Your future depends on this revolution
History is a series of revolutions. These are moments when we as humans take control of fate and forever alter the future of our planet.
In 10,000 BCE we developed agriculture. This allowed us to stop hunting and gathering and settle into the very first communities.
Just over 9,500 years later the people of Athens overthrew their privileged, ruling class government. In its place they put the world’s first recognizable democracy.
Fast forward to the 1790s when an anti-slave war broke out in Haiti. Bloody and brutal, the rebels eventually won after a decade of carnage. Its success changed the global attitude towards slavery, eventually inspiring the American civil rights movement.
Around the same time, a global force arose that would forever change humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The Industrial Revolution improved the average person’s standard of living by previously unthinkable degrees.
But it also gave us factories.
Factories gave rise to factory workers, who were paid better wages than ever before. That created the modern middle class but also turned human output into a commodity. Factory owners don’t specifically need you on the production line. They just need somebody.
Losing Control
Factory workers are expendable.
You’re sick? Overworked? Family member in a crisis? No problem. We can replace you with the next person in line.
Bit by bit our individual worth, our intrinsic value, was being whittled away. But we didn’t notice, because we had money to buy fun things. Shiny toys that overwhelmed our senses and distracted us from what we were losing.
And now we are all factory workers.
The 1990s saw the Internet revolution, which gave birth to the social media revolution of the 2000s, which led to the smartphone revolution of the 2010s, which brings us to now.
You are no longer the consumer. You are the product. Your data is worth more than you are. Technology companies have figured out how to control and monetize your attention.
We can’t help ourselves anymore. Our screens are more interesting than our real experiences, friends, colleagues, and loved ones. It didn’t start out sinister, but it doesn’t matter. It happened.
The byproduct of tens of thousands of years of human evolution, and revolution, is quickly leading to the eradication of our dignity and humanity.
But there’s still hope.
The Human Connection Revolution
Our data-driven, efficiency-obsessed world is currently handing over the keys to humanity by way of artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. This moment, right now, may be the final window of opportunity for course correction.
What we desperately need, and what people desperately want, is human connection. It's that feeling you get when someone looks you in the eye and recognizes you as a person with unique value.
When was the last time you felt like your beliefs, desires, hopes, dreams, worries, and concerns were more valuable than your data? Aren’t you more than a means to an end?
Every single one of us can be leaders in the human connection revolution. You don’t need a title or a badge. You just need to make a choice.
Choose to show up for people on a daily basis. Not just your people, but all people.
Instead of buying shopping carts full of hand sanitizer during a pandemic to resell at 10x the price, taking advantage of tragedy in order to make a quick buck, recognize your privilege in being able to afford that shopping cart full of illness-avoiding substance. Buy it up, sure, but then give it away for free to those most in need.
Let’s fight back against the complete destruction of our shared perspective. Not with weapons, but with kindness.
With dignity. With respect. With humanity.
The Loneliness Epidemic and What We Can Do About It
I recently appeared as a guest on NBC CT to talk about the loneliness epidemic and how to be a leader in the human connection revolution.
Stay tuned to the end to hear my favorite technique for striking up a conversation with a stranger.
