Think: Here’s what I am trying to spend more time thinking about: What does it mean to be human? In today’s world of artificial intelligence and rapidly accelerating technologies, the question is going to take on even greater importance. We must, of course, cultivate curiosity and creativity but how do we do this? The best place to start is with imagination and this old article, Imagination: What You Need to Thrive in the Future, offers a good place to start about how we all improve our imagination.
Think Lighter: Twenty years ago, I wrote the book, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. Many of the advances I described in the book have come to fruition but they have taken much longer than I originally predicted. This latest advance about “the lightest paint in the world” is fascinating. It could have huge implications for how society effectively and affordably uses paint to help combat climate change. (Fun fact: With this new paint, it may soon be possible to paint a 747 airliner not with the 1,100 pounds of paint it currently takes but rather a mere 5 pounds! This lighter weight load of the plane will save the airlines tens of millions of dollars in reduced fuel usage.)
Think Different: If you are an educator or if you are concerned about the recent advances in artificial intelligence, I encourage you to read and think about this article: ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it. (It is my belief that if ChatGPT can give students answers, it is incumbent upon educators to help students learn how to ask better questions.)
Think Cheaper: The price of eggs has skyrocketed over the past year. Recently, this vegan egg made its debut in the US. Is it a game changer? I can’t say, but if it is as indistinguishable from real eggs as the article suggests, it is something for farmers, retailers, and consumers alike to think about.
Think Visually: Here are two charts that have me thinking harder this week about life expectancy and rooftop clean energy:
Heart-Centered Thinking: Yesterday, my wife, Cindy, shared an article with me about a woman who rifles through New York City’s trash to expose excessive waste. What the woman, Anna Sacks, finds is both amazing and disturbing–especially with regard to how much food we waste as a society. This isn’t a new issue but since the article has been published Ms. Sachs has started an instagram account and is attracting a growing number of followers. This is important because soon the businesses which she exposes will be held to account by the public and their customers. The world is changing and business leaders must be aware that their actions will be watched with increasing scrutiny by the public.
Afterthought: “Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards.” –Soren Kierkegaard
