4: Drawing on Human Psychology

As we have explored in the previous three chapters of Expert Humans, we are living in a time of increasing disharmony, unpredictability, and disruption exacerbated by the sheer pace and scale of all the dislocation and turbulence. The world has experienced tremendous change before – with many tumultuous events taking place during a single lifetime. I am thinking here of the Second World War and the falling of the Iron Curtain as examples: so as a species we are certainly not newcomers to mayhem, chaos, and tumult.

While these words allow us some reflection and even some cause for comfort, the facts as they appear before us signal that we are on a path to a truly existential crisis for civilisation and the world, unless we course-correct. The disruptors to our way of life are clear. What is not so clear is the exact shape that these disruptors will take or what the change – or damage they could inflict – will turn out to be. The best course of action is to be prepared – and that includes being prepared psychologically for the ruptures that will without doubt, continue. So – far from being defeatist and pessimistic – I think we need to do what we can to embrace the changes that are coming our way and get ourselves into as good a shape mentally as we possibly can.