Has anyone ever stopped to actually look up what apocalypse means? According to Webster's Dictionary, it means "a disclosure of knowledge or revelation."  For lifetimes, we have made a formal association of increasing knowledge and awareness with death and destruction. It would be if someone was advancing the ideas of being fit through weight training and good diet, but we interpreted that as being out of shape and dying prematurely. I don't know about you, but I'm all for the apocalypse.  This ignorance thing doesn't seem to be working out too well. With that in mind, here are five more "revelations" you'll need to wrap your head around  over the next 3 - 5 years as the Fourth Industrial Revolution/World Shift starts to speed up...

Own Your Health

In the old days of sick care, an entire industry was created around managing your sicknesses. It, in the meantime,  made a lot of pharmaceutical companies very rich and powerful. The greatest technological shift happening in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is in medicine and health. With this change is the opportunity for us to own the quality of our health and move from sick care to preventative health care. This, alone, will shake up the systems of countries around the world.
 http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-technologies-changing-the-future-of-healthcare/


Quit Being A Racist.

I can hear many of you right now...."Chet, how dare you!  I'm not a racist".  Now, listen carefully. If you support systems that engage in racist practices (ie: the prison industrial complex in the United States), you are complicit. Check your 401ks, those who contribute to your favorite charities, those who supports your political candidate.  That, in effect, makes you a racist, that is, someone who supports a race-based caste system created in the old paradigm.  In a world that will need all shoulders at the wheel and all ideas to the fore, racism is not only morally obscene, it is impractical in the next phase of society.  http://www.leadtheshift.com/lead-global-briefing/garbage-in-garbage-out-racism-in-the-fourth-industr...


Feel The Power of the Sun

You've heard me talk about solar energy often in these briefings. Certainly, it's because it will change our relationship to energy in the world, but it's real impact is in how it will hasten the deconstruction of the petroleum-based infrastructures most Western countries are created around and how many emerging countries make their money. What's happening in Venezuela should be a cautionary tale to countries who have not prepared for a future of lower oil prices because of dropping consumption.  It's not just about reducing our carbon foot print. It's about changing a way of life that has dominated the world for the past century and has probably contributed greatly to the collapse of the planet's ecosystem via climate change. The repercussions are vast. I wouldn't wish the ugly part of this transition, like what's happening in Venezuela, on my worst enemy, but we can get in front of this transition if we think it through. https://www.newsociety.com/Books/P/The-Post-Petroleum-Survival-Guide-and-Cookbook


Underemployment

Yes, I have been one of the many futurists to talk about the coming unemployment crisis due to automation, but there is another great challenge out there called underemployment. In fact, underemployment (stagnant wages, lower paying professional jobs, non-scalable, lower paying service jobs) has been the real scourge to this point. It's not a mystery....the days when one earner in the household could take care of an entire family has given way to two adults in a household  working 2 or three jobs just to equal what one adult used to do in the 1960s and 70s. It's not our imagination. The next time you hear someone talk about low unemployment in a country, make sure you keep the following article in mind. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/many-american-workers-are-underemployed-and-underpaid.html



The Black Swan Miracle Moment

I'll give it to you straight. I've read a ton of  reports about climate change over the last few months. By most estimates, we are past the point of no return when it comes to saving the planet from the challenges of climate change. However, I do see the time and place being ripe for what I call The Black Swan Miracle Moment. Black Swan events are those that come out of the blue that we don't expect, but have such an impact, they affect everything. We are ripe for something like that to happen. The Miracle Moment is when many disparate ideas, people, concepts and movements all come together because the Black Swan event requires us to. By my estimates, we will see that Black Swan Miracle Moment sooner than later. You heard it here first. It will take you out of your comfort zone, but be prepared to support the idea.


RELATIVES ARE GIVEN. FAMILY MEMBERS ARE CHOSEN

Several years ago, several Denver area musicians joined me in a project to combine spoken inspired words with their music. Here is an excerpt from that session. Folk Singer Ebony Lioness joined me for this tune about creating family. I hope it brightens your day.

We are living in a moment of crisis, where all things are possible. Not to wax too poetically, but what we do now will determine the fate of humanity. There are several things to consider as we seek to navigate our way through the next few critical years. From a futurist's perspective, here are five of what I consider the most important of those considerations....

1. Is everybody at the table?  There is an assumption that the current trouble human beings are experiencing is the result of our collective decisions. In spirit, that is true since we are all responsible to each other. However, like the younger sibling who steals the cookie out of the cookie jar and all of the siblings get punished for it, there are decisions being made without everyone's wisdom, insight and consent. A few mistakes are understandable, but centuries of a flawed pattern means we are allowing bad drivers at the wheel of the car and we are simply along for the ride.  All decisions being made going forward must reflect a different kind of collective knowledge. By all observations, leaving things to the current decision makers and leadership only promises more of the same. To paraphrase Einstein: "the mind that got you here will not be the mind that will get you out". http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-do-leaders-need-to-understand-about-diversity

2. Are we preparing for a climate changed world? It is remarkable how many of the conversations I hear from fellow futurists that are void of anything about climate change. It is as if it's not polite to even include climate change into future calculations. Here's a tip: if you are in the presence of anyone who says they are a futurist and they don't include climate change scenarios in their predictions -- leave the conversation immediately. Smart and urban gardening, coastal flooding, massive migrations, asymetrical wars, renewable energy sources and collective empowerment are all part of the "priority list" of conversations we should be having right now and in short order. Make no mistake. Climate change is happening...http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-point-of-no-return-climate-change-nightmares-are-alrea...

3. Are we getting out of the corporate food model?  Quiet as kept, the corporate model of how to control and produce food for the world is more at risk than urban gardening. The sheer scale of the corporate model puts it at great risk for wars, pestilence, drought and uninhabitable environments due to heat. Urban, organic and collective food production is more flexible to a transforming world. We remain in the corporate model at our own peril. https://medium.com/@georgekao/why-growing-food-is-the-single-most-impactful-thing-you-can-do-in-a-ri...

4. Are we rethinking the current economic model? The current economic model dominating the world is based on two major myths: 1. We have a limitless supply of resources. 2. There are no social or environmental consequences to this model. The challenges the world is experiencing right now is because these two myths have been proven wrong over and over again, yet we maintain the model. New economic models that are more nimble, flexible, timely and humane are way past due. Strangely enough, it is the robots, not the humans, that are leading the charge for a new kind of economy because of the coming massive automation unemployment crisis. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/03/why-automation-means-we-need-a-new-economic-model/

5. Are we reconsidering our passivity?  Many of you reading this may say "I'm not passive Chet. I recycle, I drive a Prius and I give to the local Black Lives Matter chapter." In some ways, we've baked in our actions into the current crisis pie. The world challenges call for more more bold, direct and immediate steps than lifestyle adjustments. It requires leadership at a level most people are not used to. It calls for imagination, insight and most of all, courage.


POP CULTURE AND THE FUTURE

Here is a video I created a few years back. It's about how pop culture may be affecting our decision making. I think this video still holds up today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVRo6on4Cc

Yes!

Chet