Adversity is defined as adverse or unfavorable fortune or fate; a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, or distress. We sometimes think of it in extreme terms, from all the media centred around tragedy and our brains' predisposition to gravitate to bad news. But quite simply, adversity is life. To believe you could go through a life without some pain or suffering, is unrealistic, and a toxic narrative that some do try to weave on social media.

And yet, the fact that we’re here today, talking on the tools we are, have food in our fridges, running water, are adversities our forebears survived so we wouldn’t have to. Yet the struggles never end. As with the pandemic since last year, many people have been affected greatly as we discussed in our last talk, some of which had their livelihoods disrupted or taken away completely. And, depending on many factors of where you live, what your culture is, or the colour of your skin has levels of adversity some of us have never had to experience or might not fully understand.

Then looking at resilience, which definition was apt in how it contracts to dealing with adversity, that resilience is the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, major life changes. Another word given to this meaning was buoyancy. The concept that, no matter what happens, no matter the depths of chance, injustice, or struggle one faces, that they will always float back up to the top, and keep moving on about their lives in spite of all that.

Perhaps two sides of the same coin. For one to know stability they must also know risk, yet, does each pose potential danger should we settle for one or the other?

If you think risks are something grand like quitting your job to start a dream project, jumping out of a plane, betting your life savings at a casino or stock market, whether you should travel during a pandemic, you’re very likely missing the obvious risks and challenges you face every single day. You see, the problem is how humans’ minds work. We’re shortsighted, and limit our thinking to recent events, especially those which are glorified in the media. The virus, terrorism, politics, pressing threats to our safety all around, and frankly is nothing new with being a human. There has never not been, nor will be, a time where humans are not living in a state that risks their livelihood or survival, as it’s an essential element to being alive.

Do you realize that choosing to brush your teeth or not is a risk to your life? What type or quality of foods you eat and where then come from is of gravest risk to your daily and long-term health. How about whether you remembered to wash your hands often enough pre-pandemic, or to stop and take a breath and regain control over your stress level? Because these risks are considered so small, our brains are experts at downplaying them, focusing instead on the pink elephant fears delivered to use through every device near at hand continuously. Risk is in a way linked to fears, for when we fear something yet seemingly must consider doing it, we stop and try to weigh what risks that something may produce. Yet why do we so easily dismiss the minor risks every day? Why can’t we contextualize the genuine dangers from small repeated actions over a lifetime as the actual risks we must address and have the forethought to overcome?

This is where the idea of stability comes into play for us. Our brains thrive on homeostasis, the state in which we perceive, whether or not true, that everything is in a well enough balance that we’re ok not rocking the boat and making changes, even the smallest of one. We believe if things “aren’t too bad” that however poor the current conditions of our daily life are, they are bearable, within a range of problems/stress/risks that seem manageable and thus we are ‘stable’. That isn’t to say there isn’t some validity in that one’s life might not have stable elements. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, with Physiological at the lowest level, one is arguably on a stable footing already if they have access to shelter, food, and water. From this vantage point, up the pyramid one could view the higher levels as risks already, and be content to stay fixed in their stability.

Thus, seeking only stability in life is meek an outcome as wantoningly disregarding the small daily risks, both ultimately leading to an unfulfilled end. Surely not wanting to reach higher feels quite comfortable and likewise ignoring the minor risks now seems like nothing to worry about. Neither of which will serve you well in later years.

We need to both be comfortable in being uncomfortable, pushing at our edges and striving to do better, while avoiding caring about the preceded colossal risks and addressing the very real near ones we can actually control every day. Reaching higher on Maslow’s hierarchy will force you to always have the underlying stability, as it is required in order to reach and risk for a greater state of life. Even if you were to achieve the highest level, the journey never stops or ends and the risks too never cease to exist.

Topic Context

As mentioned in chat and around the previous forward thinking topic on robotics and automation, we’re looking at another aspect of the future to help open your mind to the realities of what is coming, and how prepared you will be to meet it.

Less a talk about doomsday, skynet, Cyberpunk dystopian futures, because honestly we’re already living in a dystopian world... this talk is to help us explore the possibilities that will arrive in our lifetimes, the philosophy we hold about this future, or those we may need to adopt to survive..

As with human beings being “blindsided” with COVID, humans are in for a radical change in the next century that leads into transhumanism, and eventually become posthuman, or as coined by Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus in his incredible Sapians series. I think I’ve plugged his stuff enough over past talks, but seriously if you haven’t read or listened to the series yet, I implore you to dive into it, you will not be disappointed.

Now, before we jump into our questions, unlike past talks I want to help describe some terms to help guide us along our talking points so we can have common ground on the different states Home Sapians would be moving through.

Talking Points

1. Are you ready to become more than human?

2. What fears does the becoming posthuman hold for you?

3. Will you still be relevant if you ignore it?

We hope you enjoy this episode!

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