In a recent survey (February 2021), the Kaspersky company asked about 7,000 people around the world what were the main questions those people had about the future. In other words, the survey sought to determine what the general public around the planet really wants to know about the future. And the …
Blog posts : "General"
Closing your eyes to the future will not stop the future from arriving
Someone recently contacted me asking for my help to "see the future with more clarity." This is a businessman who, due to the changes caused by the pandemic, considered it prudent to spend some time thinking about how his business could be part of the new future. But, despite his request, he didn’t …
Experts get so used to their own thinking that they make mistakes
In 1991, French diver Henri Cosquer, while exploring an area near Marseille, found the underwater entrance to a cave where, to his amazement, there were prehistoric paintings on the walls. In fact, hundreds of paintings, including penguins. When Cosquer announced his discovery, many "experts" indica…
What lessons has this pandemic taught us during the past 12 months?
One year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that in many ways paralyzed the planet, what lessons has this pandemic taught us? The answer is clear: many lessons. But how many of those lessons have we learned? The answer is also clear: none.
I have heard many times tha…
How tolerant should we be of intolerant people?
Many years ago, I read a science fiction story -I can't even remember its title- about a group of police officers chasing the last murderer on the planet in a technological future. After cornering him, a police officer shoots him and kills him. And the policeman then exclaims: "I killed the last mur…
The existential distance between the first human and the last human keeps growing
Recently my son shared a short story with me, found in one of the many Internet sites dedicated to the topic of stories (or parables) which in just ten words tell a complete story and leave a lesson:
"Help me!" cried the last human. "No!" replied the first."
That's the whole story of the conne…
Algorithms begin to replace scientific knowledge
lgorithms have reached such a level of sophistication and precision that some scientists argue that more is known by using these algorithms than by learning science. In other words, artificial intelligence has led to a rethinking of the utility, purposes, and methods of modern science.
It has bee…
“Nobody will ever want to go to space anymore!”
I recently shared on social media a story about the beginning of civil and commercial space flights, including flights for tourists, a historic moment for space travel. Almost immediately, someone responded: “But a rocket just exploded. No one will ever want to go into space anymore! "
But is i…
Narrative is the foundation of the future, the other, and ethical commitments
Throughout history and probably since human beings recognized themselves as such, innumerable tales and stories have been told that, and as they passed from generation to generation, converge in narratives so repeated that they are even accepted as the only reality. But without those narratives ther…
I am tired of people telling me to focus only on the present
In the current context of uncertainty and anxiety, every time I mention the future, I find the same answer: "We should only think about the present because the present is the only thing that exists." Sometimes the phrase ends with "the only thing we have." Honestly, I'm already tired of that answer …
Humbly and respectfully share what you know: that’s the foundation of wisdom
Many years ago, when I was still in college and one of the subjects of study was Greek, at that time I went to visit my cousins in Uruguay and when walking along a beach I noticed an interesting inscription on the door of a house. Then, I said, “Zoé. Life”, and I kept walking.
A few steps la…
It is time to wake up from the dream of believing that we are already awake
It could be said that throughout history, great thinkers and mystics share the same and urgent message for each of us, regardless of our culture, language, nationality, or other personal factors. And that message is: Wake up!
In current times and moments (chronological times and kairological mome…
The more connected we are, the more unconnected and fragmented we become
The great paradox of our time is that the more connected we are through all the technologies now available to us, the more fragmented we are within ourselves and, in fact, the more separated we are from others, from nature, from the universe, and even from ourselves.
It has been rightly said that…
Why do I need to prove to a robot that I am human and not a robot?
With certain and annoying frequency, to access websites I am asked to prove that I am not a robot and, therefore, to verify that I am human. They then show me mixed images of various elements or places and ask me to select a specific element or place.
The interesting thing about this is that I, a…
What’s the point of looking at the Moon if we should be looking inward?
I recently published in a well-known social network a photograph that I took of the moon at midmorning, with a blue sky and, therefore, with the moon of that same color. Shortly afterwards someone asked me, in a good way and with the desire for dialogue, why it was necessary to look at the moon.
Have we human reached our maximum bandwidth capacity? Yes, it seems
Spanish philosopher Marina Garcés maintains, and with good reason, that we humans have renounced (abdicated, I would say) our responsibility to be and become better. In other words, we have renounced to the future, or, if you prefer, we no longer seek to expand our consciousness or our experiences.
Time to give thanks to our fate, and not for our friends?
The famous Thanksgiving Day is celebrated this week in the United States and, leaving aside any explanation about its origins and customs, it is clear that this year an element of that celebration has changed: Latinos no longer give thanks to God or for their friends. Actually, they do, but not at t…
“You are a legend in this city”, they told me. They are wrong.
Recently, at the end of a presentation on community issues, a participant told me: "You are a legend in this city." Although I appreciate the kind words of that participant, the error of that appreciation is not only obvious, but serious: I am not a legend, nor do I pretend to be it. But that senten…
“You can only see the moon at night” and other falsehoods I learned as a child
As a child I learned that, just as the sun is only seen during the day, the moon is only seen at night. Until one day when I went to the backyard to enjoy the sunshine and, when I looked up, I saw the moon. What I had been taught (even unintentionally) was patently false, but that was not my first t…
Maria walked 2700 miles through four countries. But that’s not the story
Maria (the name and the story are real) worked her entire life as a teacher in her native Central America. But work did not generate the minimum income to meet the basic needs of life. So, one day, she decided to do the unthinkable: walk from her city to the United States. But that's not the story.
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