Team Human

Recently, I came across the work of Douglas Rushkoff and his podcasts, Team Human, where he explores what it means to stay human in a digital age and how technology might be pulling us away from genuine human connection as we adapt more to machines instead of machines adapting to us. In a recent monologue, he discusses how through social media, we have become more reactive than responsive to situations, denying us the step of reflection before responding. This is not necessarily right nor wrong, but to explore the impact of our way of communicating with others is worth discussing, especially as we look at an increasing divisiveness in American society.

i've included a monologue (from Ep. 51) by Douglas Rushkoff set to a video montage created by Daniel De La Rosa.

If you are interested in continuing this conversation with others, you can join here.

with gratitude,
Werner

Gabor Maté on Addiction

In my own journey to understand drug addiction within my own family, I came across Gabor Maté when I heard about his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction which offers a fresh understanding of what causes addiction and moves beyond the more familiar models of 12-step programs and tough love. Where do we delineate between acceptable addictions and ones that go punished? I invite you to listen to this interview that offers a more compassionate approach to understanding the root cause of addiction and how, as a society we might better serve a segment of our population that suffers from addiction.

dig·it·al im·mi·grant

“A person born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology.”

Chances are that if you are reading this, you are not a digital native. Think three-year old with iPad. Being an early adopter of technology back in 1976, my experience grew from mainframe computers (IBM, Burroughs) to some of the first microcomputers (Altair, Commodore, Radio Shack, and Apple). Back in the late 70's, I came across a book, Computer Power and Human Reason,  written by  MIT professor, Joseph Weisenbaum.  What made this a landmark book and still relevant today, was its examination about the relationship of human beings to technology. Here is an interesting comparison of then and now and invites where we might be headed and its impact on our lives.  A Warning for the Post-Augmented Age.