Before you go… first, we need to become “the tribe of the wise.”
Elon Musk once asked himself the following question: “What are some of the problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?”
And his answer was, “I think the biggest terrestrial problem we’ve got is sustainable energy…” and then, “the other one being the extension of life beyond Earth to make life multi-planetary.” With that in mind, he built SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity.
Well, his answer is amazing and his capacity to make things happen enormous. Of that there is no doubt. However, I believe that there is a deeper problem facing humanity.
You see, just like a gun can kill or protect, the problem is that regardless of the technologies we develop, if our people lack wisdom — especially our leaders — they can always be used for the wrong purposes.
So, in my view, we need to become a tribe of wise people. We need to tackle our pride and our education system, etc. We must take on the root of all problems: IGNORANCE. Not knowing how our minds work and lacking self-observation skills and knowledge make us admire the wrong people — people who end up running our companies and countries. In the current state of affairs, with the lust for power and lack of self-knowledge demonstrated by our leaders, no technological developments will help.
However, if we start admiring the right things, the situation will slowly change. We, as citizens of the world, need to become wiser.
Now, I am far from being as intelligent as Elon Musk. And what I’m talking about isn’t about me or him anyway. I believe that there is a problem that we must tackle, and I am looking for people who can help with this message, this vision.
I can’t change the world alone; let’s do this together. My book and these articles are just the first steps. Let’s make aspiring to be wise a new normal and take it mainstream.
I must say that I am proud of my book, which I believe is my greatest contribution (so far) to this cause. With all honesty, though, I am well aware that only a tiny portion of society will read it — the book requires a lot of effort, intelligence and self-reflection from the reader to be able to fully apply it in their lives. That’s not enough. To become ‘the tribe of the wise,’ we need more and we need it faster. Together, we can create something (a movement? A course? A game? A movie? Anything — whatever works) that can help us create the pride that we need to start the change.
If you think this is a challenging goal, think about Elon Musk’s quote below.
“You need things like that [being a multi-planetary species] to be glad to wake up in the morning. Life can’t be just about solving problems. There have to be things that are exciting and inspiring that make you glad to be alive.” — Elon Musk
I wonder what the world would be like if we had a few Elon Musks tackling the problem of the world’s pride, and its education system? I think we’d probably get to Mars faster!
If you are excited or inspired by this goal
Spread the word. Do you like the idea, but don’t have the time to help? That’s fine! If you simply share these articles with your family and friends and encourage them to read (this second step is important), you will be helping a lot. After all, whether or not this idea spreads will depend on you, the reader. There is only so much one person can do.
And if you want to go deeper — into the mind of the animal itself, from the safe distance of an outsider — the book is waiting for you. Almost everything in it is a trap. Enjoy!