Out & About In Our World.....

As we take stock on our World,  our team called up this from our archives courtesy of Peter Diamandis to take stock of where we've been and the possibilities.    This is as we also note that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen underscored by the Chair of the US Federal Reserve recently:

We forget how fast the world is changing today. As we ring in the New Year, let’s take a brief look back 100 years ago to 1919, as a means to truly appreciate the extraordinary world we live in today. First, the bad news: World War I ended in 1919 with a total casualty count of 37 million. The Spanish Flu finally ended as well, with a sum total of 500 million people infected (33% of Earth’s population!) and 50 million estimated deaths. Proportional to the Earth’s population today, this would be the equivalent of a death-toll ranging between 200 - 350 million people. Absolutely devastating, and a reminder of how lucky we truly are today in the twenty-first century.  On the positive side, while progress was glacial in speed, here’s everything I could find that would count as “Innovation in 1919”: Women’s rights! The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment. The first passenger air service was offered between Paris and London. UPS was founded as a company. The U.S. Army completed its “first transcontinental motor Convoy expedition driving across the United States.” It took them 60 days! The NC-4 Aircraft completed the 1st multi-stop flight across the Atlantic (19 days). Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 for the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris. What were the major technological inventions of 1919? There were two of them… Silica Gel was invented to keep humidity out of our packages; and, The Toaster (yup, that’s all I found on meaningful inventions). In comparison (at least technologically) we have more achievements per hour today, than 1919 had in the entire year. We are truly living during the most extraordinary time ever. So, how much difference can 100 years of progress make? A LOT. AND, as we march toward the Singularity, it’s important to realize that the speed of change is accelerating… and every aspect of how we live our lives will change in the next decade. In the next 10 years, those surfing on the tsunami of change (rather than getting crushed by it) will create more wealth than was created in the past century. Every industry will be transformed… and how we raise our kids, run our companies and lead our nations will change as well. You can be fearful of change, or you can realize it is happening and harness it. For those prepared, exponential change will help us digitize, dematerialize, demonetize and democratize access to energy, transportation, education, health, knowledge and communications. Technology will turn that which was once scare into abundance, over and over again. So, as you charge into 2019, remember that “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” Warmest wishes and Happy New Year, Peter We close out this notation with this: International Climate Symposium in Venice Connect4Climate, The Venice International University and Alcantara are organizing the 5th International Symposium on Sustainability, happening February 7th and 8th. The symposium titled "Climate ‘How’ - How to Engage Society and Deploy Decarbonization" will be livestreamed and will explore the question of how best to generate engagement with climate change issues across different levels of society. See the program here and follow the live-stream here. #CLIMATEHOW FOLLOW THE SYMPOSIUM LIVE ON CONNECT4CLIMATE TWITTER ACCOUNT  During an intensive two-day symposium, world-class scientists, economists, academics, managers of top corporations, science writers, and governmental and NGO's will come together at Venice International University to discuss how to overcome misinformation and engage stakeholders on climate change  topics. Follow C4C Twitter and join us with #ClimateHow.  #5SYMPOSIUM WATCH THE SYMPOSIUM  LIVESTREAM ON YOUTUBE Today, global climate change constitutes a very real threat to the livelihoods of people all across the world. Despite the importance of the topic, however, citizens seem distracted by nearer and more fearful urgencies, like social and personal security and employment. Follow the 5th Symposium live here and engage in this topics.

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On An Interesting Take On Our World

It is the advent of a new Month.  As we went to press with this weekly edition of Notations, Super Bowl LIII (53) was the talk of the Nation and the World over the Week-End and the President of the United States was due to deliver his Annual State of the Union Address as negotiations continued about funding the United States Government as the February 15 2019 deadline looms.   Our team will have comments later on this week in our Perspectives Property.    Our team chose this from the Daily Stoic, though, to bring some perspective to bear on our World in line with the mission of our Visions Property in spite of the challenging times we are witness to as we have achieved a milestone here in our visions property:  1000 Pieces 

Just a few weeks ago, the writer Austin Murphy wrote an insightful, revealing article for The Atlantic that personalized the changing nature of the economic and technological landscape in the 21st century western world. Murphy is one of the most successful sportswriters of his generation. He worked for Sports Illustrated for 33 years. He penned some 140 cover stories. He’d published 6 books. He’d interviewed 5 presidents. And yet—and this is the subject of the piece—now he finds himself delivering packages for Amazon for a living.

A job is a job, of course, but the man whose job used to involve trips to France with an expense account to cover the Tour de France now had a job where he struggled to find places to use the bathroom during the day.

The most interesting part of the piece is that it’s not a criticism of Amazon or a pity party for the author. In fact, it’s quite philosophical. Particularly this passage:

“Lurching west in stop-and-go traffic on I-80 that morning, bound for Berkeley and a day of delivering in the rain, I had a low moment, dwelling on how far I’d come down in the world. Then I snapped out of it. I haven’t come down in the world. What’s come down in the world is the business model that sustained Time Inc. for decades. I’m pretty much the same writer, the same guy. I haven’t gone anywhere. My feet are the same.”

There is a beautiful meditation from Marcus Aurelius along the same lines. "A rock thrown in the air,” he says, “it loses nothing by coming down, gained nothing by going up." This is easy to say, and easy to forget, but it’s an essential bit of perspective that both wards off ego when things are going well and protects us against depression when we experience setbacks.

We have to remember that external events, possessions, status markers, achievements don’t change us. An impressive job doesn’t make us an impressive person, just as a bad review doesn’t mean we’re without talent. Having a lot of money doesn’t make us special and not having money doesn’t make us worthless. Up, down, middling along—we are not changed by our status.

Only our actions and our choices reflect on who we are. Only what we are doing right now in the present moment matters—not the past, not the extrapolated future. And actually not even that—it’s how we are doing what we are doing that matters. Our feet are the same, wherever we are, regardless of the lofty heights we’ve climbed or darkened depths we’ve fallen to.

Don’t forget that. Because in it is strength and freedom.

As a New Month Dawns: We Shall Overcome interpreted by Emel Mathlouthi

We welcome you as we continue our journey of service.....

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On Our World

On a sense of the reality in Our World......

	Our cover this week looks at a new pattern of world commerce, which we call Slowbalisation. In the past decade globalisation has decelerated from light speed to a snail’s pace. The cost of moving goods in ships and planes has stopped falling. Multinational firms have found that global sprawl burns money and that local rivals often eat them alive. Activity is shifting towards services, which are harder to sell across borders. As President Donald Trump pursues his trade offensive, commerce and investment are suffering and rules on data and privacy are splintering. Slowbalisation need not be a disaster, but it will be meaner and less stable than its predecessor.   JANUARY 29, 2019 I hope this is the only thing you’ll read online today. I’m kidding. I know that’s not realistic. And yet the drumbeat is growing louder for more quiet in our digital lives. The signal has become so drowned out by the noise that all our newfangled digital obsessions are becoming more hazardous than we ever expected. The outstanding columnist Farhad Manjoo, in his inaugural effort for The New York Times Op-Ed page, explains why he has taken up meditation. Sure, he knows meditation apps are about as cliché as you can get. (If every venture capitalist you meet is doing something, then …) But Manjoo realizes they are one way to deal with his “digital monsters.” The issue, of course, isn’t meditation, but the monsters. I like to start my day drinking coffee and reading print newspapers—knowing I’ll be online the rest of the day. I don’t use Facebook anymore and have cut way back on Twitter. I still feel well informed. And the monsters are still there. If you need convincing, read this wonderful Wall Street Journal interview with academic Cal Newport, who has made a career of avoiding social media. He makes a brilliant point in response to the fear of losing track of old friends. “This idea that it’s important to maintain hundreds or thousands of weak-tie connections” is recent and untested, he says. (In fact, Dunbar’s numbersuggests the true limit is about 150.) Refraining from social media just might enhance your real relationships. It is a time of tumult. Twitter is the favorite tool for insult by the president of the United States. “Content” thrives while journalism suffers. Still, this really smart piece made me wonder for the first time if “service” publications like Better Homes and Gardens or InStyle, to choose two owned by Fortune’s erstwhile owner, Meredith Corp., might be threatened most by the trend, not serious news publications. Brands can publish “content” that’s as good as top magazines; they aren’t likely to turn to serious news, analysis, and criticism, whose publishers are pivoting away from advertising and toward subscriptions. Anyway, thanks for listening. I’ve got to check my email now. Adam Lashinsky @adamlashinsky adam_lashinsky@fortune.com

#MLK2019: Honoring the Life & Times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.