(Editor’s note: Beginning today, I’ve made the conscious decision to move the category of “Heart-centered thinking” from the last item in this weekly newsletter to the first. The reason is simple: As the world continues to accelerate and become complex and ambiguous, it will be more important than ever for all of us to engage more with our hearts.)
Heart-Centered Thinking: In honor of Martin Luther King Day earlier this week, my wife and I penned a commentary honoring the memory and legacy of MLK for the Minneapolis StarTribune. It was entitled, King Feared the Silence of Unraised Voices. It is a reminder to all of us that a large part of many of today’s societal issues is the “fear and apathy of the Children of Light.” In other words, it is not enough for us to be “good people,” we also can act with our hands and hearts.
Think Different: Want to stay ahead of the future? Here’s some advice: Spend more time reading and thinking about Africa. This article, All Futurism is Afrofuturism, is an excellent place to start. One for one reason why, consider the chart below. (Put another way: Just follow the people!)
Think Optimistically: Much like my “heart-centered” thinking category, I intend to make the category of “Thinking Optimistically” a regular feature as well. The reason is not to dismiss all the negative news in the world (which I’d argue is the mainstream media’s primary focus and its “bread-and-butter”), but rather to remind you of how many reasons there are to be optimistic. In fact, as this article points, there are 1000 reasons to be optimistic.
Think Fast: Humanoid-like robots are coming to the BMW manufacturing plant in South Carolina. The robots will likely only perform simple, repetitive tasks at first. It is not, however, difficult to imagine where this might go.
Think Faster: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, gave an interesting interview in Davos, Switzerland this week on the rapidly accelerating field of artificial intelligence. Two insights stood out for me: First, he said that with AI you might soon be able to just say ‘What are my most important emails today’ and it will summarize those for you; and, secondly, and more concerning, is that ChatGPT may soon provide different answers to different people.
Afterthought: “A constant flow of thoughts expressed by other people can stop and deaden your own thoughts and your own initiative.” (In other words: Think for yourself!)–Arthur Schopenhauer
P.S. Miss last week’s newsletter? Check it out here.
