Quick de-fossilization manual; the future of science - Dante Alducin

“I loved Guardians of the Galaxy! the movie has a lot of details and toys from when I was a kid.”

I was bored to death in the same meeting room along with these two colleagues and I said to myself: Of course! they know exactly their audience, this film is the result of the most sophisticated creativity, special effects, and specifically, neuroscience. They know which buttons to push to arouse affinity and, please, don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie, but I am aware of everything behind it.

Every day I check my social media contacts nostalgically posting about this or that 80s series, recalling how things were better before, and complaining about how much they loathe the new generations. There seems to be no major background to this issue, except that they are, or rather, we are in a process of "technological and judgment fossilization". All generations complain that their predecessors are worse and that their successors are at the edge of disaster; this is nothing new and has been going for centuries. Each generation had, in its time, positive and negative issues, but in time, only the positive ones are to be remembered. If someone in the 19th century complained that the previous century was better, there were not so many repercussions, because society moved in a much more isolated and slower way. But to be nostalgic in the 21st. century is foolish. Why? Because we are on the verge of a gigantic technological revolution, in all aspects, and there is no turning back. This impacts all aspects of our lives.

Think about the consequences: How you can work efficiently with younger people if you are prejudiced and don't try to understand them? Your job depends on it. There is a paradox that makes me laugh; almost everyone I ask tells me that they like to learn. What I truly see is that they like to collect papers and call themselves educated. I am also not the first one to say it; Confucius had already reached the same conclusion in ancient China. Learning is seeing the world with other eyes, seeing with humility the good things and the potential of everything. How can we really learn if we are stuck in the old fashion? We all tend to be in this constant process of fossilization; this is natural because we are getting older. But curiosity and a true desire to learn are what will allow us to escape the passage of time and reach new horizons. I love having people of all ages in my team, but usually, those that surprise me the most are the younger ones. For instance, without them, I could not go further in my social media. If at this point you are thinking about why you need social networks, if you are serious, you'd better think twice. It is not just social media, it's the emerging technology.

In the next decades, most jobs will be subject to artificial intelligence automatization. This means that, no matter what you do, it will be impacted by technology in some way; your traditional way of operating has its days numbered whether you like it or not. If you add to that the perpetual nostalgia and apathy for learning new things, then you will be at a disadvantage. At this point, I give you some advice: learn complementary skills that can impact your industry, especially if you have nothing to do with them and you are something like a biologist, lawyer, writer, etc. Skills like: Machine Learning, Big Data, programming... Not only will they be useful to keep you on the top of the wave and guarantee you a better salary, but they also help you to create new neuronal networks and set your sights on the future.

Embracing the future is not something exclusive of visionaries like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. Anyone with an open mind can do it, you just need to be willing to learn. We cannot stop our bodies from aging (for now), but we can keep our minds forever young, looking forward to a bright future.

Dante Alducin

Q.F.B. with the Specialization in Leading People and Teams program by the University of Michigan. He has 12 years of experience in Clinical Research. Founder of Blast! Academy and host of the Ruido Blast! podcast.