Thought Leadership: Sometimes, we choose not to think things because they are simply too painful to think about. For example, I mentioned last week that scientists have recently found microplastics in rainwater. If these super tiny particles are in the rain, it means they are falling onto the land and being absorbed by plants and trees. This week, a new study has found that microplastics may be hindering the growth of some crops by as much as 7 percent. (This decline has been masked because overall crop yields have continued to increase due to advances in robotics, satellite technology, artificial intelligence and gene editing). Still, we must wrestle with the reality of microplastics in the soil. What does it mean to allow microplastics into our water, food and bodies–including the bodies of those who are still in their mother’s wombs? How do we slow, stop and, ultimately, reverse this problem? This is a difficult issue and I don’t have an answer. We cannot, however, afford to look away and NOT think about what this means for our future and the future of our descendants. Let me ask you a new question: How do you think about microplastics being in your water, land, food and body? (My guess is that you don’t want to think about the issue, but I encourage you to stick with the question.)
Think Again: Last week, I invited you to think about the last time you changed your mind. If you didn’t do it, I’d like to encourage you again. The reason I am so passionate about this idea of changing our minds was captured in this beautiful quote from Daniel Kahneman: “Most people hate changing their minds but I like to change my mind. It means I’ve learned something.” So, rather than asking you when was the last time you changed your mind, let me ask a different question: When was the last time you digested new information which caused you to change your mind?
Think: Speaking of changing minds, this article–A Moral Framework for Understanding Our Political Divide–has helped me see and understand the issue of political polarization in America in a new and different light. It may do the same for you. If you don’t have time to read the article, the author’s theory is that political conservatives and liberals love their fellow humans in different ways. The former tend to practice greater love to those closest to themselves. The latter embrace a definition of love which extends to a broader swath of humanity. Both “ways” to love have merit. Loving your family and those closest to you in your community makes sense. It also makes sense to love the “other” and “the stranger.” Perhaps, a first, tiny step in bridging the political divide is to recognize that each of us is simply trying to love in the best way we know.
Think Different: In another case of changing minds, it is my hope that Robert Kennedy, Jr, the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, might be open to changing his mind about his preferred method of addressing the spread of the Avian Bird Flu in America. Kennedy’s idea that farmers should just allow the flu to spread through their flocks (in order to identify those few chickens or turkeys immune to the disease) is not based on science. As this article from Scientific American explains Kennedy’s “hands-off” approach could have serious economic ramifications for the poultry industry.
Think Harder: In 2011, I delivered this TED Talk on the topic of unlearning. Watch my remarks from 3:43 to 4:40. The clip explains why exponential growth is so hard for most people to comprehend.The implications of the exponential growth of artificial intelligence are now upon us. The reality is this: The trend has been doubling for years but the really big change (or what I refer to as “Day 25 to Day 30” in my little example in the video) is about to occur. To better understand, I invite you to read this article on how AI is now doubling every 7 months. What this means in “exponential terms” is that in the next 70 months (or about 6 years), AI will be A THOUSAND-FOLD more powerful than it is today! I remain convinced that not enough of us–myself included–are really thinking about what this means for humanity.
Think Small: In a world awash in steel and the production of a single ton of “green” steel is a proverbial drop-in-the-bucket. Still, news that any amount of steel has been produced without CO2 emissions is cause for celebration. Steel is responsible for 9 percent of all CO2 emissions and is a leading cause of human-induced climate change. If Boston Steel’s technology can commercially scale its process, it will be a significant development.
Thoughts from Beyond: Last week, I shared some thoughts on why I believe the future will be spiritual (Here and Here). A reader wrote and asked “How does one come to know the Spirit?” It is an excellent question and, before beginning, let me say that I believe there are many paths to arriving at an answer. I suspect everyone has their own unique journey, but here as my response:
My short answer is that it is an “inner knowing.” It is not a “knowing” easily captured with words or explained by the “expert” in me. At the same time, it is so simple that even my inner child can understand its logic and grasp its wisdom.
The world, indeed the Universe, is infused with Spirit. The quantum physicists of the world might label the original energy which created the Universe as a type of “formless energy” but we can both agree that whatever this “energy” is (i.e. “Spirit” or “formless energy”), it lies at the heart and formation of the Universe. Others may also call this “formless energy,” God, the Great Mystery, the Divine Spark, or any of a thousand other names.
If this Spirit is the Source of all creation, it stands to reason that it is infused in all of the Universe’s creations, including ourselves. Teilhard de Chardin had it right when he said, “We are not humans having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
In my particular case, I can also say that I have had one conscious experience which made my “inner knowing” more manifest. Years ago, while speaking to an audience of one thousand people in St. Louis, I had a “dissociative experience” on stage. Some people might describe my experience as an “out of body” experience. Whatever it was, the part of me that I defined as “I” was some type of invisible–or formless–energy looking back at my human body (which was still speaking and moving on stage).
The experience only lasted 8-10 seconds but it gave me the first hint or taste that the real me was also made of the same “formless energy.” This is how I came to believe in the Spirit.
