Adventures of Us as Biology in the World of Technology: The Future is Now
What’s in the Cards for 2024? Ask ChatGPT.
What’s in today’s Bento Box? A call to some Meaning Making.
What’s in the Cards for 2024?
That’s a million-dollar question for many of us.
We’re nearing the end of the year, and I, like many of you, am trying to do some sort of yearly review as well as trying to map what’s ahead.
This was an INTENSE year for me: challenging on many fronts, but at the same time, very interesting, albeit uncomfortable. And it’s definitely not the end of my exploration. In fact, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface.
Looking back, this was a year of:
Conducting many life experiments
Intense learning about the intricacies of human nature - from neuroscience to philosophy
Mindset shifts & growth (ouch!)
Connecting the dots about the Modern World’s impact on Humans
From Productivity to Meaning
When I started my explorations three years ago, I was in an entirely different place and, while focusing on similar topics as today, I did not see how to categorize many of them in a semi-coherent way.
I was more focused on the practical side of tackling frustrations such as procrastination, motivation, action bias, but something was constantly missing. Now, I am still very interested in the above - the stuff I call “The Daily Grind” and ways of bridging the Intention-Action Gap, but I also acknowledge that these are often just symptoms of a MUCH larger issue.
From my perspective, The Daily Grind is an important aspect of our lives, but it needs to be paired with The Big Picture: a sense of meaning, purpose, and connectedness.
Navigating the Paradox
Looking at today’s world, I think it’s safe to state that we are simply not doing great these days, and many of our approaches to fix the problem are not only unhelpful but often make things worse.
We are safe. We are satiated. We are connected. We are entertained.
AND at the same time,
We are bored. We are lost. We are detached. We are lonely.
Sorry for the gloomy perspective!
Still, I think it’s an important issue to address and look for solutions (especially as we enter even more uncertain times and the uncharted territory of the AI revolution), and we should not only focus on doing more but rather on doing more of what truly matters.
Let’s start with a healthy dose of self-compassion and appreciate that navigating the Modern World with our brains shaped by evolution is simply not that easy.
There’s hope.
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." – Friedrich Nietzsche
The good news is we already have many tools to deal with The Meaning Crisis; we just need to start using them again.
Here’s what I am planning to explore more in the coming year - so you can unsubscribe now OR stay for the fun ride!
Project Whole Humans
I call my explorations Project Whole Humans or “Adventures of Us as Biology in the World of Technology”, and it focuses around:
Fostering resilience & becoming antifragile (dealing with ‘the comfort crisis’ and learning to masterfully embrace some suck)
Managing our attention in the world of technology: for focus and flow, deep work and clear thinking
Modern World vs. Evolutionary Adaptation -Understanding the evolutionary underpinnings of our psychology (the role of self-regulation and our biases)
Building a solid scaffolding for modern times: developing a system of practices to not go (entirely) nuts (the importance of awe, connection, and embodiment)
Navigating uncertainty, ambiguity, and change with grace
Here’s to my failed attempt at ‘niching down’.
I’ll do my best to make the journey as practical as possible.
I don’t know about you, but I am a bit scared, but also super excited about the future!
Roll on 2024!
Stay Sane,
Sense-Making Diet
Make all that scrolling matter!
If you’re tired of reading and have some 50hrs to spare, here’s something to watch:
Don’t have 50 hours? I get it.
And to appreciate the interconnectedness of things: