What do you think is going wrong in the world? What don't you like - in your job, here in Germany, in your personal life? What makes you feel insecure?
We are at a crossroads in so many areas. Will AI make us obsolete as humans or richer as humans? Are we standing together as a society or is it every man for himself? Will we manage the energy transition or will it manage us? Digitalization, deindustrialization, polarization, de-bureaucratization, war, inflation, etc. pp.
I am a person, like probably many of us, who wants harmony and belonging. And so sometimes I don't want to turn on the news. I want to do like the three monkeys: Hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing. Especially when I see that we are dealing with symptoms or issues that don't address the fundamental things. Instead of getting angry, I now observe and tell myself: at some point, everyone will have understood and then it will be time for real change.
But that alone is not enough - I am the one who can take responsibility, not for everything that goes wrong in my opinion, but I do have a sphere of influence. And so do you, by the way ...
Responsibility instead of guilt
Because clearly, I am not the one who caused inflation, I was not there when the energy transition and the nuclear phase-out were voted on, it was not me - and certainly not you either (unless you, Mr. Putin, read my blog) - who gave the order to go to war. I am not the cause of many things that affect our lives and our future. And yet I am responsible for this life and the future.
Because I take it for myself instead of blaming others.
Blaming others is a common way of thinking, especially when someone is disoriented and lacks their own compass. What happens when I blame others for something that happens to me? I give these others power over my life and my future. I sacrifice my freedom in order to escape my own responsibility by looking for someone to blame.
Such thinking leads to the perpetuation of circumstances and the world as it is, a repetition of the same old thing ... Because I simply let others do it.
Taking responsibility
And precisely because my influence is limited, because your influence as a possible causer is limited, I believe it is extremely important to take responsibility in the area in which we can act. And not to hand it over to seemingly overpowering figures.
What can I contribute? That is a question that then arises. I don't like something. What can I do to change it? I don't like the idea of corporations using artificial intelligence to determine my life? Then I can help shape the future of AI, create something before it does away with me. Create benefits for others so that they can profit from it instead of being run over by it. That's what I do and it fulfills me. And... it takes away my fear.
Am I a victim or a creator? That is always the question that is likely to make the world a better place.
Then we are free to take responsibility for ourselves - and not so unfree to blame others - and thus give these others the power over our actions. Then I, and you too, have the opportunity to unite as people who take responsibility and thus generate more resonance.
What are you currently worried about? And what are you actively doing - and I deliberately write "for" and not "against" - to ensure that something changes for the better, step by step?
Torsten Osthus