PEOPLE WHO OUTLIVE THE GLOBAL AVERAGE AND REMAIN ACTIVE ABOVE AGE 100 have six predominant traits in common: Diet, Exercise, Social Interaction, Hobbies, Adaptive Personality Traits, and engagement in mentally or physically stimulating Leisure Activities. Latest research confirms that capacity for openness combined with coping resources and a higher level of curiosity & interest in learning, with willingness to engage in new ideas and try new things, provide better psychological well-being, and have a major impact on living longer. [SCIENCE ALERT]

WHILE HUMANS ARE WIRED WITH A ‘NEGATIVITY BIAS’ that triggers a stronger emotional response to bad news than good, this loss aversion behavior made sense when information and resources were scarce. But today, for most, this leads to overly pessimistic attitude and anxiety. In reality, trends in health, longevity, living standards, energy availability, climate management and much more are positive, with major advancements increasingly leading towards a new industrial revolution. Developments in these areas include: (1) Unlimited & clean water from desalination; (2) Lifespan doubling over the last century from 50% of child deaths by age 15 down to as low as .4% in some wealthy nations; (3) Elevating life quality and boosting economic growth from humanoid robots replacing labor-intensive and dangerous jobs; (4) Satellite broadband bringing education, health, economic opportunity, even participation in democracy to rural and undeveloped parts of the world. While the challenges we face – individuals/ families/ Californians/ Americans/ capitalists/ etc. etc. – are enormous, continuously increasing in complexity & danger, for the most part unprecedented in human history and difficult for the vast majority to see, the big-picture potential for optimism about the future is underappreciated. [BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES]

ON THE OTHER HAND, CONFUSING TIMES AND DISPUTED STRATEGIES ARE AHEAD. During the last two decades, the flow of information control by news & broadcast media was usurped by the Internet, where any individual could make themselves heard, read or seen by millions. American entrepreneurs led this transformation which tilted the balance of power away from institutions and towards the public, the result however becoming loud & rage-based/ conspiracy-theorized/ politically-polarized voices getting far more exposure than reasoned voices. “With AI now entering the mainstream and doubling in power every six-months, the surge in investment is increasingly stirring anxieties: workers about losing jobs, businesses & government agencies about cyberattack and disinformation, environmentalists about energy demands of data centers, and citizens about ‘who’ should control this transformative technology – the State or a handful of rich men.” [ECONOMIST]

MEANHWHILE, “EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE, IN THE FORM OF ROBOTS, WILL BE CHANGING HOW WE LIVE AND WORK, as robots become more capable of perceiving and learning by watching what human workers are doing and adapting in real time, effectively elevating the ability to innovate what tasks humans perform versus which ones are automated, and becoming as commonplace in daily life as software is today.” [McKINSEY]

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

Latest stats show that four generations now work side-by-side in American workplaces. Millennials make up the largest share at roughly 36%, Gen X at 31%, Gen Z approximately 18%, and Baby Boomers still hanging in there at 16%, as many delay retirement. [FORBES]

New California law now subjects farmers to fines of a thousand-dollars per acre for farmland being dried out by groundwater restrictions (protecting insignificant dying fish species), with regulations against expensively tearing out the orchards & vineyards which have become unusable and “hosts for disease, pests, and a ‘nuisance’ to surrounding crops and communities… Thanks to the state’s own destructive policies, yet another slap in the face to an industry being forced to operate under duress of the Democratic party.” [WASHINGTON EXAMINER]

Newest research suggests that while stress, loneliness and anxiety are predominantly attributable to personal & lifestyle problems, they also stem from our ‘caveman brains’ – the conditions our minds & bodies evolved to navigate – reflecting a mismatch between both today’s physical environments and the huge social networks surrounding us. “In pre-digital societies, awareness of conflicts and economic disruptions occurring elsewhere remained low, but todays random geopolitical escalation, financial turmoil, natural disasters and social unrest is regularly encountered. And with technology making us more interconnected than ever, humans’ unending sense of competition can make us constantly feel judged, listless and unfulfilled, even when those signals come from strangers or screens rather than a small social group.” [BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES]