Think: Later today, I will be sitting down with Forbes to do an interview on  the topic of “The future of wealth.” My thinking on this subject may surprise you. My thoughts can be found in this piece on The Future of Wealth, but the gist of it is this: “Wealth” in the near future will be defined in more spiritual terms and less in materialistic manners–such as money and material objects. (FYI: If you don’t believe me, just ask yourself this question: What truly makes you feel wealthy? Is it just money or is something deeper?)

Think Fast: Agility’s new factory can crank out 10,000 humanoid robots a year. The robotics revolution–like the AI revolution–is just getting started. Buckle up! (Giant drones are now also carrying cargo to off-shore wind turbines).

Think Optimistically: The future has a way of catching us all by surprise. One way to prepare yourself is to read and understand history. For instance, this little tidbit from this article– Get $2.35 Billion Worth of Books for Free–recently caught my attention: “Holding everything else constant, if there had been no book innovation since 1439, a typical book would cost $35,143 today.” My point is this: Innovation in health care, education, construction, manufacturing, etc will continue. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that what is expensive today might be very affordable tomorrow.

Think the Unthinkable: Last week, I shared this article on human longevity and said that advances may keep many of us one step ahead of the “Grim Reaper.”  This week’s case-in-point: A new drug could extend human life by 30 percent. (The research is from the Mayo Clinic).

Think Different: No one “silver bullet” will help us address climate change. However, a number of smaller “silver bullets” might lead to meaningful change. I found these two articles–one on “Ecovillages” and the other on “How tiny wetlands in the Midwest are combating the Gulf of Mexico’s “Dead Zone”–to be both hopeful and inspiring.

P.S. In the long term, I am bullish on self-driving cars. Nevertheless, I still always look for information which may prove me wrong and this article offers evidence against my thesis.

Afterthought: “To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” –T.S. Eliot