Not everyone who is old is wise. Not everyone who is wise is old. But it is true that for many of us, age equals experience which equals at least some measure of perspective. There is a reason elders are respected in many societies.
The written word has many benefits, not least that it allows such wisdom to be widely shared. For the past several birthdays, the maverick, artist, futurist and professional optimist Kevin Kelly has made it a point to aggregate advice he wishes he had known. Then, through the magic of the internet, he shares that advice with the world.
“I am extremely optimistic about the future – despite reading the news.”
— Kevin Kelly (I’ll have what he’s having)
Does every suggestion work for me? No, but that’s ok. As he says, “Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore.”
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The Technium: 103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known
• The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even in failure it may be a success measured by the ordinary.
• A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.
The Technium: 99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice
• That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.
The Technium: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice
• Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.
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