Humility Is The New Smart summary

The second millennium may be young, but we’re quickly approaching one of its defining eras: the Smart Machine Age, or SMA. This term describes a time when machines will become increasingly capable of performing complex tasks and nonroutine work – jobs that once required human labor.

As the SMA dawns, technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and genetic engineering will quickly come to dominate the professional and personal lives of humans. As they continue to become more sophisticated, machines will take on more manual and cognitive tasks, both in and outside the workplace.

What does this mean for humans?

Well, if you’re a lawyer, a journalist, a teacher or an accountant, you can’t be too certain that your job is secure. It could be taken over by a robot in the future. In fact, a 2013 study done by researchers at Oxford University found an extreme likelihood that as many as 47 percent of US jobs will be replaced by technology within the next two decades.

So human success in the SMA depends on a whole new approach; we must be NewSmart.

After all, we can’t compete with machines in terms of processing and retaining huge amounts of information. Our options are either to complement the work of machines or do the work they can’t, which includes critical thinking, emotional engagement and creative practices.

However, in a society that’s hyperfocused on competition, aggression and individual success, we’re often too self-involved and fixed in our beliefs to be adept at such skills. This impedes progress. We will only excel when we learn to collaborate, an ability that enables greater critical thinking, emotional engagement and creativity.

But our general unwillingness to work together doesn’t mean humanity is doomed. Indeed, there’s a way to acquire the skills that will help you transcend your current limitations. In the next blinks, you’ll learn all about it.