Issue #29

March 11th, 2021

Fostering helplessness. Are we being “Commonized”?

THIS week’s webinar – Friday March 12th 4:00PM MST

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82909644522

Our weekly webinar. Join us: share and network, discover and learn.

Last week’s webinar HERE concluded our discussion of “Creativity as a live, commercial, and economic force” featuring presentations by Margaret Collins of the Centre for the Creative Economy and her development of a very successful accelerator for the arts and Mark Anielski advisor on the Economics of Happiness.

This Friday March 12th 4:00pm MST, I’ll be moderating a discussion about imposed helplessness and measures to counter communications serving to make us all the same – to being “commonized”.  We are also for the first time introducing the use of breakout rooms so conversations can be more engaging on subtopics of the main room discussion.

The Future

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Monitoring catastrophic risks

HERE

Avoiding disruption/ surprise

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Tech’s Pandemic Reckoning

HERE

Assessing tech’s role in the pandemic. Great read!

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 Robots are coming

HERE

A sobering forecast

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Uncertainty

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Embracing change

HERE

The requisite mindset. Thank you Dennis.

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Broken economics

HERE

Numbers and tends aren’t making sense anymore.

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MESSAGING

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Do you have something to share?

LET US KNOW

“Think positive! Be positive”.

I don’t know about you but I’m having a hard time to think positive. It’s an uphill battle as I am continually immersed – when listening, looking, learning; with articles, stories, editorials packed with content about the decline of hope / rise of hopelessness, portraying today as the bleakest of times. 

I am referring to the endless characterizations of minorities as victims, widespread depression and mental health issues, jobless and  hopeless. We are portrayed as living in a failed state, a misguided economy, and on a dying planet. Even the “family” and it’s relevance is portrayed as in decline. And as for our leaders, they are either corrupt or incompetent – maybe both. 

I am also bombarded with warnings of the plight of mankind and our institutions.  My family and I are soon to be consumed as we kill the planet and/or by the hordes of victims, already crowding up, and ready to rise as poor, black, indigenous, immigrants confronted  by an angry militia, police force, and vigilantes.  Here is a good news story though, a research project in Stockton, California found that a regular income supplement to the poor was not spent frivolously but instead contributed to personal activity meant to lift themselves out of poverty. HERE

We are urged to be politically correct, and to change our perceptions and biases, opinions and behaviours. In the meantime, crowds gather and demonstrate to emphasize the point  that we better care or violence may ensue, hence the importance of urgency. 

BUT am I really of so much interest to social media, so out of touch, and of such importance to the state, to Google, and others that they really want to know and change me, you, and us? 

Once we feared socialization where we were to be collectivized. Now we fear personalization where we – our individuality, what makes us each unique, is being degraded as we are threatened with being  “commonized”.  Why if I’m sympathetic to others, am I also expected to feel so guilty and politically and publicly incorrect – as different?

What can be done? What happened to tolerance? Can self confidence be restored? Can “self” be reenergized? Can it be done in way to ignore the current naysayers and debilitators, social engineers and change agents? 

Our webinar this Friday March 12th will be dedicated to discussing the views expressed above. Next week we’ll draw on presenters from Troy Media to elaborate on the current confrontation with social media, and we continue this week’s usage of breakout rooms allowing for even more inter-personal discussion.

Stay tuned and bring a friend.

Looking ahead – BIG-tech Breakup?

We forecast two black swans for 2021 – Regulation and/or breakup of BIG tech and fast rising inflation. Our March 19th webinar will be co-hosted with Troy Media for discussing the merit of breaking up the social media oligopoly – Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. and how the oligopoly and media in general are filtering information content reshaping our politics, principles, and purchases.