JANUARY EVENT RECAP | "AN EVENING WITH FUTURIST DAVID ZACH"
I am a skeptic. Yes, when I first saw the title, I asked myself, what in the world is a futurist? While I still think the "Futurist" title is silly and perhaps a bit deceiving, I now understand where David Zach is coming from. A Futurist, is a Past-ist and Present-ist too! David discussed many ideas and topics that affect our immediate existence as much as they shape our future. My biggest takeaway lesson is perhaps a bit self-serving. For many years, I have said that "to know where you're going, you have to know where you've been." David put it a little differently but the point is the same (I think): "To know the future we must look into the past."
We live in a world that's ever-changing, where sometimes change even goes unnoticed, because the next step in that evolution comes along too fast! David reminds us that this is not by any means a new phenomenon. The Renaissance must have been as exciting, scary and exhilarating.
In a world where, as David said, "everything wants to talk," where your refrigerator sends you a message to tell you "you are low on milk," and other wonders of invention that insist on automating our lives, where do we stand? After listening to David, the answer seems clear. Keep thinking ahead, keep challenging our notion of tomorrow and, very importantly, don't do it alone. Don't just "think outside the box, but connect to everyone's box."
David's conversation was inspiring and a challenge to us all, well summarized in his question: "Can we afford not to think BIGGER ideas?"
Pedro Garcia