For those of you who have not yet seen Albert Nerenberg’s light-hearted documentary, Stupidity, I recommend it as food for thought. Although parts of the movie are comic, the impact of human stupidity is far from humorous. From people’s inability to define stupidity to our global leaders inability to effectively employ antidotes to global warming and war, we constantly reap the painful and often cataclysmic effects of human stupidity.
Nerenberg is interested in the study of stupidity and its causes so that we may choose another route and pursue wisdom instead. For all the studies on intelligence and wisdom, according to Nerenberg the study of stupidity is quite paltry in comparison. Is stupidity so stupefying that even the best minds find it beyond their capability to study? Or are we so arrogant as to consider human stupidity unworthy of our serious study? Either way, we have proven over the millennia that human stupidity is recurrent and seemingly boundless. It is neither a laughing matter nor is “Stupid!” merely an epithet to hurl at someone with whom we disagree. I’m sure that each one of us can admirably demonstrate stupidity in our own lives. Read the rest of this entry »
One second may be the only the barrier you face between life and death. As I was surfing the web recently, I came across a powerful blog called One Second written by Alison, a woman widowed by a drunk driver. She is the mother of three daughters and she is on a mission to raise safe driving awareness. It only takes one second to make a choice that will lead to safety or recklessness. In her One Second Installations, she engages participants in a way that challenges them to think new ideas and to create momentary experiences that stick with them to encourage safe driving.
Her latest blog post tells about a recent One Second Installation. She and her crew brought a steel hospital table and a body bag to the Surf Club one evening. At the Surf Club she offered people the opportunity to be zipped into the body bag by their friends. Although everyone was interested, nobody volunteered. So she waited. Two hours later after the crowd had some drinks at the bar people started to volunteer. There was nervous laughter as people repeatedly made sure that their friends would unzip them after a second in the bag. An hour later, fortified by even more alcohol, people were having a good time being zipped in the bag and then unzipped. Alison was afraid that the point of the exercise was being lost. This was not supposed to be a fun event. Rather it was supposed to be a wake up call about 1) what it feels like to be in a body bag 2) trusting one’s friends 3) consciously making choices. Read the rest of this entry »
This weekend the members of the class of 1969 at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, NY got together for our 40th reunion. Unfortunately, I was not there and judging from the pictures I missed a wonderful event. I chose not to go for several reasons. However, the primary reason was that I was just back in NYC in June and I will have to go back again this fall. I felt that three trips back east in such a short period of time was too much. As it turned out, I got to see several people here on the west coast before they left for NY. I told them to take lots of pictures which they then generously posted on facebook.
My dear friend Jan whom I’ve written about in prior entries here and here visited me this past weekend. We met during our freshman year of college and have been close friends ever since. In 1971, Jan transferred to another college for the remainder of her education. I frequently visited her there and became friends with many of her new friends. One woman in particular named Deb was especially fun to be with and very smart. I would spend time with her whenever I came to visit Jan. Although we have kept up with each others’ lives through Jan, I hadn’t seen Deb in probably thirty years. Coincidentally, Deb ended up being in town at the same time as Jan and the three of us had a reunion this past weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, a friend sent me a link to a blog post entitled “Don’t Keep Up With Social Technology” by Alexandra Samuel who blogs for the Harvard Business Review. Her comment accompanying the link was “has ‘opportunity’ written all over it.” You might be wondering how NOT keeping up with social technology can provide a powerful opportunity but both my friend and Alexandra Samuel are absolutely right.
Samuel’s point is that given that there are so many new social technology applications online right now and that so many new ones will continue to proliferate in the future, the only successful strategy for successfully using this technology is to stop trying to keep up with each new application that is produced. If Alexandra Samuel whose field is social technology can’t keep up, what hope do regular people not involved in the field have? So give your self a break and surrender. Keeping up is no longer a plausible response. Read the rest of this entry »
Which ones will you choose? Check out this short video with predictions from the 1950′s as they are actually lived by some people in the present.
Watching this video made me wonder about the question, “Out of all the opportunities that we could have chosen for our current day experience what guided our choices so that we ended up here?” If we could have foreseen where we would end up would we make those same choices again? What can our present teach us about rectifying things in the future? There are many opportunities. Our present is only one of an infinite number of choices.
What choices did you make that took you to your present?
What choices can make now that will lead you to a better future?
What is the opportunity that each choice presents?
For those of you who have not yet seen Albert Nerenberg’s light-hearted documentary, Stupidity, I recommend it as food for thought. Although parts of the movie are comic, the impact of human stupidity is far from humorous. From people’s inability to define stupidity to our global leaders inability to effectively employ antidotes to global warming and war, we constantly reap the painful and often cataclysmic effects of human stupidity.![[del.icio.us]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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This weekend the members of the class of 1969 at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, NY got together for our 40th reunion. Unfortunately, I was not there and judging from the pictures I missed a wonderful event. I chose not to go for several reasons. However, the primary reason was that I was just back in NYC in June and I will have to go back again this fall. I felt that three trips back east in such a short period of time was too much. As it turned out, I got to see several people here on the west coast before they left for NY. I told them to take lots of pictures which they then generously posted on facebook.