Why Any Attempt to Change or Transform Anything must begin with a Great Dose of Humility
Reality is what we currently know and experience as 7.7 billion humans and all life (the known and experienced), plus what we currently know we do not know (the ethereal realms including information physics plus other intelligent life in the universe- the known unknowns), plus the unknown unknowns, of which there is probably a vast number.
Think of Facebook as an example- we might have 500 or 5000 “friends” out of the 2.3 billion people on the network, we might interact with 100 of them on a regular basis if we are active and lucky with the Facebook algorithms- the known knowns. Then we can only guess what the other 400/4900 on our network are up to - the known unknowns. And then, there are the other 2, 299, 995, 000 people on Facebook, who are mostly unknown unknowns. And it is highly unlikely we will ever move out of our small comfort zone of those 500/5000 “friends”.
And then we have the “media”- even if we read a dozen newsfeeds a day and ten books a week and twenty videos/films a week, consciously chosen, we still embrace a miniscule proportion of “reality” in our personal and collective understanding and experience.
And the scariest part? Our own orienting generalisations about human nature and development, evolution, climate change, pandemics, politics, economics and just about everything else are, even if up to the highest standards of science and knowledge currently available, still explain only a small fraction of “current reality”, let alone future scenarios.
So, more or less most of the time, we each have the ability, power and influence to make an almost imperceptible difference to reality, unless we find ways to align around issues and campaigns that we care about. And that is all mediated by algorithms designed by Google, Facebook, and Artifical Intelligencethrough its own machine learning.
Wow, no wonder managing spaceship earth turns out to be almost mission impossible! Yet, somehow, we have got to get our act together in the next decade to do this.
Personally, I am investing my time, effort, networks, lifetime of experience and knowledge into the Balancer App and the ThriveWorld Game to act as an immune system against the manipulation engines whose core function is to maximize profit by maximizing interactions, whether healthy or sick, beautiful or ugly, true or false, just or unjust. Artifical Intelligence right now does not care about humanity, when it is programmed for profit around financial capital only, as is the case with all of the major social media networks and commerce sites and apps, which are advertising based.
Ironically (and I say ironically because historically business and economics have not seen themselves as having any obligation to nature or humanity apart from generating ever more efficient exchanges in the marketplace of things and ideas for greater profit), business and economists have woken up in the past few decades to the fact that there is no economy or business on a dead planet.
The International Integrated Reporting Council (or “IIRC”) now recognises six “capitals” in capitalism, in a globalized system which has more or less been completely hijacked by financial capital in the past half century since the Club of Rome published its report on Limits to Growth. They are: natural, human, intellectual, social, manufactured and financial capitals. And corporations and businesses worldwide are now beginning to report on how they are managing those capitals to create value in the longer term, some with a high degree of accuracy, and others with a strong element of greenwashing, especially those in the fossil fuel, chemical and related industries.
I’ve spent the best part of three decades focused on what is needed to transform this global economic system and the banks, corporations and governments that effectively own and drive it, including leading several organizations and advising hundreds of others. I’ve also published eight books, dozens of articles and set up two foundations in the past two decades. I and my colleagues, friends, and supporters have made a dent, but we are still a long way from where we need to be.
So back to “reality”. I believe that the power to change the future now lies in alliances of locally regenerative initiatives, and globally regenerative media transformations that can drive change and transformation in our global business and governance systems. Personally, I’ve done what I can on my own local front to be carbon neutral and planet friendly, but that is not enough, as I can never have a one planet footprint in a world which is approaching a two-planet footprint, with some of the greediest and least conscionable countries and businesses claiming ten to fifteen planet footprints.
Most importantly, whatever we may perceive “reality” to be, we each have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations to ensure we do not overheat our spaceship earth by more than 1.5C- apart from all the other challenges we face, that is the ultimate death knell for life as we know it on earth.
Yesterday I was privileged to be interviewed by two impressive GenZ sophomores who have founded ImpactRenaissance. At the end of our Zoom call, they asked me a great question: “What three things would you advise our generation to focus on in making a positive difference in the world?” After a pause, the following three things popped into my head, to the best of my recollection:
1. You have the power to change the world, at any age, from anywhere in life. Anything is possible, given enough willpower, time and wise application. Don’t wait for others to change the world, because you might be waiting a very long time.
2. Be strategic- focus in on the things and people that are key drivers in the intense centers of co-evolution in the natural and business ecosystems of your world. Build and map out your strategic networks of influence and start influencing and acting- there’s no perfect plan, so learn by doing as fast as you can.
3. Align yourself with others moving in the same direction to build scale and momentum and be patient because it is impossible to predict where your next breakthrough or major thrust will come from.
And the advice I give myself every day? Stay calm, stay focused, be coherent. And continue to remain humble in the face of what can only be described as the toughest challenge humanity has ever faced on this scale, yet also an opportunity for us to spearhead a momentous leap in the symphony of human history to a thriving planetary civilization.
