Dramatic growth in advanced robotics and AI is about to result in, first, massive technological unemployment, followed by a tremendous Income Explosion. This will drive whole populations up Maslow's hierarchy. Rather than being concerned with food, shelter, water, sleep, safety, and security, people, trusting in their abundance, will, become more occupied with matters of achievement, education, respect, self-actualization and transcendence. In other words, rather than just surviving, people will come to think of their life as a form of performance art, expressing their unique manifestation of human potential.
In the industrial Age people became significantly more affluent. Still, the realities of that affluence meant that they made many compromises to the needs of the technology and economy. They needed to work in large cities, conform to the hours expected by the employer, often engaged for far more hours than they wished. These compromises were particularly onerous for the polymathic personality, who wants to sup at many tables, rather than gorge themselves on just one specialty, or even worse, subspecialty.
The Information Age is about to change all that. Freed from the mundane tasks required of people in the Industrial Age, each of us will create a specific combination of personal experiences, some productive, others experiential, monetizing some and engaging in others for the sheer joy of it. In other words, in fine detail, the way we live our lives will express who we are. As stated, 'life as performance art'.
I am a Polymath. I have many facets. I study for approximately 30 hours per week. I write for another 20. That may seem to be a heavy work schedule, but for me, its not all work. I do watch television, mostly East Asian, because it is a form of artistic expression. I sing. I bowl. I've been known to golf. Of course, I socialize with my wife and others, dining, theatre, symphony, etc. I cook. I have, and I likely will again, collect butterflies. We love to travel, so, while we have multiple 'bases of operations', we do not have a permanent home. All these things we can do from anywhere.
I monetize through my writing or rather through the actions that the writing is intended to instigate. After all, I am a visionary, but I am also a change agent. I have two blogs, this one and one entitled The Nomadic Polymath. I have a site at Polymaths.Locals.com and at MichaelWFerguson.substack.com I am writing several books and white papers. Since both my wife and I collect pension income, our income needs are small.
I have described me and my finely crafted life. You will have a different finely crafted life.
How do you go about designing your finely crafted life? First, think about how you experience life. Examples of categories are 1) Intellectual, 2) Athletic, 3) Productive, 4) Social, 5) Sensual, etc. Next, think about things you like to do. Examples are 1) Work, 2) Dance
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