food with a single tap. Where once we forged steel by hand, today 3D printers build complex structures at the push of a button.

Travel that once took days now takes hours. AI systems can translate a short description into working code, collapsing the distance between idea and execution. Even ads now anticipate our desires before we voice them.

The pattern is clear: we want things faster, with less effort. This is not limited to technology, it’s visible in biology too. A fetus, in a sense, “speed-runs” evolution in the womb. IMO this is a universal patter, but that’s a tangent for another time.

Extrapolate this trend forward: the gap between thought and reality keeps shrinking. Eventually, we will be able to manifest anything we imagine directly.

At that point, the bottleneck won’t be how we create, it will be what we choose to imagine.

The New Challenge: Imagination with Purpose

It’s already happening. We spend longer deciding what to watch on Netflix than watching the show. We agonize over food choices more than waiting for delivery.

That’s just you fighting with your own thoughts. The problem gets exponentially harder in a group setting. Think about it: A team meeting where no one can agree on priorities, so hours get wasted circling instead of deciding. A government wrestling over policy, where every faction pulls in a different direction, stalling progress entirely.

When imagination is shared but not aligned, the bottleneck isn’t technology, it’s consensus. The friction of choice scales with the number of minds in the room.

The challenge isn’t access, it’s clarity of desire. We don’t know what we want. We often wander aimlessly.

So the question becomes: how do we imagine?

In the past, survival and short-term goals gave us focus. We didn’t need to ask about ultimate purpose, we were too busy overcoming immediate obstacles.

But now, as AI collapses the distance between thought and reality, what we think matters more than ever. If our thoughts can materialize quickly, then aimless or poorly directed imagining becomes wasteful at best, dangerous at worst.

When people talk about AI alignment, they often mean making sure the AI follows human intentions. But the real problem is upstream: how do we make sure our intentions themselves are aligned with human flourishing?

That means establishing purpose, individually and collectively. A purpose for your life. For your company. For your country. For humanity. And for ultimate alignment, these purposes must cohere, not clash.

Only then do we move toward the Omega Point: a future where imagination, technology, and purpose converge.