If there is an activity that is uniquely human and difficult to replace by machines, it is innovation. The creation and implementation of new ideas will remain a genuinely human activity for some time. As long as we think of innovation as the activity that seeks to fulfill human needs in a new better way, we will need humans to drive it. Although automation will replace some jobs, new waves of innovation will drive new waves of employment, despite of a new kind....

Building a second brain is about creating a system to process the vast amounts of information we consume and transform it into actionable knowledge. Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential, by Tiago Forte is one of the books of 2022. The underlying philosophy is very similar to that of Zettelkasten. Tiago Forte’s method is a pragmatic update to this note-taking system, which is popular in the academic world....

It was striking to see in Benjamin Zander’s Ted talk his capacity to “move” people. Note how he delivers his talk, how he brings attention and accent to different parts of it, how he uses stories, how he makes it so inspiring and emotional. His stories were meant to make people emotional, so that the impact is far greater. At the end it shows how leadership is about moving others to action....

The Serenity Prayer in bullets: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. This prayer combines so well with these words in the I Ching (translation of Brian Browne Walker): Ebb and flow are inherent in the nature of life. When difficulties arise, accept this and hold firmly to what is correct. Good fortune returns to those that remain calm and detached....

Viktor Frankl wrote his experience to endure and survive four concentration camps between 1942 and 1945. The viennese psychiatrist wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning” in just 9 days and intended to publish it anonymously. He was surprised by its success as an international bestseller, and saw in it the symptom of the “mass neurosis of modern times” since the title promised to deal with the question of life’s meaningfulness. The first part of the book recounts his experience in dealing with the worst and cruelest conditions a human being can think of, and how still some of them managed to survived....

Does technology create or destroy jobs? What jobs will be done by people in a world of robots? Should robots pay taxes? Is Universal Basic Income a feasible solution? What future should we prepare our kids for? Tu trabajo va a desaparecer is a book published in 2017 in Spanish which provides answers to those questions and new perspectives on the future of work.

In 1990, the top 3 automakers in Detroit had a combined: market capitalization of 36 billion dollars revenue of $250 billion 1.2 million employees, out of which 5% worked in innovation In 2014, the top 3 companies in Silicon Valley had a combined: market capitalization 30 times bigger: more than 1,000 billion dollars! same level of revenue: $247 billion 10 times fewer employees: 137,000, with more than 80% of them working in innovation In the Digital Age, ideas, and not material goods, become the main source of wealth....