Think: Scientists around the world are getting increasingly nervous about bird flu. This is a very SERIOUS issue and it is possible we could soon see a pandemic on the scale of the one the world witnessed in 2020-21. Are you and your organization prepared?
Think Faster: As a futurist, one of my responsibilities is to look for trends that are on the fringe of society today but may move into the mainstream tomorrow. The fact that electric cars in Norway now outnumber gas-powered cars for the first time fits into this category.
Think Again: I intend to watch Oprah Winfrey’s latest TV special, “AI and the Future of Us,” but have not yet done so. In the meantime, though, the issue of how much energy artificial intelligence consumes is likely to become more prominent. It is too soon to say AI’s energy usage will be its “achilles heel” but when you read that AI is already responsible for two percent of the world’s CO2 emissions it is hard not to be concerned. Here’s just one startling tidbit: Generating a single image using generative AI uses the equivalent amount of energy as recharging your smartphone.
Think Smarter: How Farms are Using “Magic Dust” to Capture Carbon. I encourage anyone involved with farming and agriculture to read this article. Regenerative agriculture is a big and growing trend and while there is still concern around how farmers can accurately measure the additional carbon they are storing in their soil, I am confident that the measuring technology will continue to improve. As it does, farmers will increasingly be financially compensated for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the ground. As this article suggests, basalt (crushed volcanic rock) can help with this task.
Think Harder: The future cannot only be understood in scientific and material terms. The future will also be shaped by the human heart and love, compassion and empathy. These things are impossible to measure but they matter greatly. So, too, do matters of spirituality and faith. To this end, I enjoyed this article, The Spiritual is Not Weird.
Afterthought: “The world is becoming too small for both an Us and a Them. We do not have separate futures; we have one future, together.” – Edward O. Wilson