Is Kindness Viral?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s almost Christmas, so perhaps acts of random kindness attract attention at this time of year. Maybe that’s too cynical. One of the most viewed images on the web last month was of a policeman helping a homeless man in New York. The man, a war veteran, was shoeless, so the policeman went to a local store and bought the man some boots – one assumes with his own money. He then helped the man to put them on.

So why is this image so heart warming? According to an experiment published in something called the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, someone that witnesses someone comforting someone in distress is more likely to be compassionate to another person themselves. I imagine the same is true too in the negative too. If you are the recipient of anger or rage you often pass the rage and anger on to someone else. This story has a twist because the man has been spotted shoeless once again. When asked “Where are your shoes?” the man said that they were too valuable to wear and would be taken from him. Turns out he isn’t homeless either. Nevertheless, it really is the thought that counts.

So be nice to someone you don’t know today, perhaps just smile at someone you don’t know, and make the world a nicer place for a few seconds.

In the new world of work, modesty is no longer a virtue

Let’s talk about me. This focus on “Me” is a new development, especially in the UK. Traditionally, the British have been modest about their achievements.
Take the Industrial Revolution. It was pure luck. It could have happened anywhere. Penicillin? Serendipity. The jet engine? Somebody else would have eventually come up with the idea old chap. Nothing to really shout about.

The ego in Britain was historically kept in check by self-deprecation and this became a hallmark of British culture and comedy. The class system may have had something to do with it too. Positions were fixed and there wasn’t much point trying to change things when destiny was largely determined at birth.

But more about “Me.” In the United States people are taught from birth that meekness is a weakness. Maybe this developed due to the early need to fight wild Indians or bears. Who knows. Whatever the cause, fluidity and forwardness has been feature of American society since its inception. America is more egalitarian than Britain and hard work can therefore pay off. Nowhere has this been truer than in New York, where boasting rarely results in a roasting and putting oneself ‘out there’ has always been a basic requirement, not only for work, but for finding love and happiness too. Now, it seems, the rest of the world is loudly following in New York’s footsteps. Extroverts are in the ascendant and introverts just never make things happen. But why is this? I think the reason is twofold.

First, in the world of work, the cogitative elite has become globalised and this has resulted in a hugely competitive landscape where you are only as good your last project and everyone is, so the theory goes, after your job. The world is now flat. It’s quarterly and globally accelerated capitalism and there is no time for hanging around or sticking your dim light under a damp bushel. To mix the metaphors even further, it’s a totally different kettle of piranhas out there these days.

Now it’s all about shouting the loudest to get seen – and to get paid. It’s all about economic free agents, road warriors, personal branding, LinkedIn profiles, high profile internships – often bought at charity auctions – and loading your digitalised CV with search engine friendly keywords. Even our physical work environments have become loud. Walls that were once white are now painted in strong colours or plastered in professional graffiti, supposedly to stimulate our creative thinking. Where once we had quiet and reflective private offices we now have casual open-plan layouts, supposedly for the same reason.

If you think this is an exaggeration then you obviously haven’t heard about Facebook’s Menlo Park office, which has all this and more. Even the meeting rooms have extrovert names and the signs say things like: “Move fast and break things.” Everything is now social and team based and if you don’t enthusiastically join in there is the suspicion that there’s something wrong with you.

But what if you don’t want to be the life and soul of the daily office party? What if you don’t want to talk, but prefer to be left alone to think or indeed code? It’s as though a bunch of kindergarten kids have taken over the whole world.

The second reason that modesty is now a travesty is technological, although this links with and strongly supports the forces of globalisation. We now live in a world where it’s much easier to sell yourself to a global audience and to tell the world how wonderful you are– even what you’re up to right now. And because things are so hyper-competitive, this often means wild exaggeration and a heavily image-enhanced portrait. A booming Type-A job title like “CEO’ also helps, even if the company you work for is just you in a spare bedroom

Of course, you can’t just blame the individual for this ego inflation. At school we are all told that we’re all ‘special’. There are classes for the ‘Gifted and talented’ and experts tell us that anyone can be a genius. And governments encourage this too by insisting that anyone can and should go to university.

A consequence of all this is the increased emphasis on the person. Personal technology means it’s now more about our individual whims and wants. We can now have our newspaper and our cup of coffee our way (i.e. personalised). Technology, such as television, that was once communal has become individual.

This is obviously a good thing, because we can now all watch what we want to watch when and where we want. But one result is that we no longer have to compromise and sometimes accept what other people want to watch, which is not especially social. Overall, I believe, this is starting to create an intolerance of others, including other peoples’ likes, dislikes, opinions and foibles. But who cares, because you don’t really need anyone else nowadays right?

Something similar is happening with friendship. Peer pressure is now networked so one needs to constantly sell oneself and what one is doing. You need to be constantly having an enormous amount of fun and hanging out with people even more beautiful (i.e. even more photo-shopped) than yourself. In sum, it’s a world where fame and fortune are fleeting, so you may as well get your job application, funding foray or date in before everyone else.

Demographics impact here too. In some places there are more single women than single men, so the stakes of each date get higher. And the same demographic force applies to the availability of jobs.

But here’s the thing. Our newly extrovert nature, along with our newly found connectivity and digital friendships, are hiding a dark side. We are now alone more than ever. Our connectivity is a sham. We are indeed connected more than ever, but connected to what or whom? To people with whom we can share our deepest hopes and fears? I fear not. We have exchanged intimacy for familiarity and our so-called friends are about as long-term and resilient as our jobs. As for everything becoming social, this is true on a very superficial level, but underneath I believe the very opposite is happening.

I don’t know about you, but it somehow felt better back in the days when the meek were in line to inherit the Earth. One somehow felt that something of substance might be happening in those quiet offices and hushed corridors of power.

I’d trade a quiet, mild mannered meek for a noisy, narcissistic geek any day.

Shades of Grey

I’m starting to miss Sydney. It’s probably the time of year. Blue sky, the ocean, warm air, and a quick swim before work. Or maybe it was the delayed and overcrowded 6.14 train to London Bridge a few days ago. Talk about a load of wet, grey and rather depressed looking people. And what’s with the frantic typing at 6.14am? What’s that important?

The ferry commute across Sydney Harbour was much nicer, especially the day that the ferry was late because we stopped to look at a whale. On the other hand it was snowing this morning and the nearby hills looked a bit like the Alps, albeit in a rather squashed form.

I was in Paris recently for the day (one upside of living in Europe!). Been thinking about privacy in a networked age. Malcolm Rifkind, a former British Government minister, was on the train (last week it was Sophie Ellis Baxter on the plane). It occurs to me that real time reporting of where well-known people are via Twitter and Facebook must reprint something of a security risk. If someone doesn’t like you…!

Anyway, I am no longer on the train and neither is Mr Rifkind. Almost out of the woods work-wise too, so I’ll be posting the second part of my scenario planning tips shortly. I’m also working on what might be a quite nice post on the death of quiet humility at the hand of exhibitionist individualism.

I’ve also written something (on the train) about innovation, which is a change from the future. Best of all, it was written totally out of my head with no reference back to previous thinking or published material. It’s also just a few words, no images of tricky graphics. I must try doing this again some time.

Anything for you today, dear reader? Not really, although I did hear a great quote last week about 217,000 people sitting down for dinner tonight that weren’t around (i.e. alive) this morning. It was part of what Lester Brown was saying about overpopulation in Milan. Somehow it was so much more real than talking about seven point something billion people – and rising – on the planet. I must admit that I totally disagree though. I’m getting a bit fed up of people saying that 7 billion is a real problem.

This is a very old and very tired argument that dates back to at least the 1700s and roughly says that because population (and economic growth) keeps on growing we are doomed because the planet is finite. Nonsense.

We are still around as a species because we are smart. We usually leave things too late, but history would suggest that we eventually invent our way out of any trouble that comes our way. Also, remember that the more people there are the more brains there are to solve any problems. Also, don’t forget that the reason there are 7 billion people around is not because we selfishly breed like rabbits, rather it is because we no longer drop dead like flies. Overpopulation, if such a thing exists, is due to a revolution in healthcare and this should be celebrated.

That’s far too much name-dropping for one post. I will return tomorrow as a more secretive, self-deprecating introvert hopelessly trying to sell to you yet another new book (today is the UK launch of The Future: 50 Things You Really Need to Know). But you probably knew that.

PS. Digital humiliation. The woman on the train next to me today was listening to an audio version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Only so was the rest of the carriage. She hadn’t pushed her headphone jack in far enough (possibly) and whilst the story was being privately read to hear through her headphones it was also being loudly told to the rest of the carriage via her built-in loudspeaker. We all listened for about 20-seconds and then someone pointed out to her that some passages could prove a little embarrassing.

Extinction timeline – 2013 version

Just got an email from Ross Dawson in Sydney who is thinking of doing an update of our now infamous extinction timeline. The timeline was thought of over lunch in Bondi just before Christmas 2006 and went live in early 2007. Its most famous feature is possibly the extinction of Belgium, which has cost me so much lost business from Belgians over the past 5 years it’s not funny.

Anyway, I’ve got about 20 new additions, for example…

Landline telephones
Door bells
Wrist watches for under-25s
Desktop computers
Printing photographs
Chain bookstores
Record stores
e-cards
Tipex
Typewriters
MySpace
Paper textbooks in schools
Cheap food, especially meat
Single child policy (China)

So I wonder what else might be put on the death list. Any suggestions? Note that by extinction we mean the general disappearance of something, not the absolute and total extinction. It should also be noted that it’s not 100% serious.

The Future of Food

I was in Milan yesterday speaking (and eating) at the 4th international forum on food and nutrition. If you are interested in what I had to say about eating in 2030 there is a short video here (20 minutes). Click on the second page of videos and you should find me. Highlight for me was lunch (with wine!) and a conversation with Ruth Oniang’o, a food scientist and ex-member of parliament in Kenya.

Before me was Lester Brown from the Earthwatch Institute (doom and gloom but he is right about a number of things in my view). Afterwards was an interesting panel discussion hosted by Alex Thomson (Channel 4 News) featuring Guido Barilla, President Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, Franck Riboud, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Danone; Guy Wollaert, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Coca-Cola; Claude Fischler, Research Director CNRS; Director Centre Edgar Morin; Antonia Trichopoulou, Director, World Health Organization Center for Nutrition at the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Athens University.

BTW, there’s a very good report on Eating in 2030: Trends and Perspectives available for free on the website. If you can’t find it just contact me and I’ll flick you a copy.

Finally, I must just comment on what a total pleasure it was to attend this event. It was well organised and the speakers were terrific. However, the stand out part had nothing really to do with the event. It was Italy. It was the people. They were so well mannered, slow polite, so well dressed. They like thinking. And they still eat lunch!!!

European Politics and Premature Senility

What a day. I’ve left my keys and phone in Copenhagen and my main computer has fatally crashed for the second time in ten days – so no email or access to any files until I get things up and running again (I know, I should have seen that one coming).

On this occasion the crash followed an argument with Eurostar’s website which insisted that I add a landline telephone number to a booking form (I, like many others nowadays, don’t have one). When are the designers of online forms going to understand that many people don’t have fixed lines?

Anyway, I eventually found a way around the problem only to crash everything fatally when the form wanted me to download an update of Adobe to print the tickets. Bye bye direct email and internet access and a bunch of stuff that hasn’t been backed-up. Not a big problem, but certainly a pain in the butt.

Oh, and the greenhouse off my new home office is now wetter inside than out due to leaks, we ran out of heating oil (no hot water or central heating) and one of my teeth broke (I mentioned the dead hamster and the sulky dog earlier right?).

On the plus side, I’ve been reading two really interesting pieces in the FT and Economist. The Economist article is about what the boom in Nordic crime writing tells us about globalisation. A key point is that physical location matters more than ever in a globalised and virtualised world. The FT article is about the rising extremism of politics in Europe and the dangers of German isolation. Key points include the fact that in France 1/3 of voters recently voted for extreme far right or left candidate, in the Netherlands (usually a place of liberalism and tolerance) far right and extreme left parties are running 1st and 2nd in opinion polls, while in Austria the far right is supported by around 30% of the population. Add mass unemployment, rising inflation, concerns over a currency (the Euro rather than the gold standard) and it’s feeling like the 1930s all over again. In Germany things remain fairly centrist for the time being, but all the conditions do appear to exist for an extremist revival.

Other news? I’ve started to think that I have been farting around with speaking engagements and consulting work too much and should get back to lowly paid writing.  When I get the home office functioning properly – or get my butt up to London – I will.

 

Stuff

OK, I’m biased, but I think my new home office – the shedquarters – is coming along rather nicely. The log burner is working and the greenhouse through which you enter the office is now built. If I could just get the darned email to work. Pictures to follow soon.

Up to my eyes at the moment reading material for the next issue of What’s Next and sorting out the website for Futures House. Also a final few trips coming up – Copenhagen, Milan and Paris – then it’s get What’s Next and Brainmail up.

So what have I got for you today? How about a quote, a statistic, a research finding and an observation?

The quote: “The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.” (Gloria Stein).

The stat: Drivers in the UK spent almost £8,000,000,000 on parking in 2011 (The Scotsman).

The Study: Researchers at Bristol University (UK) have found that beer drinkers drink faster when given a curved glass rather than a straight one. The reason? Possibly that it’s harder to tell how much you’ve drunk with a curved glass. (The Week).

The observation: Why am I starting to see so many people taping over their cameras on their iPads and laptops?

Timeline of Future Events (From Speculative Fiction)

 

This is truly lovely. Gordon Gray has just sent me a link to a blog called Brain Pickings, which is, in their words: “a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are.”

Anyway, an Italian designer called Giorgia Lupi recently created a visual timeline of future events, as predicted by famous novels, for an Italian newspaper called Corriere Della Sera. Brain pickings then asked her to do an English language version which she duly did. Click here for the link to the  whole timeline. I’ve attached some close-ups to show what bits of it look like and also an eraly rough drawing on the idea.

How it started…

Who (and Where) is Happy?

 

Going through a load of newspapers, magazines and websites today filtering material for the next issue of What’s Next and found this rather lovely graphic in New Scientist (16 June issue!). It shows measurement of economic success using GDP against something called the Happy Planet Index (HPI), which uses life satisfaction combined with life expectancy and ecological footprint. Personally, I’d add a few other measures such as general health, infant mortality, literacy rates, access to clean water, levels of corruption, unemployment, inflation and so on, but you have to start somewhere I suppose.