Expanding Your Sphere of Awareness – Part III
Apparently, my follow-up three weeks ago to the previous week’s contest needs more follow-up.
To animate my point that a broad mind is needed to understand a wide world, I listed 14 interesting factoids, asked you to match them up in relevant pairs or triplets, depending on how you inductively connected which dots – an increasingly important skill as we propel forward. (If you missed that first column: https://eliamdur.com/index.php/blog/)
Then, three weeks ago, I gave my answers. I said that space constraints here prevented a discussion on same, but that didn’t satisfy many readers, for two reasons: (1) They deserved an explanation, a defense of my reasoning, as it were, and (2) They saw things differently and could also be right, right?
Right on both counts. Today’s column, then, will offer at least the beginning of that follow-up discussion. Once again, here are the 14 “dots” to connect:
(1) 25 percent of the world’s nickel reserves are located in New Caledonia. (2) There is water and evidence of rock movement on Mars. (3) The James Webb telescope, launched two months ago, is already performing as was planned. (4) Centenarians in the US numbered 37,000 in 1990 and 97,000 in 2020; their ranks will swell to 600,000 by 2060. (5) The first generation of quantum computing will soon give birth to generation two. (6) The science of laser propulsion is making giant steps forward. (7) El Salvador has made Bitcoin their second official currency, alongside the US dollar. (8) One of every six home sales in America is made to an investor. (9) Sparkling wine is now being produced in Britain, as it was in Roman times. (10) The US will need 30,000 geriatricians by 2030; we have 7,300 now. (11) Ski seasons around the world have shortened by as much as 23 percent. (12) One in five American adults have no or limited credit history. (13) Battery technology is critical to 21st century development. (14) Of the 118 elements on the periodic table, 94 appear naturally on earth.
And here are the connections, in my view. The four pairs are: 1-13; 2-6; 4-10; and 9-11. The two triplets are: 3-5-14; and 7-8-12.
And now my defense:
1 and 13: Nickel (Ni) and Cadmium (Cd) form what everyone instantly recognizes as NiCad batteries. It likely won’t be the long-term future of batteries, but for now, it’s gold. Aside from New Caledonia, where else is nickel plentiful? Ukraine. Hmmm.
2 and 6: If there is water on Mars, there’s a high likelihood there is or was life there, too, and if that’s so, then perhaps life on earth actually began on Mars. If that’s possible, it becomes critical to travel there much faster than we do now, which is the same rate of speed we attained when we first went to space 60 years ago. Fuel-based propulsion will no longer do it. Think laser. Think photons.
4 and 10: A no-brainer. 100 percent of respondents got this one.
9 and 11: This is climate change, big time. Temperatures on the British Isles are now as warm as in parts of Italy, favorable for growing certain grapes that could never have survived there 40 years ago. At the same time, as warming reaches farther from the equator, economies will be forced to adjust, downward in many cases.
3, 5, and 14: The James Webb telescope will see farther and collect more data than we have ever been able to do. The only way to capture and make sense of all that data is with quantum leaps in quantum computing. Will we find new elements? Bet on it.
7, 8, and 12: Global economies will either rectify their inequities vis-à-vis rich-vs-poor – or exacerbate them. The main issue here is not finance or economics; it’s Ethics – in unprecedented proportions and with unprecedented urgency. Cryptocurrency’s two-edged sword is that it could democratize wealth or create an even more elite class. It’s a tipping point, for sure.
The essence of this past three-part series on awareness is not whether any given point goes unquestionably or solely with another. I’m not preaching here. Rather, it’s that – depending on how you think about things – there are connections to be made and careers built.
And it reinforces the point that you need a broad mind to understand a wide world.
No, I’m not preaching, but somebody say “Amen” anyway.
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Career Coach Eli Amdur provides one-on-one coaching in job search, résumés, and interviewing.
Reach him at [email protected] or 201-357-5844.