Are We There Yet? vol. 229
In 2017, when back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria slammed into Puerto Rico over a five-day period, the devastation was widespread. One of the hardest hit areas was Cayo Santiago, home to rhesus macaque colonies. With over 63% of the trees destroyed and most of the remaining trees stripped bare, the habitat for these monkeys was destroyed. Expectations were that there would be fighting over the limited resources remaining, as these monkeys are very individualistic in nature.
But as reported by Yancy Wright for the Puerto Rican group, Casa Alternivida, the opposite occurred. For these monkeys, shade under the leafy trees is important. The monkeys shared this limited resource as opposed to their normal territorialism. The spirit of cooperation wasn’t just temporary but lasted over the following five years. “There was a remarkable shift toward increased social tolerance and cooperation,” according to Wright.
Wright also noted that the lessons from this monkey behavior are useful for leaders and leadership by humans. Social connection and cooperation lead to better outcomes. But this is not new thinking as far as humans are concerned. Studies of Blue Zone communities where people live healthy lives to over 100 years of age show that one of the leading factors to the achievement of healthy aging is community and connection.
We also see it whenever there is a natural disaster with people from all walks of life banding together to help those in need. Currently, we see intense political polarization in the U.S. But unlike a natural disaster, people are not seeing this polarization as a crisis and looking to help others or even listen to each other. I wonder what it will take to bring us together.
Take care and stay safe.
BOOK:
The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil
Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.
In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA.
Learn more about Bob Len here.
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