Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
Yesterday I wrote Civilization and Evolution, and said, “We have built ‘advanced’ cages and put ourselves in zoos that are nothing like the environment we are supposed to live in.”
I’m now thinking about how AI is going to change this? When most jobs are done by robots, who are more efficient and cost effective than humans, what happens to the workforce? What happens to work? What do we do with ourselves when work isn’t the thing we do for most of our adult lives?
If intelligent robots can do most of the work that humans have been doing, then what will humans do? Where will people find their purpose? How will we construct meaning in our day? What will our new ‘even-more-advanced’ cages look like?
Will we be designing better zoos for ourselves or will we set ourselves free?
Evolution is a slow process. Small changes over thousand and millions of years. I’m not thinking about bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant or moths changing colour over time to match their environment. I’m thinking about modern humans (Homo sapiens) who emerged approximately 300,000 years ago. Sure, certain traits like lactose tolerance evolved approximately 5,000–10,000 years in some populations, but for the most part we are a heck of a lot like our ancestors 100,000 years ago. Taller due to better nutrition, but otherwise pretty much the same.
And when we think about civilization as we know it, we are really talking about the last 2,500-3,000 years… and yet we are the same humans who lived as nomads and hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years before that. In other words we have not evolved to live in the societies we currently live in.
We didn’t evolve to live mostly indoors, away from nature, and out of sunlight for most of our day. We didn’t evolve to use artificial light at night before going to bed at hours well past dark. We don’t evolve to do shift work, or to sit at a desk all day.
We didn’t evolve to work for made up currencies so that we could go to buildings where we buy food that is over-processed, over-sweetened, and filled with empty calories. We didn’t evolve to spend time in front of screens that distract and overstimulate us.
We are simple but very intelligent animals who have not evolved much at all since we lived in small communities where we knew everyone, and knew what to fear, and how to protect ourselves from dangers.
Yet we now live surrounded by people we don’t know, and we are triggered by stresses that we evolutionarily were not designed for. Everything from being in constant debt, to working in stressful environments, to information overload, to time pressures, social comparison, choice overload, conflicting ideologies, environmental noises and hazards, and social disconnection.
We live in a state of overstimulation, stress, and distraction that we have not evolved to cope with. Then we identify diagnoses to tell us how we are broken, how we don’t fit in, and why we struggle. Maybe it’s the societies we have built that are broken? Maybe we evolutionarily do not belong in the social, technological, and societal structures we’ve created?
Maybe, just maybe, we are trying to live our best lives in an environment we were not designed for. Our modern civilizations are not well equipped to meet the needs of our primitive evolution… We have built ‘advanced’ cages and put ourselves in zoos that are nothing like the environment we are supposed to live in. And we don’t realize that all the things we think are broken about us are actually things that are broken about this fake environment we’ve trapped ourselves in.
And so we spend hours exercising, moving around weights that don’t need to be moved, meditating to empty our minds and seek presence and peace. We spend hours playing or cheering on sports teams so that we can have camaraderie with a small community. We spend thousands of dollars on camping equipment so that we can commune with nature. And some people take drugs or alcohol to escape the zoos and cages that we feel trapped in.
Maybe we’ve built our civilizations in ways that have not meaningfully considered our evolutionary needs.
I don’t get it. A lie used to be something that was called out and the lier paid consequences.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Sounds silly, but metaphorically a call out to say that you are going to catch heat for what you said. And people in important positions of power were held to a standard that lies and deceit were called out and the consequential backlash was severe. There would be embarrassment, a public apology, and reputational consequences as a result of being caught in a lie.
No more. It’s still embarrassing, just not to the person sharing the lie.
I could mention his name, but I don’t have to. Isn’t that crazy? I can literally say everything I said above, which is completely generic, and relevant to any one of importance. But the moment I say ‘I could mention his name, but I don’t have to,’ the vast majority of the world’s population will know who I’m talking about.
And still he lies. It will continue. When will this unacceptable behaviour catch up with him? When will the backlash be too large to ignore?
The problem is that often when we should admit we are wrong we double down, we get defensive, we justify with bias.
Double down or learn. We can’t go both.
Although that’s not totally true. We can do both, just not simultaneously. We can double down in the heat of the moment, reflect later, recognize our error, and make amends, admit our error, and hopefully learn.
But learning is a whole lot easier, and less confrontational, when we can admit our error before putting our back up and defending it.
It’s not just better for us, it’s better for everyone around us… and we learn, and grow, and maybe spend a little less time doubling down to defend our errors in the future.
Last year, globally there were 60 countries that had elections and, “the staying power of right-wing populism” was a noted trend. And if you looked at the polls just two months ago, it looked like Canada would follow suite with the Conservatives having a significant lead under a very populist leader.
But that all changed when Justin Trudeau resigned and Mark Carney became Prime Minister. Last night Carney was elected for another 4 years. And although I really wanted to see a majority win, a win is a win, and the fact that the upset happened is victory enough. Maybe, just maybe this is a pendulum swing away from more right wing populist parties? Maybe we can see some more centrist, less polarized views shine through across the globe in the coming months and years.
But hopes aside, here are a couple things that I think all Canadians can look forward to with Mark Carney as Prime Minister… no matter who they voted for.
1. Diplomacy
Mark Carney put the President to our south on notice from day 1. When he replaced Trudeau, who Trump was calling governor of the 51st state, Carney immediately did three things: He strengthened economic ties with with Europe & Asia; He reminded the US president that he could sell American debt; And, he signed a defence contract deal with Australia (a deal that would have gone to the US). He did not go to see the US president right away. And the President’s response once they did speak:
“I just finished speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney, of Canada. It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada,”
No 51st state rhetoric.
And here’s the simple truth about Carney versus Poilievre… Carney starts with diplomacy and Poilievre lacks it. When Trump said this yesterday, on our election day, “
“Good luck to the Great people of Canada. Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be. Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE! America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”
Poilievre responded publicly on Twitter with,
“President Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box.
Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state.
Today Canadians can vote for change so we can strengthen our country, stand on our own two feet and stand up to America from a position of strength.”
This is not a show of power, it’s grandstanding. I would have been willing to bet real money that had Poilievre won last night, we would have seen ‘51st state’ and ‘Governor Poilievre’ rhetoric surface from the American President.
Carney won’t play the populist all-caps ‘NEVER’ kind of game, he will be firm, strategic, and straightforward. Last night he said,
“I have been warned, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. These are not these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never, ever happen.”
And,
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons that we have to look out for ourselves. … When I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations, and it will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians.”
Not empty, boisterous rhetoric, but a firm message that we don’t only have to rely on America, with the underlying threat that this will cost America.
2. Fiscal Conservatism
The simple fact is that with respect to finance, I’d consider Carney more right rather than left on the political spectrum. He actually would have made a good Conservative candidate, one I could have voted for unlike Poilievre. Now that doesn’t mean he won’t run a deficit, but in these trade war times, no country is coming out unscathed. However, I believe that Carney will lead us out of the next few years as a global powerhouse, and Poilievre has neither the experience, skill, or ability to plan any such success. We would have been bullied by the US under him, and that simply will not happen under Carney.
So hopefully Canadians can drop the lift/right wars that seem to consume politics these days. Hopefully we can stand ‘elbows up’ with one another, and let the political pendulum swing a bit to center. While things are going to get tough economically, we have far more to hope for prosperity as a unified country supporting our new Prime Minister.
I’ve written about Smart Voting: “Unapologetically Political – It’s time to Smart Vote”. And I’ve said countless times over the years that it’s our civic duty to vote; that it’s a privilege to be in a democracy where it is our right. I am usually non-partisan in my messaging and intentionally so. I’m even glad there are people who vote differently than me, because I don’t want to live in a society where everyone has the same opinions and political views.
Yet, in this election, I really want to see Mark Carney elected as our Prime Minister. I think I would have voted for him no matter which party he was representing. Because this isn’t about a party, it’s about getting the right person for the job, and he’s the only person for the job right now.
I’m not trying to by hyperbolic. He has the global respect and influence we need right now. He has actually done his homework and has actionable plans to move Canada forward during unprecedented challenges… and he’s been in jobs as important as this in two other seriously challenging times and situations, both in Canada and internationally.
Meanwhile his competition, Pierre Poilievre, is a 20-year politician who doesn’t have a single bill to his name, and really didn’t even shine when his own party was in power for almost half of his career.
I doubt that on election day that I would convince anyone to change their vote. I could go on about why Mark Carney is the best choice we have, and it wouldn’t matter to most people voting against him. So I’ll just say this: It’s election day, your vote matters, take the time to do your civic duty, and when you do, ask yourself not which party you want to vote for, but who is in the best position to move Canada forward during these challenging times?
William Ferriter recently shared, “When it Comes to Deadlines, the “Real World” is Far More Flexible than Many Teachers.” And he gives some real world examples to consider, such as his power bill giving him 30 days to pay… and even if he misses that deadline the consequence over the next month is a whopping $1.08! That’s a lot different than giving a zero in an assignment with the excuse that this is a ‘real world’ consequence.
In a comment, I shared how a teacher at my school uses a zero as a potential consequence:
I have one teacher who uses zero’s as a ‘placeholder’ for late work. So for an easy example, in a course where there are only 100 marks given and a kid has 50/60 so far, the kid is at 83%. Now let’s say the kid doesn’t hand in an assignment worth 15% on time. The kid gets a placeholder zero, and the immediate consequence is that the 83% in the gradebook becomes 50/75 or 67%. So the student sees the consequence of not handing in the work! BUT… if the kid hands it in later, and gets 13/15, the mark immediately changes in the gradebook to 63/75 or 84% (no marks off for late). In a course where the gradebook is always visible, this allows the kid to see the potential consequence of a zero/no submission, but provides the opportunity to make it go away completely.
I spent part of my day repairing my hot tub. I had 3 things to do, one of which I did about 2 years ago, the other two I was doing for the first time. In all three cases I did searches on YouTube for ‘how to’ videos. I can’t say that my searches were perfect, and while 2 of the three things only required watching a video, the other took some ingenuity beyond what I watched.
Still, I have to say that this was so much easier than reading complicated manuals or trying to fix with minimal if any instructions. I could have tried AI, but to me this is a YouTube kind of thing. I can honestly say that YouTube has made me far more of a handyman than I’ve ever been capable of doing on my own.
It has become abundantly clear that an isolationist policy is not one that will work in the 21st century. The question now isn’t about if things will get better or worse, but rather how much worse? We have a global superpower that is going to destabilize world economies, and no neighbours or allies are going to come out unscathed.
I just have to wonder what future generations will think of this era? Who will the good ancestors be? And who will be typecast cast as the villain? While I think the answer is clear, if I go south of the border there would be close to a 50-50 split in responses to these questions. And the divide between the responses would be from people who would not be too neighbourly with one another.
Be a good ancestor with your neighbours. The premise is simple. The outcome unifying and peaceful. We could use a little children’s book philosophy about now.
I was talking to a parent interested in bringing her child to our school. But he also wanted a chance to play sports at a big high school and because BC School Sports has treated our tiny program unfairly, he can’t play with them if he joins our program, which is too small to field a team.
His mom really wants him to come to our school, but doesn’t want him to lose out on playing sports in his catchment school. I reminded her that the big high school he wants to go to is an excellent school, and that he is going to get a good education at whichever school he chooses.
I said, I know that this is a tough decision to make, but it’s a good decision either way.
Conversation 2
A student I had previously spoken to had mentioned that he wanted to go to a school that’s out of the Vancouver Lower Mainland, and that if he did, he was going to live in residence. I told him that my experience with living in residence was really wonderful and that I’d recommend it.
A few days later he came back to me and said that he thought about it more and financially it didn’t make sense for him to spend most of his school budget on his first year just so he could go away and live in residence.
So, I told him that while my wife and I both loved the experience, and recommended it to our oldest daughter, she enjoyed residence living the least of any of her 4 years at school. And, my youngest daughter chose a school where she commuted from home and enjoyed her first year quite a bit.
I explained that while it’s a good choice to make for many, it’s not for everyone and you can have a great first year with or without living in residence.
Conversation 3
I had a student explain to me that she got into the top two programs she wanted and she couldn’t decide which one she really wanted. She gave me a couple reasons why she wanted both programs and said she really didn’t know which way to go.
Paraphrasing my simple reply, I said, ‘What a great problem to have! I know this isn’t easy, but of all the dilemmas you could be going through, this one is a pretty good one!’
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Sometimes even the good decisions are hard to make. It’s important to keep this in perspective and not stress as much as when the decision is more challenging and stress inducing.
The other advice I often give in all three of these conversations is that once you make the decision, jump in with both feet! When you finally decide, be firm with your decision, and don’t look back. Instead, think and believe that you made the right decision, at the right time… and give that choice 100% of your effort. Remember that you had a hard, but good decision to make, and whatever choice you made was right for you!
