An accelerating world… Making THIS summer count by learning

I am reading one DEEP BOOK (Hint: You should be reading it, too).

Some of you may be familiar with Thomas L. Friedman, who also wrote the famous book, “The World is Flat.” He also has won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work with the New York Times. He’s a genius and his style is a bit refreshing. It’s not for the faint of heart, but I’ll do my best to make it required reading in my house and in my circle, (hint: In the house, that means there will be bribes).

So, here’s the thing: I hope you’ll stay with me on this “deeper than normal” writing for this week.

As you may have picked up, I’m HUGE on innovation. I am even bigger on life long learning… reading, listening, whatever I can get my hands on to grow as a person. Here’s the thing… it’s summer. If you have kids of any age, they probably have some down time. This would be a REALLY great time to begin to explore with them how this WORLD is moving and to help steer them in the right direction. I’m afraid we don’t have the answers because this world is markedly different. What we DO have are great resources such as this, and with a bit of effort we can MAKE THIS SUMMER COUNT in helping the younger generation grasp and grow and take FULL ADVANTAGE.

I’m not even halfway done with this book as it requires really understanding, taking time to soak it in. Here are the key points so far and why I decided it was so important to get it in writing now:

1. The world is changing so fast we cannot even begin to understand. Since 2007, a mere decade ago, our lives have been upended and are each year by a pace that we cannot even define. The three largest forces  -technology, globalization, climate change – on the planet are accelerating all at once which requires that our societies, communities, etc. be reimagined.
2. We should consider having “no limits on our curiosity” about learning different disciplines and how the advent of the internet and the “cloud” have literally OPENED the FLOODGATES into what is possible and who can achieve what. The three possible ways to look at the world sounded reasonable:
   – “Inside the box” thinking
   – “Outside the box” thinking and the best one…
   – “Where there is no box” – of course this is the world we live in today
3. Consider how the world is becoming interdependent… Technology can connect us to one another in ways not imaginable a few years ago. Case in point is AirBNB, which now connects any renter to any tourist or business personal anywhere on the planet… The platform build had an infrastructure that supported BUILDING TRUST so you could rate one another, etc. This is one small example.

I hope this gives you a SPARK of INTEREST to consider going DEEPER THIS SUMMER for the sake of a better WORLD. It is entertaining also, I promise! The generations that follow will thank you!

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Another quote from the book I loved… it happened to be at the start of chapter one, which is likely why I jumped in so fast:

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie