Abundance Is Our Future

Have you ever wondered why most news headlines are dire? Or why almost all news shows lead with tragedies? Or why so much of our idle conversation turns toward the difficult and dour rather than the hopeful and happy? I know I have, and I learned why in the following TedTalk by tech guru Peter Diamandis. We are by nature, he argues, programmed to pay attention to threats. While this made evolutionary sense at an earlier point in history when our species was beset by dangers, today it can cloud our view of the world so that we miss the incredible abundance and potential that surrounds us.

Diamandis founded and now runs the X Prize, which offers large cash prizes to inventors who can solve contemporary problems. From this vantage point, he is able to catalogue the phenomenal advances humans have made and peer into a future where similar advances are likely to solve many of our current problems. In this Talk he presents some of the ideas that animate his book, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

While I’m not quite as sanguine about technology’s ability to “save” us as he perhaps is, I nevertheless found his focus on abundance both helpful and hopeful. After watching, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section about your own hopes and worries about the future and the difference it makes to you to know that we are hardwired to give most of our attention to threats rather than opportunities.

 


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