Issues we face - What do we humans need to reflect upon? Part 2

After many years on this sweet earth, below are some of my conclusions and are based on observations, what I hear and read, conversations I’ve had as well as discussions and arguments I’ve been involved in. They are a culmination of thoughts I have collated over time. They are not exhaustive of course and are merely my opinion.

I have split them into various categories which I feel actively reflect where I feel things are at in the present moment. Perhaps you have your own opinion.

Anger

- We seem to be in perpetual protest, and everyone seems to be angry or ‘on edge’ ready to react as opposed to respond

- The terminology we use these days, from everyday discourse to headlines and stories created in the media, especially on the internet, creates a much more febrile atmosphere than we have been acquainted with in days gone by

Accountability

- We are not ‘forced’ to keep our promises or commitments and we are not accountable when we don’t and this has to change, particularly those in public office given the nature of how we look upon institutions to uphold values, but also because, so much trust has been broken by those in public institutions

Approach(es)

- We need to return to conversational norms where we listen to hear rather than listening to reply or where we try not to demonstrate that we are absolute in our beliefs and in doing so effectively dismiss others’ opinions in the process

- Everyday thinking is now dominated by short-termism, and we need to change this to start thinking in the long term

- The merry-go round of prevention and cure - we fixate on cures and offer very little attention to prevention – the sooner we look at prevention as opposed to cure the sooner we can begin to deal with many of the issues that affect us much more effectively and efficiently

- We live in eternal expectation of others without altering or tailoring our own expectations to suit – we expect others to change rather than ourselves

- We over-affirm things as being brilliant, amazing, and awesome in a sustained effort to assert the positive and often end up going overboard with praise – it creates misleading expectations where all positive actions need to be acknowledged and when we don’t, people tend to be disappointed

- Many people live today as if there’s no tomorrow and thus behave in a manner that is not healthy or perhaps not in their best interests – this is somewhat careless in that whilst I understand why some behave this way, it’s an attitude that has emerged in a world of uncertainty, and thus breeds an approach that might deprive someone of important opportunities as the consequences of living as if there’s no tomorrow

- People live only for the moment because they feel they can’t influence the future, or they have no hope and just decide to embrace the moment because they believe they have no power to change what’s in front of them

- Everyone is guilty now – innocent until proven guilty no longer exists

- We are so desperate to succeed / win / get ahead that we are willing to sacrifice our values / beliefs / principles

- We have ‘corporatised’ everything – we have given, or we give ‘hip’ or fashionable names to generate meaning about certain things to re-market or re-package them into consumables, things that previously had no commercial value

- We use the language of ‘we’ without much consideration as to its implications, or to whom ‘we’ refers to – we use it to legitimise or illustrate support for arguments without any real thought of whether it is at all appropriate, or if it indeed reflects reality – encouraging people to use ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ would really help individuals take more responsibility for and be more accountable for their views

- People don’t pick ‘the right battles’ to fight, for example, we have a climate crisis and yet the battle for many this year (or for the last two years) is whether we should wear a mask in a global pandemic – we see people often getting angry or energised about issues that are maybe not so important

- The view that has developed in recent years, is that if we don’t conform to a particular viewpoint we are ‘sheep,’ or when those who have become more politicised in recent times (particularly the young) question tradition or convention they are labelled as ‘woke’ – this tends to emanate much more from ‘the right’ or more conservative and traditional quarters and is somewhat unkind in that is designed to demonise those, who for whatever reason choose to campaign, or protest, or ask probing questions, or alternatively, choose not too and then end up being viewed as compliant

- People have a desire to be correct - they need to be correct and so they act as if they are even if they are not, and when they know they’re not, they often go into denial and / or try to spin it so as not to lose face, but often they don’t know how to ‘find a way back’ so as to retain some form of integrity – it’s ok to be wrong - the need to reassure individuals about this but also to demonstrate how (when they have backed themselves into a corner), they can emerge from this without losing face or integrity

- We feel the need to tell people how they should live when it has no real, lasting or tangible impact on our daily lives, as if our society will collapse if people live differently to us - not subscribing to our values and beliefs - is painted as a threat to our existence, as if there is no room for diversity

- We have become clients and consumers and not citizens actively contributing to society, rather mere recipients of services and products

- Our role as consumers versus our need to be producers and how or whether or not can we reconcile this

Aspirations

- What is our legacy going to be and why do we never really think about it until quite late in our lives?

- People not feeling they have a place any more in the world, the sense that they don’t belong, and struggling to see where they fit in, can have dire consequences where in the worst-case scenario they take their own lives

- Being ‘a cog in the machine’ dehumanises us – being part of different systems whether its work, or education, or similar, often reduces us to a mere presence where we lose our ability to think (through the lack of challenge) or we become de-motivated, and choose not to contribute because of the nature of the system we occupy or inherit

Competition

- Competition has ruined us – there’s barely a facet of life that hasn’t an element of competition built into it – rarely content with what we have we look to improve upon our circumstances even if there is no logical and rational reason for doing so

- We’ve always been taught we are fundamentally selfish, but we must correct this narrative to the one that has now been proven to show that we are actually co-operative beings

Democracy

- Democracy has become truly democratised – social media has seen to that – and as a result traditional democratic institutions are under threat - equally democracy itself has been weakened by social media

- If democracy is under threat because we are no longer able to compromise what can be realistically do about that – it can’t simply be about two schools of thought - Progression Vs Regression – there has to be more to it than that

- A new struggle is emerging between the citizen, the state, and the monopolies as many become more vocal in their opposition to elitism and much more acutely aware that the system(s) of governance in many wealthy countries are no longer fit for purpose

Environment

- We need to move from a position of putting our Ego first to one of putting our Eco first – as in all ecological systems that surround us

- We need to re-invest our relationship with nature, much of which we have left to others to look after without their tending to it in a way that nurtures and protects it, or makes life for future generations more sustainable

Employment

- The most important skills in life have proven to be what’s commonly referred to as ‘soft skills’ – more and more employers recognise their value, yet government policy still reaffirms (to a large extent) those known as hard skills and we need to change the emphasis on this

- We need to re-think how we engage, support, and motivate staff – approaches such as appraisal systems do not necessarily guarantee better performance but can leaves people focusing on the negative thus reducing their motivation or capacity to deliver

- The interview process has barely changed over the years – here has to be a better way - it’s very much a false premise – we assess candidates on questions (we believe to be right) that necessitates or facilitates lying, exaggeration, misinformation, forgetfulness or even humiliation

Gender

- We have to work much harder to ensure the equalisation of rights for women around the globe – this is non-negotiable – in countries where this greater equality, they prove to be more successful in terms of a stronger economy and less poverty

- We need to change the emphasis on women having to protect themselves and make men wholly responsible for their behaviour and actions from an early age – we must stop the victim-blaming of women for the things that happen to them where men are the perpetrators

Having Purpose

- We have become obsessed with trying to create the next ‘something,’ whilst we have entire communities, running into millions of people just trying to create their next meal

- Everyone wants to be unique – everyone has been sold the idea that they must stand out to get ahead which sets often unrealistic expectations and thus leads to disappointment and a feeling of inadequacy

Identity

- The problem with viewing ourselves as a ‘single identity’ that is fixed or eternally consistent is that this is misleading – research has demonstrated that we are of course multiple selves subject to whatever situation we are in

Judgement

- Labels – it would appear that we categorise people, events and things more than ever as evidenced by Social Media – the need to try and move away from this type of behaviour cannot be stressed enough

- We are now part of a culture that calls out everything, judges everything, assumes people have ill-attention and the result of this is our ability to de-escalate situations is severely lacking

- We are too quick to judge – we live in an era where the language and terminology has changed quite a bit but not for the better and we instantly jump to conclusions without taking a moment to check things before we reach those conclusions

Lack of Empathy

- Distance – the further we are removed from something the less we empathise – the expression ‘evil does its work from a distance’ or ‘the further you are from the frontline the more hard-line you are’ never seems more apt

- People seem to care less these days about the messages they project or the legacy they leave behind when they make broad sweeping statements or show a distinct lack of care or compassion when referring to others, particularly those they have very little knowledge about in the first place

- The notion of solidarity and ‘standing with people’ has slowly eroded – we seem to have found ways of completely disconnecting from others or becoming desensitised to the needs and plight of others less fortunate than ourselves

- We need to rehumanise people - the distance between us has become too great – we need to know their faces and their stories – all too often we treat people as numbers or objects

- On social media many people just seem to share endless information without even taking a moment to critique the source, or whether it’s remotely factual or even consider the impact of what they are about share

- It’s not until things are ‘at our door’ that we care or even (begin to) notice - we have to learn not to wait until that moment to show the remotest sign of care or empathy

- Language – words we use have much more power than we think – we do not consider fully the impact or damage that words can do – the notion of ‘sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me,’ is something that many of us grew up with, but this has led to many suppressing the hurt they feel and ultimately it festers over time manifesting itself in other less healthy ways

- People need to feel needed and wanted and therefore we need to encourage and nurture in people a greater sense of care and compassion towards others

- We need a return to conversational norms because if often feels now like people are no longer talking but just shouting at one another

Leadership

- The last decade in particular has seen a severe lack of leadership among global leaders, particularly male leaders – irrespective of whether you like or agree with their policies, female leaders such as Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand), Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland) and Angela Merkel (Germany) have demonstrated much more effective leadership as opposed to the ‘hard man’ approach of the likes of Trump, Modi, Bolsanaro, Putin, Xi, Assad, Kim, Erdogan and Johnson (albeit to a lesser extent with Boris)

- What is our vision for the future and where are the visionaries that we had in the second half of the 20th century – Gandhi, Martin Luther King, JFK, Mandela, Gorbachev, Tutu, and Hume among others

- The establishment of the UN was a consequence of WWII and brought with it a new world order but any semblance of that now seems to be a distant memory where the UN is viewed in many circles as toothless in terms of holding countries to account – the broad consensus on norms and standards we need to function effectively as a society have been damaged in the last number of years

- We are obsessed with security, spending trillions on systems, weaponry, training, equipment and personnel, often more as a deterrent, whilst issues of poverty, homelessness and health dominate headlines on a day-to-day basis

- Former Journalist, Author and Political Commentator, Paul Mason described (pre-covid) that we face three-fold crisis – strategic economic stagnation, global fragmentation and rise of irrationalism yet we have no common ground among the international community about how any of these issues should be dealt with

- Just as with polluting water and air, not wearing seatbelts and smoking cigarettes is bad for you, neo-liberal capitalism could arguably be held in the same vein given the impact that it has had on the planet and the global population

Loneliness

- The traditional definition of loneliness might be to narrow, where the difference between being lonely and the loneliness that is felt by some when surrounded by people is quite different

- Arguably loneliness is making us more aggressive - the lack of quality relationships or the lack of opportunity to interact with others leaves us feeling resentful or as if we are being neglected by others

- Links between loneliness and extremism has grown – loneliness is not about being alone but rather about not having a voice, or a stake in society, and therefore slowly becoming angry at the world around us, where we feel no-one cares or takes an interest who we are or what we do

- Noreena Hertz, in her book, The Lonely Century talks about how we have been ‘reshaped by globalisation, urbanisation, growing equality, and power asymmetries by demographic change, increased mobility, technological disruption, austerity, and now, coronavirus too’

- We now have the emergence of the loneliness economy, e.g., renting a friend, which proves that almost anything is marketable but equally, is a sad statement on where humans are on the evolutionary scale where, in order to have friends you have to buy their time

Mental Health

- Covid aside, Mental Health has become the dominant conversation of the modern era and it’s positive that it is slowly being viewed in the same vein as the need to look after our physical health but we are in danger of giving credence to many issues that might otherwise be managed more effectively if we were able to support people to develop greater levels of resilience or if their approach to stress and anxiety were different from a young age

- The devotion to Self-Esteem has led us to believe that constantly affirming people and building their self-esteem will cure them as it were – it almost has the opposite effect – it creates and nurtures a constant need for affirmation to feel good about oneself

- We seem to be talk about mental health in a way that focuses on it being something that has to be treated or fixed rather than viewing it as something on a par with physical health, where there are a number of things you do on a regular basis to maintain a healthy state of mind

Meritocracies

- We have grown up to believe that many of us live in Meritocracies, where no matter your background or circumstances, you can reach the top, in any profession, and whilst this can be true in some cases and there are of course numerous examples to demonstrate this, the overwhelming evidence suggests that this is not the case and that success is often dictated by a number of factors including where you are born, the environment you grow up in, opportunities afforded to you and levels of income among other things, etc and therefore meritocracies are inherently flawed as they do not take account of these factors

Narcissism

- Everything has become a photo opportunity where we are constantly on view and ready to perform or exhibit

- The problem with popularity is that it has it has become for some the only currency, and for many, more important than any kind of meaningful contribution such as kindness, charity, compassion and so on

Narratives

- Various narratives can sound credible depending on who speaks it, how often it is spoken and with how much conviction it is said, but we are seeing a growing culture of expectation to accept a range of narratives and when this is refuted, people are dismissed as ‘sheep’ or part of ‘woke culture’

- There is a narrative that everybody’s experience is their truth, and this leads to many believing that their truth cannot be diluted or taken away from them even when evidence is heavily stacked against this – whilst it might indeed be people’s experience, to label it as truth can lead people to becoming delusional or in denial and this serves no meaningful purpose, e.g., Donald Trump still believes the 2020 US election was stolen from him even though no evidence exists to support this, in part because many of those closest to him reaffirmed but failed to challenge his truth

Perspective

- Perhaps if we viewed ourselves as just one of millions of species on earth rather than the only species that really matters, we might view our presence here differently – we are unique but not truly special and we may be superseded in time by something more sophisticated

- Perhaps if we viewed our presence on earth in the context of time, as in having only ‘arrived at a couple of minutes to midnight,’ in terms of human evolution, we might view our future differently and most certainly look at our past in new ways

- Our ability to contextualise and provide an informed perspective is limited and has been seriously curtailed in the era of social media

- There is a need to understand the differences between value creation and value extraction so as perhaps explore how we can change the focus on what really constitutes value rather than value being determined by demand and supply

- Uncertain of whom this quote is attributed but the essence of our real enemies are not each other but ignorance, hatred, impatience, pride, indifference, and judgement seems more apt now than at any time in history

- We give our info and consent away to all manner of things IT every day of the week and yet we complain when our freedoms are impinged upon – our understanding of freedom is warped – our understanding is based on ‘the right to do’ certain things rather ‘the need to take responsibiliity’ so as to improve the society we live in

- We’ve become so accustomed to certain ways of living that when we’re asked to sacrifice them there are those who see it as nothing more than an infringement of their rights and every decision is seen through the prism of the right to do what they choose without truly considering impact of their decision

- Life has become a battle between ideology and reality – for those who pursue life through ideological means, reality is something that they just ignore, i.e., things or behaviour or actions must be in a certain way because that’s just how it is, no matter how reality might contravene their core set of beliefs

- People often interpret change or progress as a threat which seems to contradict the idea that for us to evolve we need to learn, to grow, to develop and to change – for some it seems to be an almost impossible ask – we know many of the reasons why but even when we present the ideas of why to those that find this so difficult, they are still inclined to not only stick to their position but to reinforce it by defending their views or beliefs

- The world created as a result of the collapse of the financial system in 2008, the election of Trump, BREXIT, etc is I fear ‘coming to a head’ where it is actually bringing to the fore the issues we need to really deal with and resolve and in some ways presents an opportunity to put somethings right

- The poor wish to be rich, the rich wish to be happy’ (Ann Landers)....the happy wish to be appreciated, the appreciated wish to be recognised, the recognised wish to be left alone, the alone wish to be with someone, the someone wishes to be somebody else, the somebody else wishes to be famous, the famous wish to be loved, the loved wish to….and so it goes on and on….

- I think our broad understanding of inequality and injustice is changing. We viewed inequality and injustice as something that was (historically speaking) deliberately perpetrated, but now we are coming to terms with the knowledge that it is no longer limited to a deliberate act but something that is also inherent in systems, processes, institutions, ways of living and governance that the majority white population are blissfully ignorant of because they have never had to think or feel as a black person, as an Asian, as a Muslim, as a Lesbian, and as a Disabled person and so on

- We lack the ability to work out what we need to work out – this might sound somewhat strange, but there are things we need to work out why they happen, but we often lack the ability to begin that process and therefore we need to work out what it is we need to work out

- If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything (attributed to Alexander Hamilton) – everybody of course believes they stand for something, whether you are on the left or right, or even in the centre, but understanding what is meant by standing for something is often set within a moral or ethical context, and refers to making the right decision in a moment of challenge which is traditionally underpinned by values such as care, compassion, kindness, generosity and solidarity but we need to find a way of convincing more people that this is needed

- In his book, Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st Century Peace Ambassador, James O’Dea describes cycles as going through four stages – the [current] era follows a period of crisis or catastrophe; this leads to an era of prosperity and cultural flowering that sees the maturation and expansion of new forms; in the third stage, a peak has been reached, and cracks begin to appear in existing structures; and finally, the older order collapses, crisis shatters anything that is not enduring, and the next cycle begins – it seems we are at that point, some predicting that by the middle of the century, society will collapse in on itself.

- ‘Travelling is more about asking questions than finding answers’ (Michael Palin) – we all love to travel – the old adage about travel broadening the mind is never in doubt but in recent times, the idea has been challenged by the erection of borders – Trump and his notions of protectionism - whilst politicians like Nigel Farage have claimed that integration has failed whilst other political leaders, those on the right in particular, look to reinforce the sovereignty of nations at the risk of discouraging mobility between nations – we need to find ways to reinforce the message that travelling, mobility and integration between peoples is rewarding, enriching, beautiful and beneficial

Politics

- Investment is all too often looked at in the context of immediate and short-term returns and not in the context of changing outcomes for future generations or supporting long-term sustainability

- The super individualistic neo-liberal mindset has taken its toll and has led to a growth in inequality all over the planet, the impact of which has been felt at every level, be it poverty, homelessness, lack of opportunity, unemployment and so on, and thus this type of approach has failed and a different way of operating needs to be developed

- People often argue that violence is the only way to bring about change but Erica Chenoweb is responsible for creating a database of resistance movements dating back to 1900 and found that 50% of non-violent campaigns (as opposed to 26% of those that were violent) were successful

- It’s not about being a good citizen or a bad citizen because what constitutes good or bad can often be open to conjecture, but rather it’s more about being an effective citizen, a citizen that contributes, a citizen that makes the community they occupy a better place to live in – or is at the very least, a caring and compassionate individual to those that also share their space

- When people complain about being abandoned by ‘the parties’ what do they really mean by that - is (or was) this the reality when it’s arguable that in some areas, political parties were never really that visible or present in the first instance

- We are living in what feels (or has felt) like perpetual protest in recent times – campaigns for marriage equality, and by Extinction Rebellion and Occupy, events in Myanmar, Hong Kong and Syria, and political movements such as BLM and the ‘Arab Spring’ among others suggest the need for collectively finding ways to address many of the underlying causes are paramount

- Life has emerged into a seemingly never-ending battle between ideology and reality. There is of course left and right, conservative, and liberal, democratic and authoritarian, and so on; even if evidence proves ideology wrong, ideologues still pursue their agenda regardless of impact or in many cases, evidence

- Perhaps a simple aim of government would be the eradication of things like hunger and homelessness, or that people don’t die of loneliness as opposed to the oft lofty ambitions contained within manifestos – perhaps simpler aims for a period addressing many of the basic fundamental issues that seemingly dog nations continuously would be much more admirable than signature projects that tend to come in over-budget and behind schedule

Rise of ‘the expert’

- It seems these days that everyone is an expert and because they have access to digital tools, they have an outlet to express their ‘expertise’ – people over-rate their ability to truly understand issues and tend to simplify them when things are of course anything but simple, or they equate complex issues to things they do understand but draw incorrect conclusions yet still speak as if they are an expert

- There is an extreme lack of critical thinking in the current era – in addition to people thinking they are now ‘experts’ there is even a lack of ability and more importantly willingness among so many to even begin to question their assumptions, let alone check sources, or to consider questioning the motivations of those whose information, claims or assertions they side with and inevitably share

- There is a growing assumption that opinion equates to evidence – social media is dominated by opinion dressed up as evidence, often in fancy quotes, or in memes, or with the image of someone who is ‘known’ which of course is designed to offer some form of credibility – and when reaffirmed or ‘liked’ by friends, colleagues and acquaintances they are ok with this, but when challenged by dissenting voices they have a tendency to go into meltdown dismissing any alternative view

- Those who shout loudest tend to be the least-best qualified to offer opinions but the most qualified seemingly speak in hushed tones – those who speak in hushed tones as it were, must be brought to the fore – it’s in the interest of society that we hear these voices more than those who shout loudest but without any rea credibility

- A rant does not mean you are informed – to simply share an assertion or an opinion without critiquing it makes you anything but informed – often people make claims based on their experience, or the experience of friends, associates, colleagues etc but without checking if it truly reflects wider opinion

- As has been the case most vividly demonstrated with Covid, there is a growing tendency among some, often for some ideological reason, to compare one illness with another to make some ill-conceived point, or to dismiss findings made by others whom they disagree with, and in doing so, draw together some poorly informed conclusions based on people’s very limited understanding of illness they are claiming to know about

Self-management

- We don’t spend much time trying to work out what we need to work out – we just spend a lot of time reacting to things, or trying to fix things based on how we understand something in a particular moment, rather than standing back and trying to see things differently so that we can better manage our approach

- As humans we of course are prone to all sorts of weaknesses, vulnerability, confusion and any number of external factors that influences our approach - we all too often lack the necessary discipline and temperament to help us reach the ‘correct’ decisions or accomplishing things we have set out to do and therefore the need to understand better why this happens and what we can do about it is essential – it’s not the kind of subject you learn about in school for example, but it would help us in later life if we knew why and what we could do to change this

Technology

- There’s no getting away from it, our lives are mediated these days through technology, but it doesn’t mean we have to be consumed by it – we can develop more manageable approaches to how we allow technology to determine our lives by exploring ways in which we can reduce our dependence or reliance on it

- The digital environment, or more specifically, Social Media, actively encourages us to disagree on almost everything (whilst of course also locating us in ‘echo chambers’ with people we tend to only agree with) and so we need to find other ways to engage in conversation - meaningful conversation and not one built on reaction or negativity

- Anonymity has created hostility, e.g., trolls – uncertain how this could be arranged we really need to find ways we can ensure that anonymity is removed so that people own their comments and take much more responsibility for the things they say

- People use social media for all sorts of reasons but it is becoming patently clear that much use comes down to ego – whether it’s a picture of your meal to demonstrate that you’re out dining, video-shorts of your gym work-outs, pictures of your boarding a plane and so on, so much of it is now focused on letting others know what you’re doing, where you’re going, who you’re with, etc in order to get a reaction of some kind - any kind

- We tend to view social media as our PR representative, our means to clear our minds, our release from guilt, our drawing lines between ‘us and them’ and so on – some almost live their life through social media and we should encourage people to reflect on why they use it in the way they do and what they wish to gain from it

Treadmill of Production

- Somehow we have seen a growing tendency to take old ideas and re-package them as something new in order to convince people that they need things they might not otherwise have contemplated getting or using – much of this is down to clever marketing and promotion but only serves to further contribute to over-whelming people with information, decisions to make and outcomes they ‘need’ to achieve which adds to a sense of their needing to be fixed somehow

- There is an almost mystical set of beliefs attached to things like crystals, incense oils/sticks, rocks and so on in the belief that if you use them or place them in certain directions and locations at certain times etc, they will create or gather various forces or energies together from some ‘mythosphere’ and this will secure different outcomes when in reality there is very little evidence to back this up

- Creating endless new concepts plays to our need to come up with new ideas in order to give us a sense of purpose – we create new ways of thinking which of course is welcome but a trend seems to have emerged where we are inundated with ideas, methodologies, concepts, models et al – just take a look in any book shop in any half-decent airport, it’s full of books telling you have to do better, or how you should or can change your life, or fix all your probs, or find peace and so on

Trust

- Trust in the public arena has gone – trust in the institutions that once brought stability, consistency, fairness and justice has all but gone – be it the justice system, policing, politicians or religion, we have to work collectively together to not only to restore trust but to reinforce how important it is, and those in public life, responsible for how society is governed must be held to account much more clearly and forcibly – until those who hold public office are held to account, this will be a battle we will not win

- Seeing is believing – communicating the message of truth has become a problem such is the loss of faith in traditional systems of governance, be it political, religious, health or otherwise, that until people see clear evidence in front of them, they will dismiss it almost automatically out of hand, and even then, they might not be convinced – we need to find ways or systems of addressing this

The Future

- To understand better how the future might be it is always worth reflecting on the past - commentators often speak about change that comes in waves, e.g., (i) The Agricultural Revolution (Domestication) (ii) The Industrial Revolution (Mechanisation) (iii) The Information Revolution (Digitalisation) and now (iv) a Current Wave Shift to what former journalist Paul Mason describes as a post-capitalist system whilst others refer to growing automation and the evolution of AI (Artificial Intelligence) as to what the future holds for us

- We often refer to loneliness, social isolation and our inability or struggle to manage our mental health and therefore we need to radically consider how we can address issues what many of us can relate to – these can be categorised as Attention Poverty (too many things to think about), Time Scarcity (we’re too busy), Information Saturation (we’re overwhelmed by information) and Connection Depletion (we are better connected than we’ve ever been yet we are more lonely and isolated than before)

The Past

- The need to de-escalate the legacy of ‘old hurts’ whilst nurturing reconciliation between nations through a process of reciprocal and mutual acts of kindness and gratitude is something that we should really try and encourage – obviously this is difficult with two warring factions but those nations not actually at war could extend one another a little more friendship and reconciliation, but if not reconciliation at least de-escalating rhetoric and using imagination to creates spaces for conversation

- Not understanding our true history of how we have evolved, migrated, created nations, etc is to our disadvantage – I truly believe that we can only create a better future if we all fully understand how we have evolved and know the journey of humanity – I’m certain that it would increase our sense of awe, broaden our perspective, reduce levels of arrogance and enhance our ability to demonstrate humility to one another

- Everything we know (or assume) to be normal hasn’t always existed and thus many of our beliefs, values, expectations, etc are based on things that are not actually tradition, yet we defend our actions, deeds and words, almost to death, about things that are still in their infancy, relatively speaking

- We need a correct teaching of history so people don’t see things through rose-tinted glasses - not only that, but we also need to equip children who can think critically when presented with this information – of course there will be variations on stories told but developing common narratives that recognise injustices of the past would go a long way to shaping and building future relationships

Understanding

- Most of us are useless at prediction and don’t know how to assess probability leading us to make any number of claims from the outlandish to downright foolish, yet if we understood how probability works, we would tailor our assertions to be more realistic

- Many people think there cannot be duality – that everything must be one way or the other and are so focused on reinforcing the point that it reduces our capacity for learning as well as our ability to contemplate different realities – we need to ensure that people know that duality exists and accept as a legitimate form of expression

Urbanisation

- The move to cities shows no sign of abating amid a growing urbanisation and its impact on the climate alone has implications for our ability to meet greenhouse targets and therefore we need to re-think our approach to population increases in urban centres as well as the development of mega-cities