ALEXANDRE PACHULSKI UNIQUE THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS UNIQUE THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 1 28/08/2019 12:02:48 UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 2 28/08/2019 12:02:48 ALEXANDRE PACHULSKI UNIQUE THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 3 28/08/2019 12:02:48 UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 4 28/08/2019 12:02:48 CONTENTS Embarking on a unique journey .......................................................... 7 Education, from standardization to singularity ............................. 11 Work, from suffering to success .......................................................... 69 The company, from frustration to fulfilment ................................. 127 Technological singularit, from panic to possibility ...................... 189 So, who do you want to be? ................................................................. 259 UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 5 28/08/2019 12:02:48 UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 6 28/08/2019 12:02:48 EMBARKING ON A UNIQUE JOURNEY ‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’, said Oscar Wilde, inviting us to remember that each of us is unique! He was right, but why is it so difficult? We spend our lives observing others, comparing ourselves to them and trying to conform to the rules, the norms, the social order, pursuing goals that are not our own. We’re not encour- aged, in today’s society, to express our uniqueness, our difference, our talents or our dreams. We get no help in finding our own way in life, in aligning what we do with who we are. Yet we’re looking not only for self-fulfilment but also to make a positive contribution to society. Today, as the world is preparing to welcome robots equipped with artificial intelligence, we have the opportunity to reaffirm who we are, who we want to be and how we want to live and work together. This is our chance to define what we, as individuals, with our different aspirations and abilities, can bring to the world. It’s the message that pop culture seems to be giving us in films like Avengers and Justice League, where we see superheroes joining forces. The tagline of the UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 7 28/08/2019 12:02:48 film that unites Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and others couldn’t be clearer: ‘You can’t save the world alone’. That’s good, because none of us feels up to the job. Yet, together, it may well be possible. But first, we need to know how we can contribute–what our ‘superpower’ is. This journey of self-discovery should be central to our education systems, yet that’s rarely the case. Schools continue to feed children information rather than teach them how to think. They encourage them to memorize other people’s knowledge rather than develop their own understanding. They want them to learn facts, whereas education should be focusing primarily on helping them to know themselves and develop their unique talents. Why should we let a competitive spirit and the idea that everyone is the same dominate our education systems? Why not put social interaction, collaboration and mutual aid at the heart of learning? And then, when we still haven’t discovered who we truly are, we have to choose a job, because, obviously, we need to earn money to provide for our most basic needs: we need to have enough to eat, somewhere to live and clothes to wear–and, if possible, we would like to travel a bit, though not necessarily far. It’s no longer about achieving a sense of fulfilment but simply a case of survival, of strug- gling to get by. Even if we’re making a good living, many of us find ourselves, in our thirties or forties, reviewing our life and wondering why, given that we’re unhappy, we don’t change things. But is there any other way? In any case, the companies we work for will be sure to tell us what we’re allowed to do or not do, what we’ve the right to be or not be. This starts with the separation of our personal and our work life, with the result that we become increasingly anxious and agitated. Films like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and Brazil by Terry Gilliam illus- trate well how we can sometimes feel like we’re being crushed, if not annihilated, by the system. Meanwhile, we’re on the threshold of a future where artificial intel- ligence, robots, the Internet of Things and virtual reality will invade our lives, personal and professional, for better or for worse. 8 UNIQUE UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 8 28/08/2019 12:02:48 Judging by the number of TV series such as Westworld, Black Mirror, Trepalium, Person of Interest and Altered Carbon, it would seem that it’s mostly for the worse. This bleak future, however, is not yet upon us, and is, indeed, far from inevitable! In fact, this is the ideal time to ask ourselves some pertinent questions, and to try to answer them individually and collectively. We have the chance to change today’s society and build the one we wish to live in tomorrow. And we don’t need special superpowers to do this. On the contrary, making such changes is not only our responsibility, it also lies within our power–provided that each of us decides to take control of our own destiny. We need to discover who we are, who we want to be, what we love and what we want, and explore every facet of our personality. This is the most exciting learning process we could ever hope to experience in life. Because learning shouldn’t be restricted to our early years; it needs to become a way of life, providing us with the means to invent and reinvent ourselves–as John Keating invites his students to do in Dead Poets Society. We then need to find our ideal work and the path that will take us there. Our ideal job is one that will allow us to align what we do with who we are, which is key to a sense of well-being. It’s not about finding our dream job–dreams are imaginary–but rather one that best suits us among the range of possibilities. But it takes courage to explore these possibilities–and we may even need to invent them. We need to remember, too, that we’re unlikely to find the perfect job the first time around, and that we’ll need to keep on trying until we find the place where we can be ourselves and contribute to the common good. Companies, which remain a dominant structure in the world of work, also need to evolve. What if the company were to become a welcoming structure that provides us with an environment where we can pursue our career objectives? What if we could work alongside a community of contributors–co-workers, clients, service providers–sharing a common, or at least convergent, culture, values EMBARKING ON A UNIQUE JOURNEY 9 UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 9 28/08/2019 12:02:48 and objectives? The key issue here is managing the subtle balance between individual and corporate objectives. And all this would be supported by exponential technologies (artificial intelligence, robotics, Internet of Things, virtual reality) put at our disposal to help us realize our objectives. This, of course, requires us to agree on the sort of society we want to live in together in the future. Indeed, how can we hope to transform these technol- ogies into tools useful to humanity if we, as human beings, haven’t even defined the sort of world we want to live in? It’s this resolutely optimistic exploration of the future that this book offers, using illustrations from pop culture. As the French philoso- pher and futurist Bertrand de Jouvenel says, ‘we can only influence the future. Let’s do so together as we continue our journey! 10 UNIQUE UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 10 28/08/2019 12:02:48 Education FROM STANDARDIZATION TO SINGULARITY Knowing others is only science. Knowing yourself is intelligence Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 11 28/08/2019 12:02:48 When it comes to happiness, we’re all self-taught! No one teaches us how to be happy. No one helps us discover what it is that gives us a sense of fulfilment. No one helps us chart our journey through life. No one helps us find our place in society. No one teaches us how to roll with the punches, manage the doubts and people’s opinions of us, or analyse ourselves. If life is a journey, we travel along the road without even knowing what vehicle we’re driving, not even really knowing where we’re headed. Of course, we continue to learn throughout life. As babies, we become aware of our body and our surroundings. We then learn to walk and talk. Next comes school, where we learn to write and count and are taught history, geography, science, and so on. Some of us then continue on to further education, exploring a particular field: economics, literature or whatever. Then comes the world of work, where we do what we can to develop skills that will enable us to hold down a job or two and earn a living. Yet, all these skills, although very useful, don’t equip us to face all aspects of life and to journey through it with confidence, because they’re much too outward looking. So, why not focus on ourselves as a more important field of study? The Ancient Greeks certainly 12 UNIQUE UNIQUE_CS6_pc.indd 12 28/08/2019 12:02:49 tried to do so. On the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was inscribed ‘Gnothi seauton’, translated as the now-famous injunction ‘Know thyself’.