A Simple Design Challenge: The Meaning of (your) Life
I was thoroughly entertained and validated by Dmitri Orlov’s presentation “Social Collapse: Best Practices” about the impending fall of the U.S. empire. It’s not for the faint of heart to say the least. But assuming, as Orlov warns, all goes to hell here in 10 years (+/-5), I was inspired to think about what skills might be useful in the anarchy that would follow. That led me to think about an overlap in possible skills that could be useful in either the business-as-usual scenario we have today or a bleaker one like Orlov’s forecast.
The design challenge is this: Identify two things and, as in a Venn diagram, identify where they overlap. To successfully identify this special area is to pin-point what you might consider focusing on indefinitely from this point in your life. The two components are 1) what are you better at than anyone else you know; and 2) what is an indispensable element (object/skill/tool) of life or culture and can not be categorized as comfort, frivolity, or otherwise non-essential? Perhaps not a simple task, it seems sensible that to identify your talent (I firmly believe everyone has one) and marry it to a need, then you will survive the collapse, or, in the case of no collapse, predictably prosper.
individual Talent x community Need = The Meaning of Life
For those makers that might be searching for their path/voice/purpose, this could be a valuable exercise. Good luck!
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