What is the ‘next material’?

What is the ‘next material’? cover image

‘Maya’ in the spiritual context represents the ‘material veil’ that covers the ultimate truth or enlightenment. It says that once you are aware of the ‘material world’ you transform into an ideal being. A fraction of this ‘material world’ are real materials, like precious metals, carbon compounds etc. I feel our existence so far and the future is greatly dependent on these materials.

If we scroll back to a million years , I believe the early interaction of humans with ‘stone’ has created fire which is the earliest and greatest discovery. Studying the (stone) material’s nature has given us variety of tools. It was so influential, that the whole period is defined as ‘Stone age’.Similarly, discoveries of various metals, have defined human existence and shaped humanity. We ascribe millions of years of civilisation simply to the material we have been associated with. (eg: Bronze age, Iron age etc ). Even though we call, later periods as ‘Industrial Age’ or ‘Information Age’, there is a strong influence of materials.

In 50’s the discovery of transistors (silicon based) led to the electronics revolution, computers and is still continuing. We might as well call this period as ‘Silicon Age’. So at every milestone in human civilisation there is a material.

At the same time, Plastics , CFCs , Toxic chemicals , overuse or misuse have proven catastrophically bad to the planet.

In the current times, (Automation Age) where we are making paths for Robots to learn, act, serve and emote the next material becomes very crucial. We need to be aware of this ‘Maya’ -material’s ill effects well before we realise its too late.

To summarise,

‘Stone’ gave us survival.

‘Metals’ gave us Sustenance and growth.

‘Silicon’ gave us Information, Intelligence , Automation and Freedom.

‘Next material’ can make or break this planet or make interplanetary survival possible.

( some are predicting its Graphene)