Softer human future
Why the future of leadership is creative, what to do, and how technology helps
Life shapes itself softer. Greater vulnerability harbours the transformations of higher complexity. Early life forms have chosen to work together in the frailty of interdependence. Your body is a multicellular community of trillions of them. The creative nature of life didn’t want to repeat itself. You were born unique in the loneliness of looking for mates. If these passages talk to you, thanks to the early humans, for they have endured the hallucinations of the conscious mind.
Humanity has achieved a unique form of Life. Early civilisations have risen in partnership with wolves and plants. Modern digital flints are impossible without meticulously melting the grains of sand. This sounds nothing short of a fiction. When your conscious mind sees the universe, you become the world where the people you love and yourself live. Homo Sapiens Sapiens means you notice what you have noticed. Just like its mother, humanity strives to make more than itself.
The future unfolds the way you picture it and only when you do so. Time is a construct of your mind carefully watching and participating in the progress of Life. The history of life fluctuates with renewals and catastrophes. The rise of humanity is certainly revolutionary. Are we facing mayhem? Unlike the predacity of primitive plants,1 we have the agency and possibility to solve our problems the human way. And it’s possible when you step forward as a society.
Society is a living system. It’s an offspring of humanity with its own life. Religions, ideologies, and networks better describe society than its membership. While it does take place in the consciousness of individual human beings, the intersubjective nature of society2 will drive them insane without the bigger picture. Lack of understanding of this duality results in corruption, deeming one a tool for the other. Accepting both as Life is the much-needed non-duality.
Recognition structures society. Different façades of society are all built with the conscious act of paying attention to one another. Our tribal intuition didn’t care about millions and billions to consolidate. Legends recognised nobles for their contribution to their kingdoms. The authoritarian class system was how traditional society appreciated value. Five centuries ago, an unexpected social innovation differentiated the hierarchy into transactional credit you are familiar with.3
Digital systems enable transcendence for human society. Social media directly works with recognition. Robotics obliterates labour like it was temporary after all. Artificial intelligence connects them all diagonally, spewing out insights that penetrate vast amounts of data. Are we ready to accept this opportunity? The industry is obsessed with abusing it for the usual detriments which is no need anymore. Face the fear. Create the change before it comes to you.
You were born creative. Not that you were everywhere as a child. Creativity is the innate quality of sanity. It looks and feels different for each, but it’s always with you. Being yourself is a radical act of creativity. Sometimes, society wants you to stop and fear because someone else’s creativity is more recognised. And if you stop recognising yourself as an answer, that’s how you neglect your creative self. This is the time to reclaim it. Live the creative life you are.
Lead with creativity. Make it more than yourself. To start, be curious. Curiosity is the best way to check if your mind is open that it is flowing and won’t go stagnant. A simple act of listening with genuine curiosity opens up the minds of others conscious and creative. That’s the kind of leadership we need at this moment, not because you are in charge of a corporate or a political structure. Step forward to listen. Answer from the creative self. Let it inspire the people you care about.
Build your own version of the future. Society is a multiverse of countless creative minds. Notice that you are a handful of them. Never all, never none. But connecting them in harmony takes active attention and experimentation. Predicting the future results in anxiety. You lose to the level of your anxious mind, the fear. Your creative work builds itself within the perimeters of your curiosity. Take the initiative. There’s no need to compete because no one else is you.
Envision what is possible. You can make thought experiments with AI. If you have an Idea, push it further and visualise it using the tools. No one has to confirm its validity. Enjoy the process of creative play as it is the way to keep your mind sane. Embrace the virtuality of this phase. Don’t cut the goose. Expecting a premature payment antagonises creativity. If you can engage the creative act as your recreation, that’s a huge plus in and of itself.
Share your ideas and discuss them online. Inspire the sceptics. Credit participants. Confabulation is the spawning pool of powerful ideas that binds a number of people together. The initial concept can be hairy. Don’t try to make fans impress them. They are bystanders when spoken to. Make them contribute and they will be patrons. Again, talks don’t validate, actions do. So hold the conversations lightly and enjoy the social process of creativity.
Empower the community with simple solutions. Deliver them using software. Virtuality enables abundance. It doesn’t mean you should start engineering a technological marvel. Content creation is the new software development. Software means valuable data. It can be a video course, a blog post, or a template for your favourite app. Or, given the right chance, create something game-changing with the right dose of code.
I intend to practise what you have just read. As a creative individual, I write to listen and grow an audience to share what they need to hear. I stand for your sanity when cynics do their best to mutilate your creative prowess. My empathy towards humanity will assure you that you are a part of the Odyssey. Translating digital to human, I add software to your ability. All these come from my genuine curiosity and love for humanity and its future which gives me power from the inside.
I’m happy to meet you and join the creative network. As I expand my understanding of diversity, I build a community of creative leaders. My role is to connect, support and amplify the work of creative individuals who are shaping the future. Open dialogues, collective projects and shared resources weave a resilient web of change-makers across fields and cultures. I invite you to the soft rebellion against the status quo. Let’s soften the world together.
There is a project I’ve been working on for years: the social network of credits. I continue to work on this technology. I have been lost for a while, pondering how should I get all the pieces together. Now the unified mission for creative leadership leads me to the fruition. It will enable the future society as a network of creators, each a node in the vast expanse of human potential, interconnected and interwoven into the fabric of a softer human future.
Photosynthesis caused the Oxygen Crisis which wiped out more than 80% of life.
Intersubjectivity is the shared understanding underlying social interaction.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism explains the transition.