Create Your Ideal Future Using Science-Based Protocols | Ari Wallach
Adjunct Professor Ari Wallach discusses "Long Path Labs" to foster long-term thinking and coordinated behavior. He outlines protocols like transgenerational empathy, futures thinking, and defining a "telos" to help individuals and society create a positive future and legacy, merging short and long-term perspectives.
Deep Dive Analysis
14 Topic Outline
Human Brain's Capacity for Mental Time Travel
Impact of Technology on Presentism and Short-Term Thinking
Transgenerational Empathy: Self, Past, and Future
Leveraging Emotion to Guide Future-Oriented Action
Cathedral Thinking and Awe for Future Generations
Egoic Legacy vs. Modeled Behavior for Future Impact
Social Media as Storytelling and Time Capsule Concepts
Short-Term Thinking, Life Purpose, Science, and Religion
Long Path Philosophy: Empathy, Futures Thinking, and Telos
Overcoming Lifespan Bias and Confronting Mortality
Individual Tools for Long-Term Future Connection
Societal Shift from Dystopia to Protopia
Fracturing of Traditional Institutions and Family Units
Examining Inherited Stories and Cultivating Future Consciousness
8 Key Concepts
Mental Time Travel
The human brain's unique ability to project thoughts and memories into the future by reassembling episodic memories from the past, primarily facilitated by the hippocampus. This allows for imagining different possible outcomes and scenarios.
Presentism
A state of being overly focused on the immediate present, often driven by constant stimuli and reward schedules from modern technology. This 'hall of mirrors' effect can shrink one's temporal horizon, making it difficult to think about the far future.
Transgenerational Empathy
A multi-layered form of empathy that begins with self-compassion, extends to those who came before, and then builds empathy for one's future self and subsequent generations. It involves feeling the desired emotional states for future flourishing, not just intellectualizing them.
Cathedral Thinking
The practice of undertaking projects or actions whose full benefits or completion one will not live to see. It embodies the idea of planting 'carob trees whose shade we will never know,' contributing to a legacy without the expectation of personal recognition.
Telos
An ultimate aim, goal, or purpose for our species or civilization on the planet. It represents the larger 'why' that provides a sense of direction and meaning, which historically was often provided by religious structures but is now largely missing in Western society.
Lifespan Bias
The tendency in modern society to view the most important unit of time as an individual's birth to death. This bias can disconnect individuals from the larger, overlapping chain of generations and hinder long-term thinking for the species.
Denial of Death
Ernest Becker's contention that humans, unlike other species, recognize their own mortality from an early age, and much of culture, religion, and creation is an attempt to push back or deny this understanding. Reconciling with one's mortality is crucial for effective future planning.
Protopia
A concept describing a 'better tomorrow' that is not perfect like a utopia, but one where significant progress has been made. It encourages envisioning and creating futures that are incrementally better than the present, serving as an aspirational backdrop for action.
7 Questions Answered
Individuals can cultivate 'transgenerational empathy' by first practicing self-compassion, then extending empathy to past generations, and finally to future generations and their future selves, connecting desired emotional states to drive actions.
In aggregate, humans are better off now than ever before across various metrics like health, infant mortality, education, and caloric intake, but are at an inflection point where current decisions will dictate future centuries.
Individuals can engage in 'cathedral thinking' by taking actions whose fruits they may not personally reap, focusing on modeling positive behaviors for their immediate family and community, which then transmits cultural 'memes' and values to future generations.
Modern technology and social media often act like a 'casino in our pocket,' designed with random intermittent reward schedules that shorten our temporal window, keeping us locked in a presentist, stimulus-response mode and making long-term thinking difficult.
While science and technology can explain our origins, they cannot dictate our future purpose. Individuals and society must collectively decide on a 'telos' – an ultimate aim for our species to flourish – which provides a sense of purpose beyond individual lifespan bias.
To truly think about the far future requires confronting one's eventual non-existence. Reconciling with mortality, rather than denying it, can emancipate individuals from societal burdens and enable them to make decisions that benefit future generations.
We need to tell stories set in 'protopias' – better tomorrows that are not perfect but show significant progress. These stories can act as 'kedge anchors' to pull us towards desired futures, counteracting the negativity bias of dystopian narratives.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Develop Transgenerational Empathy
Cultivate empathy starting with self-compassion, then extend it to those who came before you, and finally to future generations, including your future self.
2. Practice Self-Compassion Daily
Recognize that you are always doing the best you can with what you have, and acknowledge that your past self acted from a different emotional and psychological place.
3. Exit Stimulus-Response Mode Daily
Dedicate 5-10 minutes daily to close your eyes and look inward, exiting stimulus-response mode to understand greater wishes and link current thinking to past and future.
4. Ask: How to Improve Today?
Each morning, ask yourself what you will do today to make your day better, focusing on actionable steps within the 24-hour unit of your circadian biology.
5. Practice Futures Thinking (Plural)
Shift your perception of the future from a singular noun to a plural verb, recognizing that there are multiple possible futures and that you actively participate in creating them through your actions today.
6. Anchor Future Goals Emotionally
When envisioning desired future outcomes, connect them to the emotional state you want to feel, as these emotions act as a ‘kedge anchor’ to drive necessary actions and behavioral changes.
7. Embrace Cathedral Thinking Mindset
Engage in projects or actions whose full benefits you may not personally experience, contributing to a legacy that will serve future generations.
8. Model Benevolent Behavior Daily
Consciously model benevolent and kind behavior in all daily interactions, as these actions serve as cultural units (memes) that are transmitted to future generations, especially those closest to you.
9. Rewrite Your Personal Narrative
Critically examine the inherited stories and cultural norms that shape your behavior, discern which ones serve you, and then actively write new, empowering stories for yourself that align with your desired future.
10. Confront Mortality via Death Meditation
Engage in a death meditation or similar practice to confront your own mortality, as reconciling with your eventual non-existence can free you from societal burdens and foster long-term future orientation.
11. Visualize Your Aged Self
Use an aged photo of yourself (e.g., from an app) and place it where you’ll see it daily, like a bathroom mirror, to foster a stronger connection and compassion for your future self and encourage better long-term decisions.
12. Journal to Your Future Self
Write a letter to your future self, to be delivered in 5-10 years, detailing your hopes, dreams, and fears, as the act of writing helps visualize your desired future and creates a roadmap.
13. Display Empty Future Photo Frame
Place an empty photo frame in your home to visually represent future generations, serving as a daily reminder to consider the long-term impact of your decisions on their well-being.
14. Use “Long Path” as Mantra
When facing immediate stimulus-response situations, use ‘Long Path’ as a mantra to consciously shift your perspective towards the bigger picture and long-term implications of your actions.
15. Create Protopian Narratives
Actively contribute to and consume stories that depict ‘protopias’ – better, not perfect, tomorrows where progress is being made – to inspire collective action and pull society towards desired futures.
16. Floss Daily for Long-Term Health
Make daily flossing a non-negotiable habit, as it is crucial for maintaining long-term oral, brain, and body health, directly benefiting your future self.
8 Key Quotes
What we do extremely well, as far as we know, we're the only ones who do it, and I think this is part of the reasons why we're so good at what we do as a dominant species on this planet, is to project out into futures that we want.
Ari Wallach
If 90% of your day is going about your day, dealing with what's right in front of you, that's great. What I'm advocating for is what I call kind of transgenerational empathy.
Ari Wallach
If you really want something to happen, it's not just about visualizing it. It's about visualizing it and connecting it to the emotional amygdala sense of what that is to actually move towards the actions and changing the behaviors that you want.
Ari Wallach
This is how societies move forward. This is how we become great is by planting carob trees whose shade we will never know.
Ari Wallach
What's going to impact them is going to be how I am with my children and my wife and my partner and the behaviors that I model because those become the memes.
Ari Wallach
What science cannot do and what technology cannot do is tell us where we should be going.
Ari Wallach
We don't need more smartness. We need more wisdom. And part of that wisdom is going to come about by us integrating the fact that you alluded to that at one point we won't be here.
Ari Wallach
It's about placing our very essence and our actions within the realm of possibility for the futures that we want and our role in that. And then the purpose.
Ari Wallach
5 Protocols
Cultivating Empathy for Self
Ari Wallach- Recognize that you are doing the best you can with what you have at any given time.
- Avoid holding yourself to idealized metrics of perfection and ruminating over past actions.
- Understand that your past self was in a different emotional and psychological place than your current self.
Connecting with Future Self (Aged Photo)
Ari Wallach- Use a photo aging app (e.g., on Snapchat) to generate an image of yourself 10-15 years older.
- Print out this aged photo or keep it accessible on a device.
- Place the photo in a prominent location, such as a bathroom mirror.
- Spend a few seconds each day looking at and connecting with this older version of yourself to influence better daily decisions (e.g., flossing, financial planning).
Connecting with Future Self (Letter Writing)
Ari Wallach- Write a letter to your future self, to be delivered in five or ten years.
- In the letter, express your hopes, dreams, desires, and fears for your future self.
- Consider what you want to be and what arc you want to connect to in the future.
- The act of writing the letter itself helps create a roadmap and visualize future success.
Cultivating Transgenerational Empathy (Empty Photo Frame)
Ari Wallach- Display a series of family photos, including ancestors, current family, and yourself.
- Include a blank photo frame at the end of the series.
- Let this blank frame represent future generations (e.g., grandchildren or great-grandchildren).
- Use this visual reminder to consider the long-term impact of your daily decisions and interactions on those future individuals.
Examining Inherited Stories ('Why Tuesdays?')
Ari Wallach- Reflect on the 'why Tuesdays' in your own life – the inherited stories, traditions, and societal norms that shape your behavior and beliefs.
- Critically assess which of these stories serve you and which do not.
- Consciously decide what you want to keep and what you want to let go of.
- Write a new, positive story for yourself about who you are, why you are here, and how you want to contribute to the future, acting with agency and hope.