The World Around You

A thought, a life-changing story, quotes to put things in perspective.

I tweeted last week that devices that incentivize engaging with the world around you will change everything. To quote my dear friend, “let’s go deeper into this.”

The thought came to mind as I was at a Nationals game. I passed by a monument commemorating a tragedy I had no idea about. Then it hit me: why is there not a QR code that I can scan to learn more about this?

You see, the real issue with the apps and devices we use today is that they incentivize one thing, and one thing only; us staring at their creation all day long. But is that what we should be prioritizing?

Should we spend our entire lives staring at screens, refreshing and refreshing, typing and typing? No, of course not. Our devices and the apps they support can be both blessings and curses. Blessings in the sense that information, communication, memories... all at our fingertips. Curses in that they can distract us from the people and things most important to us… our family and friends, our sense of reality can be stripped from our hands. This does not mean that we are doomed though.

Our devices should be tools to improve the world around us and to interact with it. Rather than incentivizing our continued use, whether by likes, retweets, views, our devices should incentivize them being in our pockets. We should scan that QR code and come back to it later. We should snap that photo and reminisce on it a year from now. However, we should not be sucked into the trap they lay for us.

Right now our devices are not doing that. This can and will change, I hope. With an eye to the future, one can be certain that innovation is not a matter of “if” but “when.” The iPhone was an idea in the back of Steve Jobs' mind 20 years ago, just like the next world-changing innovation is in the back of someone else’s mind today.

Our world is at the cusp of a “revolution” of sorts. Of thought, of ideas, of mind. It is fitting that technology should be an active part of that…

PEOPLE:

I learned about a remarkable woman and her groundbreaking story. This woman is directly responsible for more millions of lives saved around the world, with millions to be saved in the future as well. Her name was Henrietta Lacks.

If you are like me, and most people, you likely have never heard of her. Who was she? Rewind to 1951, scientists are desperately trying to have cells reproduce themselves outside of the body. A lady by the name of Henrietta Lacks enters the picture with a cancer diagnosis. Without her knowledge, they extracted some cells via blood, and miraculously they reproduced outside the body. Get this - to this very day those cells are still reproducing. Practically every major scientific breakthrough in the last 70 years has been because of her cells. The polio vaccine, HPV, AIDS medications, the Covid vaccine, even research on the moon, all from her blood. Really fascinating.

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING:

The First Tithe by Dr. Israel Eldad, Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara, and The Tree of Life and Prosperity by Michael Eisenberg.

I plan on writing on at least two of them when I am done.

QUOTES:

“The story of the Lithuanian who taught his horse how to go hungry, and the horse had almost learned how, except that the horse suddenly died?” - Eldad, emphasizing the value of timing.

“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” - Emiliano Zapata, relatable to everything.

Feel free to comment/share, always eager to engage with you and more people.

Until next time…

O