2.17 minute read
Beverly Hills, CA
I left the Abundance 360 business owner’s conference in Los Angeles with a spring in my step.
Abundance 360 is a global community of Entrepreneur Owner-Managers and their investors committed to understanding and leveraging the convergence of exponential technologies to transform their organizations, their families, and their communities. Founded and curated by Peter Diamandis, the group convenes in person every January in Los Angeles, and has committed to do so each year for 25 years. It’s 2020, year 8 of 25. What are a couple of my takeaways?
Mindset. Sure, intelligent and coherent living depends on ritual doses of nutrition and exercise developed on the primary foundation of sleep. But alone they just aren’t enough, not without mindset. The three mindsets I see fueled by A360 include first, an Abundance mindset. Look, if you objectively examine the data, the proof is that the world is getting better and better globally. Technology is to a large degree a force which takes what used to be scarce, and makes it abundant. Second, A360 energizes an Exponential mindset which emphasizes the power of compounding (especially long-term compounding, and especially in relationships). Last, it advocates for a Longevity mindset. It suggests that if you believe your healthspan and creative function continue to expand right up until death, then there’s no need to consider a gray twilight of your life. Think of it as a sprinter imagining the finish line 6 meters beyond the actual one, thus their sprint is untiring through the finish.
Ubiquitous Connectivity. This year is the introduction of 5G connectivity along with the proliferation of global satellite broadband from StarLink, OneWeb, and Google Lune. Here’s my “Mr. Simple” summary: 1G enabled mobile calls. 2G included texting. 3G allowed limited web browsing. 4G LTE (where we are now) enables the smart phone, with its proliferation of functions and apps, making it an extension of your intelligence—basically the last five years. 5G will mean speeds 50-100X faster than 4G, low latency, plus massive connectivity per access point. AT&T and Verizon are rolling out 5G in North America in QII 2020. Finally, broadband will exist to create opportunity for the rising 4 billion population who don’t have fast cheap internet access but who will get it in the next 24 months.
Technology as your Collaborator. Enhancing and augmenting your skills—but definitely not replacing your uniquely human intelligence. Take any existing tool, and add a layer of smartness. So cell phones became smartphones, stereo speakers became smart speakers, and cars became autonomous vehicles. We all know the big names incorporating AI into their business models—from Amazon to Salesforce. But more AI is used in more applications every day. At Health Nucleus (La Jolla) for example, information derived from the application of AI is used to provide a greater understanding about an individual’s genetics and current phenotypic measurements. Examples of phenotypic measurements derived with deep learning include age-related brain atrophy and detailed body composition derived from your whole body MRI. Then, with that AI assisted diagnosis, physicians turn on their unique human ability in the interpretation of the data, and developing lifestyle plans, or treatment plans specifically for you. This lets the very human art of medicine be assisted by the science of technology.
Yet, a confession from this A360 member and advocate. There’s a lot of talk about STEM, and FIRST, and CETA for that matter. Lots of anxiety surrounding the question of how good the next generation will be at science, technology, engineering, and math. But utterly none aimed at our all around learning abilities in empathy, kindness, relationships, trust, love, or marriage.
Leaving our meetings, I was thrust into an uncomfortable realization: while there genuinely is exponential progress in the convergence of technologies and material fields, this only serves to highlight the perplexing stasis in the psychological one. The assumption among the A360 tech elite is that emotional insight is not knowable, lying beyond reason or method.
Does that mean each generation is left to find our own path around our unbelievably complex minds—a move as striking (and about as wise) as suggesting that each generation should rediscover the laws of physics by themselves?
What I am Reading / Listening to
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019)
By Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarrantino visually depicts the Hollywood / Los Angeles of the 60s by painting broad strokes on his cinema canvas in colorful, whimsical streaks of pastel. Gorgeous cinematography of detailed mosaics with palm trees, flowering bougainvillea, 1960s muscle cars, and always the blue Pacific on the horizon. Whenever I am in Southern California appreciating the sheer natural beauty of the surroundings (beyond the density of people and traffic), I often muse to myself how Los Angeles must have been paradise in the 40s and 50s.
Tarrantino conjures that utter magnificence of LA in the 40s and whooshs into 1969. He tells us a captivating story about impermanence (but he would have to go pretty far to surpass what I view as the storytelling genius of Pulp Fiction). Once Upon A Time in Hollywood isn’t Pulp Fiction, but it is filled with some of the tense edge of your seat signature foreshadowing, and anxiety —even fear—for some of the lead characters. We survive its near final scene of gruesome violence, finding it serves a storytelling purpose (and plays a little historical trick on us).
I am no fan of DiCaprio, but his softness is more than made up by Brad Pitt’s hilarious convincing irony. Fun and funny cameos by Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, and best of all Brody, I mean, Damien Lewis (as Steve McQueen) cracked me up and had me laughing aloud.
Criticism? The film was too long. The soundtrack was tolerable, but given that time of the late 60s and in the home geography of the singer songwriter, hellllooooo?—it could have been brilliant. The female characters were for the most part played way too light, and could have had a helluva’ lot more to say. Most of all a missed opportunity—there was no framing of the incredible cultural/political skirmish going on in our country in 1969 which for those of us who lived through it, makes today’s sociopolitical rifts look like kindergarten.
I loved this movie.
Entrepreneur Owner-Manager Quote
“ The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary."
- John Ready, Co-CEO, Ready Seafood Co. on how his work ethic was shaped by a quote his father said.
Energy Creation
A lot of you have asked me about what podcasts I regularly listen to. Here’s a quick summary of the ones I follow weekly.
ECONTALK: Russ Roberts’ Library of Economics. Russ Roberts is an economics geek, but a well-informed one and one whose political inclinations don’t stifle.
EDGECAST: by Edge.org. “To arrive at the edge of the world’s knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.”
EXPONENTIAL WISDOM: Peter Diamandis and Dan Sullivan discuss how exponential technologies are creating massive opportunities for entrepreneurs all over the world, and the impact of hypoconnectivity on global innovation.
FOUNDMYFITNESS: Rhonda Patrick, PhD. Promoting strategies to increase health span, well-being, cognitive and physical performance through a deeper understanding of biology.
THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE. Needs no description.
THE KNOWLEDGE PROJECT: Shane Parrish. FARNAM STREET. Master the best of what other people have already figured out.
MAKING SENSE: Sam Harris. Explores important and controversial questions about the human mind, society, and current events.
MAPS Podcast: An incredible treasure trove of topics all related to research on psychedelics sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Research (MAPS).
MULTIPLIER MINDSET: Dan Sullivan and Strategic Coach. Dan Sullivan shares his wisdom and insights with entrepreneurs who want to multiply their freedom and success.
NAVAL: Naval Ravikant, on start-up investing, thinking, making better decisions, just about anything Naval. If people want to understand me they can just listen to Naval because he articulately describes just about everything I believe.
ON BEING: Krista Tippett. Conversations about the big questions of meaning—spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts.
THE PETER ATTIA DRIVE: Peter Attia, MD. The Drive is a weekly, ultra deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing health, longevity, critical thinking, and much more. Peter Attia is my go-to medical resource.
PSYCHEDLICS TODAY: A show discussing the important academic and scientific research in the field of psychedelics. Discusses how psychedelics relate to human potential and healing.
RECODE DECODE: Kara Swisher. Kara is the ultimate investigatory animal who hosts candid interviews with tech execs. I find her abrasively delivered cynicism can be tedious, but boy does she have the historical frame and gets to the story behind the story. If she would stop taking Trump so literally she’d be more fun.
SOUNDS TRUE: Tami Simon. Tami interviews spiritual teachers, writers and luminaries about their newest work and current challenges. Michael Singer, author of The Soul Untethered has an incredible series here.
The TED Interview: Chris Anderson. TED CEO Chris Andersen in long-form interviews with interesting people. The guests are great, but I really listen to hear Chris’ interviewing style.
TEN PERCENT HAPPIER: Dan Harris. Another great podcast (great book) with a crappy title. This podcast (and book) is just so, so much more than 10% happier bullcrap. I refuse to even use the word happy in descriptions like this, it is just so hopelessly unscientific. Regardless, basically this podcast is about THIS: can you be an ambitious person and still strive for enlightenment (whatever that means)?
THE TIM FERRISS SHOW: Tim deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas, digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can use. Guy Horgan gave me the Four Hour Work Week almost exactly ten years ago or so on New Year’s Day in Boca Grande; who knew we were going to follow Tim’s tentative steps to these almost always terrific long-form interviews? I cannot believe how many times Tim has had a guest on that I thought I would skip, and if I began to listen, I learned an incredible amount from.
THE TONY ROBBINS PODCAST: Tony Robbins. Yup, I regularly listen to Tony because I am so goddamn inspired by his sheer braininess, grasp of the human condition, completely autodidact learning, and continuous reinvention. The guy is a force of nature. If all he does is introduce the subject and turn the podcast over to a staff interviewer, I might not persist listening, because for the most part I am more interested in being a student of Tony than the topics.
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