Sometimes it feels like portraying people who think differently as "evil" has become a default strategy. Frankly, it's exhausting.
As a break from that, here's a story of someone doing what most wouldn't.
Mohamed Bzeek is a Libyan immigrant living in Los Angeles. He's taken on a unique life mission. He fosters terminally ill kids – so they don't have to die alone in hospitals. He's been doing it for over 25 years (and he has fostered over 80 kids so far).
I joke that I have a "tense" problem. I spend a lot of my time thinking about what will be possible in the future. And once I know something is possible, in my head, it has already happened.
It isn’t a reality distortion engine … it is a reality creation engine.
For me, this is centered around the way technology is transforming the world and how it affects my business.
Sometimes it's nice to take a step back and look at all the "quality of life" improvements. The gadgets that make you say "Wow!" … even though they may not benefit you directly.
So, here are a few that caught my eye over the last few weeks.
Augmented Reality Running
In 2020, Ghost Pacer put together a pair of AR glasses that would give you a virtual running partner. The app would analyze the running route and the wearer's desired goals and set them up against a virtual runner who would push them to their limits.
Last year, SNAP and Nike teamed up to create a new AR running experience as well.
Watching the video of this slime is somewhat uncanny. Its movements feel almost lifelike. That being said, the potential for this custard-like slime worm is massive. It can navigate narrow passageways, grasp objects, and more. There are already plans to use this to remove foreign objects from people.
Multiple generations of kids have dreamed of hoverboards after watching Back To The Future. While it's not in homes yet, it is now a reality as seen in this video with Tony Hawk riding one. Unfortunately, since breaking into the scene in 2015 with a successful Kickstarter, I have not seen much from Hendo Hoverboard.
Thankfully, they're not the only company in the space anymore. If you're willing to drop almost 15K, you can own a working hoverboard from Arcaboard.
I remember when we used to go outside to play or exercise.
Everyone knows that children are our future. They're the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and workers. Countries that are having a natural decrease in population due to families not having children will likely find themselves becoming less important on the geopolitical stage.
While the future is often hard to predict, here is easy “prediction” (that is much less of a prediction than it is simple math). In order to predict how many 18-year-olds there will be in a particular country in fifteen years, simply count the 3-year-olds there now. Yes, there will be some death or migration … but it is an easy way to get a sense of some important mega-trends.
India, China, and Africa all are seeing massive population growth. America is still net positive. It's also worth noting that India and China are topping the list because they already have such large populations. Their birth rates are actually slightly below average.
On a longer term scale, it's also worth noting that population growth has been declining since the 1960s. Partly due to education, wealth, and the move from rural to urban living.
Slowing population growth means a larger portion of the population is older. As median age increases, there are lots of potential economic consequences.
It's an interesting compounding of consequences.
We'll see if the countries with the largest population growth have the economy and infrastructure to support that growth.
You could argue that we're in the middle of the first energy crisis of the 21st century.
While gas prices are finally on the way back down, the recent surge is driving inflation and has consumers thinking much more about where their oil comes from.
When I last wrote about oil production, the shocking "secret" was that the largest importer of oil into the U.S. was Canada – and that most of our oil was produced within the U.S.
While the U.S. is the largest producer of Oil, OPEC is the largest organization. OPEC accounts for 35% of total production, with Saudi Arabia accounting for a third of OPEC's output.
Almost half of the world's oil production comes from The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
Also, despite being the world's largest oil producer, the U.S. is still a net importer of oil.
Supply constraints on oil – as a result of sanctions on Russia – are creating a price increase with skyrocketing demand from mid-pandemic levels. Combine that with OPEC refusing to increase production to meet demand, and you have an energy shortage.
The U.S. has already started releasing barrels from its strategic reserves, and we've seen gas prices go down as a result, but it remains to be seen if our efforts will be enough to curb the shortage.
I'm writing this from International Falls, MN (someplace I never thought I'd be … ). Meanwhile, one of the only less likely things, I can think of, is the article's topic.
Taylor Swift is known for being vocal about climate issues. She was also just 'outed' for the 170 flights her private jet took last year. The news came out after another celebrity was chastised for a 20-minute private jet flight. Taylor claims that most of those flights weren't hers – and that she rents the plane out. Knowing other people with private jets, that's believable.
There are obviously bigger problems in the world today. Nonetheless, I'm sharing this info anyways because the chart comparing her carbon footprint to the average person's caught my eye.
In a prior post, we looked at the Global GDP in 2021. Now, let's look at US Revenue vs. Expenditures in 2021.
So, from the start, we can see a 2,770-billion-dollar deficit last year. The #1 expenditure was income security. For those who don't know, income security is an extremely broad spending category. It covers everything from tax credits and unemployment to housing assistance, foster care, and many other welfare programs. It's somewhat of a catch-all for services that help people get necessities.
Surprisingly, the US pays more per person for healthcare than countries with nationalized healthcare.
Looking at 2021 isn't the best indicator of America's spending history as a whole; there were a lot of one-time events – and a pandemic. Usually, the deficit isn't that staggering.
While the deficit may grow out of control, debt is a powerful tool – not just a liability. Nonetheless, given our current economic situation, inflation, and rising interest rates, the strategy that got us here might not be the best strategy to get us where we want to go.
There's a lot of fear from workers about a future where their roles are taken. Gartner recently surveyed workers on what tasks they wanted AI to handle.
According to VentureBeat, some survey respondents did not want to use AI at work at all. Their reasons were privacy and security concerns.
I think one of the tasks that will be thrust upon AI companies is to help workers understand that AI is not meant to replace or take over their jobs, but to help workers be more effective and focused on higher-value tasks.
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