by Peter Diamandis: These are turbulent times…
A quick glance at the headlines is enough to set anybody on edge. And with the endless media stream that has lately become our lives, it’s hard to get away from those headlines.
Worse, evolution shaped the human brain to be acutely aware of all the potential dangers—thus our news media and politicians focus on the grim to capture your mindshare.
This dire combination has a profound impact on human perception: it literally shuts off our ability to take in good news.
This creates something of a challenge for us because Abundance is a tale of good news.
In today’s blog, I want to encourage you to pause, step back and take a broader view of the evolution of Abundance in our world.
I’ll also address the question: “With everything going on, why should you care about Abundance?”
But first, some history…
Let’s dive in!
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Rapidly advancing exponential tech, new scientific discoveries, social trends, and economic forces are all transforming our world. And the rate of change is itself increasing.
We can’t be so naive as to think that there won’t be bumps along the way.
Some of these bumps will be BIG: economic meltdowns, pandemics, war.
During these times, the concept of Abundance will seem far-off, alien, even nonsensical. But a quick look at history shows that progress continues through good times and bad.
The twentieth century, for example, witnessed both incredible advancement and unspeakable tragedy.
The 1918 influenza pandemic killed 50 million people, and World War II killed another roughly 60 million. There were tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, the Great Depression, and even plagues of locusts.
Despite such unrest, this period also saw infant mortality decrease by 90% and maternal mortality decrease by 99%.
Overall, human lifespan has more than doubled since 1900.
At the same time, families spend just one-third as much of their income on food, while the cost of energy has decreased twentyfold. At the same time, the cost of transportation has decreased one-hundredfold.
In his book Better Angels of our Nature, Harvard Professor Steven Pinker demonstrates that we are now living during the most peaceful time in human history.
Your chance of dying a violent death is one-fiftieth today compared to the Middle Ages.
But you wouldn’t know that from watching CNN.
What has become the “Crisis News Network” appears mandated to transport every feud and fatality into your living room—in high definition, over and over again.
On the economic front, there is no question that the United States and other parts of the world have experienced tremendous
Yet today, even the poorest Americans have access to a telephone, television, and a flush toilet—three luxuries that even the wealthiest couldn’t imagine at the turn of the last century.
In fact, using almost any metric currently available, quality of life has improved more in the past century than ever before.
So, while there are likely to be plenty of heartbreaking interruptions along the way, global living standards will continue to improve regardless of the horrors that dominate the headlines.
SO, WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT ABUNDANCE?
For those of us living in the developed world, why should we care about global Abundance?
After all, there are plenty of important issues facing us here at home. From inflation and economic inequality to the effects of the pandemic, many people in the developed world have suffered hardships during the past few years.
Humanitarian reasons aside, should we really waste our time working toward an age of global Abundance, when we can hardly seem to find the Abundance at home?
The short answer is yes.
Our days of isolation are behind us. In today’s world, what happens “Over there” impacts “Over here.” Pandemics do not respect borders, supply chains operate on a global scale, and wars are now everyone’s problem.
So, what’s the best way to solve these issues?
Raise global standards of living.
Research shows that the wealthier, more educated, and healthier a nation, the less violence and civil unrest among its populace, and the less likely that unrest will spread across its borders.
And, as a bonus, there is a direct correlation between quality of life and population growth rates—as quality increases, birth rates decrease.
The point is this: in today’s hyper-linked world, solving problems anywhere, solves problems everywhere.
The internet revolution has continued to rapidly spread across the planet. In 2010 we had just under 2 billion people connected to the Internet. We are now at 5 billion.
By 2030, that number will rise to at least 7.5 billion, or 90% of the planet.
Coupled with a 100 billion sensors, the incredible advancement of AI, robotics, and so much more, we are rapidly building an intelligent brain for the entire planet. This intelligence layer enables us to solve global problems by mobilizing resources around the globe.
Solving a problem overseas can lead to solutions at home.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The last few years have felt chaotic, unpredictable, and downright scary at times. However, when we pause, zoom out, and take a broader perspective, it is clear that we are in the midst of the most exciting period in human history.
The incredible news today, as compared to even a few decades ago, is that exponential technologies are giving each of us unparalleled access to knowledge, experts, and global communications at little-to-no cost.
This is the basis of having an Abundance Mindset: the idea that next year will bring more opportunities than this year.
Your job as an entrepreneur is to consistently turn scarcity into Abundance.
So, now the question is: What challenge are you going to solve? What will you create?
