The waves of change are unavoidable, but whether they bring blessing or disaster has yet to be determined.
One thing is clear—for 300,000 years, humanity has cooperated, overcoming crises with diversity and creativity despite inherent imperfection.

We may be living in one of the luckiest—or unluckiest—periods on Earth, or even in the universe.
Was it inevitable? Did it begin when AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol in 2016? Or in the 1940s, when the concept of modern computing took shape? Or in the 1920s, when its foundation was laid? Maybe even in the 1600s, when Newton led people to believe that the workings of the universe could be explained by human reason. Perhaps even earlier, when ancient Greek philosophers or thinkers of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods began to explore world order. Or it could be traced further back to the emergence of modern humans 300,000 years ago, the appearance of life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago, and the birth of the universe 13.8 billion years ago. Just as natural laws formed galaxies, stars, and planets, the emergence of intelligent non-living entities may have been inevitable. Whether extraterrestrial life exists remains unknown. Tracing back in time, solely from Earth’s perspective, our planet formed 9.2 billion years after the birth of the universe, with the first life appearing about 800 million years later. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, modern humans finally emerged. Measured against the clock of the cosmos, however, human history amounts to no more than a fleeting 300,000 years. At first, humankind was not so different from other species; yet in just 10,000 years of building civilization, we have begun to create a new kind of intelligence never before seen in the universe: artificial intelligence. We now stand right at that threshold.

If we suppose that the average human lifespan is 100 years, this generation is living in an exceptionally rare moment in the universe’s timeline: The chance of living in this rare moment is 1 in 38 million since the emergence of life on Earth, 1 in 3,000 since humans first appeared, and 1 in 100 since civilization. In the next 100 years—or the following 100—AI will advance dramatically, but witnessing the first emergence of non-human intelligence in real time may never happen again. This stands in sharp contrast to the birth of humankind 300,000 years ago, which began quietly without anyone’s awareness.

Just ten years since AlphaGo and only three years since ChatGPT, AI has already surpassed humans in multiple domains. Could any field—art, humanities, science—remain beyond AI’s reach? Today, AI executes tasks under human instruction, but experts predict a future in which it may think and act independently in all situations. Where, then, does the value of humans lie? Might we be the unluckiest generation?

Looking back, human history has always endured uncertainty and hardship. People lost their lives to predators, fell before nature’s might, and harmed one another due over minor conflicts. Still, humankind—aware of its imperfections—joined hands, built societies, and raised civilizations. Neither a perfect individual nor a perfect society has ever existed. Even history’s great figures had flaws, yet their imperfections did not overshadow their achievements.

Perhaps the unique human value lies in accepting imperfection, resisting discrimination, and persevering through failure. Our capacity to overcome crises with creativity and expand civilizations stems from imperfection. Each of the eight billion humans is genetically different, perceiving the world through different experiences and perspectives. No one is perfect, and society has evolved dynamically by bridging differences. Artificial intelligence gathers vast amounts of knowledge within a small number of systems, learns from it, and exchanges information at nearly the speed of light. Humans in contrast learn and communicate slowly, but diversity arises within such slowness. It is precisely such slowness and diversity that create a value unique to humankind. The reason life has managed to survive through billions of years of change without becoming extinct is that diversity is inherent in its nature.

Together with AI, humanity may embark on a new evolutionary path. We may transcend the natural limitations of DNA or merge with machines to form new beings. Waves of change are inevitable, but whether they bless or doom us remains to be seen. One thing is clear: for 300,000 years, humans have cooperated and drawn on diversity and creativity to overcome crises, despite their imperfections. They have discovered inherent human value within imperfection. As AI pursues perfection, humanity will continue to live in acknowledgement of imperfection—and perhaps that is why we will remain uniquely valuable, intelligent beings in the future.