Being Human in the Future

The future scares many people. They ask themselves whether they can cope with the
increasing pressure of digitization, the overwhelming power of AI and the new worlds of life
and work. Is the human brain still competitive?

What is the outstanding and lasting thing about being human? Modern brain research has shown us how amazing the human nervous system really is. The fundamental prerequisite is that we are aware of the extraordinary features of our brain. Only then we are able to make use of them. We need to be capable to lead ourselves first, before we can lead others. Here are a few ideas and suggestions:

Appreciation

The human brain is unique. We have over 86 billion nerve cells in the brain, which are linked
trillions of times. Apart from the Central Nervous System, there is the body’s nervous system,
the heart brain and the intestinal brain.

Our nerves are bilingual; they work through electrical impulses and with chemical exchange. The first step is the recognition and appreciation of this vast network, between our ears and in our entire body. We humans think and feel. We are not aware of a lot and yet we can make excellent use of the unconscious. When it comes to decision making, we are superior to all machines, due to our innermost feeling: Intuition. We just know when something is right or when it is better to stay away from something, or sometimes, someone. In that regard, our brain is like a supercomputer that overshadows all computers that have been invented so far.

Use and learn

The second step is that we should always better understand and get to know how our nervous
system and especially our brain works. Everyone has a brain, but not everyone knows how to
use it in such a way that he or she uses his or her full potential. We should go from brain
owner to brain user. Our brain is geared towards lifelong learning.

And that is exactly what we are allowed to do. We are allowed to actively expand our thinking spaces. Know and interpret our thoughts and feelings. We are supposed to feed the unconscious part of our nervous system with experiences and information so that it can work specifically for us.
Because then it can helps us quickly and correctly, especially when it comes to difficult decisions.

Painting pictures of the future

Our brain works with images. In addition, it always wants to find answers to questions. In
particular, our thinking forehead, the prefrontal cortex, is geared towards this: It is therefore
important to mentally paint the right pictures and to find the right questions about them.

Other new questions often arise when we travel mentally and visually into the future and paint it in
with all colors and shapes. What does this future look like, what do we see? What is behind these pictures? What would have to change for this to happen? Such a pictorial journey of thought has great potential for individual and social development.

Emotions for the future

The next step is to enrich the picture or the pictures with emotions. How do I feel in such a
new future? Maybe I should change the picture to feel better? Which picture am I happy with?
Which picture makes sense to me? Our emotional brain, the limbic system, is even more
motivating and solves almost all possible difficulties.

Often our emotions determine our decisions. Therefore it is important to compare our rational decision-maker in the prefrontal cortex with the emotions. This is an important trait of being human. Above all, our empathy and thus an emotional view of the future is a fundamental human trait for the future. It’s up to us to envision a high-quality future and to shape it that way.

Physical feeling for the future

Our emotions determine our body feeling and the reactions of our body. Our immune system
is also dependent on the stress level and our emotions.

Everyone knows the physical reactions that are triggered by fear or stress. These reactions usually weaken us. It is important that it also works the other way round; our posture also influences our emotions. Thus, by changing body work, positive emotions can be created. This is a wonderful way to bring yourself and others into moods that are really useful for a meaningful future. This creates a good body feeling and thus good physical health, which is important for the future. Above all, a good
immune defense is fundamental. So we should know how to do this.

Together with others – use mirror neurons

The most important thing is that we are social beings and we cannot thrive without a bond and
a sense of belonging. We need other people to live. From birth we are programmed to learn
from and with other people.

The mirror neurons in our brain enable us to imitate others and thus learn from the human model. We feel good with others; our mental and physical health depends on it. Cooperation and collaboration are fundamental in order to develop things further. We are individually living beings and together we are a living system that enables continuous development and adaptation, but also evolutionary breakthroughs. 

Conclusion

A compassionate, rational and physical feeling for the future, which we develop together with
others, can be the first step to determine what is special about being us- about being human.
With this overall feeling in mind, we will to be able to face the upcoming challenges of the
future and then to network in conjunction with the technical possibilities.

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