Roger James Hamilton: What is Around the Corner?

A Conversation with Futurist and New York Times Best-Selling Author Roger James Hamilton About What Is Around the Corner

The great leaders, the visionaries were able to see around the corner, said Jack Welch.

1. How do you view the world today geopolitically? Where are the dangers? The opportunities?

What I see is a great antinomy. I see the concentration of power in the hands of a few in the most powerful countries and potentially the most dangerous countries in the world. Whether you look at Asia, the Middle East, Europe or North America, you see the same trends geopolitically.   Political power concentrated in the hands of the elite, tech controlled by the elite to shape ideas and build powerful systems that could make the world a better place, or a more dangerous place; on the other hand, we see the decentralization of major aspects of our culture.

Elon Musk, recently tweeted, “don’t defy De-Fi.” Well what does that mean? It actually sums up a great deal about where the world is heading today. You see the decentralization of finance, tools to transact business on the blockchain that provide greater transparency and eliminate the middlemen, the lawyers, etc.   You see digital assets. In the future every country will have its own digital asset. There will be no world currency.  You see the decentralization of entire industries, i.e. Uber replacing taxi cabs, Airbnb taking business from hotels, digital currencies eventually replacing the dollar, Twitter, Facebook etc., replacing traditional media, private enterprise leading the race to develop civilization in space.  Opportunities abound everywhere for those willing to look, think and act.  I tell our students to look for opportunities to create a job, not get a job.  Individual freedom, the freedom to choose our own destinies is what drives innovation and change. Knowledge is everywhere and easier to access than ever before.”

2. What are the most important trends shaping the future?

I talk about the ten trends shaping the future in my books, my seminars, and my summits. Perhaps the best summary of those trends can be found at https://fb.watch/6NE8caRdqN/ .  But it is important that everyone understand that the world has changed dramatically and will continue to.  Artificial intelligence is changing everything from how we develop and use military weapons, to how we develop drugs for cancer, to how we write books, to how we manage our finances.  As an entrepreneur, I want to know how to use A.I. to build a better business for starters.  As a humanitarian I want to make sure that A.I., which is now able to compute and think faster and greater than humans, does not destroy us.

3. You talk a lot about the Metaverse?  What is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse, the next iteration of the Internet, is going to change the way we learn, interact, teach, entertain, and collaborate and more.  The Metaverse, which is only, now in the early stages, will allow us to interact with people all over the world connecting them to those with shared interests.  Millions of people will attend concerts together in the universe; learn English, music, etc. in the Metaverse

4. What do you think about the new information coming out on UFOs?

Jean Paul Satre once said that the great question for man is that something exists rather than nothing exists. I would simply say that something is there; something is happening that is currently incomprehensible to us.  I am confident that we will soon learn the origin of this phenomenon and their purpose.

5. How is EdTech shaping the future?

EdTech is changing not only the way we think about education but it is and will continue to transform the way we upskill workers, educate our children, and ultimately those countries, institutions and individuals who embrace, use and deploy the vast opportunities created by companies like Coursera, which provides online courses taught by professors from the best universities in the world EdTech gives people everywhere, anytime the opportunity to learn, to grow.  It was Horace Mann, the 19^th century education reformer who said, education is “the great equalizer of the conditions of men-the balance wheel of the social machinery.”  The plethora of EdTech companies of which billions have been invested, have made it easier than anytime history to gain knowledge.   Do you want to learn a foreign language, visit Duolingo.com? Do you need a refresher in biology or chemistry?  Visit Labster.com; do you want to learn coding? Visit Lambdaschool.com; do you want to learn more about music, nutrition, and art? Visit Masterclass.com.  The list goes on and on.

6. How does GeniusU fit into the EdTech revolution?

If there is a common theme to our vision it is that we want to transform the way students learn, personalizing their education and tieing it to real world experiences in ways that develop their analytical and intuitive skills.  Foundational to our curriculum is a focus on understanding and applying universal principles of success.    In some ways, we are putting into practice principles that John Dewey taught over 100 years ago.   We want students to learn at their own pace while relating the course material to real world experiences and most importantly create opportunities for them to learn by doing.  Perhaps tutoring or volunteering for community service, collaborating and learning from students outside their own community or country.

7. What inspirational books do you recommend?

One of my all time favorites is “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill, which is a gold mine of success principles applied by some of the most successful people in the 20^th century.  A hidden gem that many in our generation may not be familiar with is a book by Robert Collier called, “Secret of the Ages.”  He said that “the first principle of success is desire-knowing what you want. Desire is the planting of your seed.”  He was part of the “New Thought” movement which in many ways was based on ancient wisdom with a focus on positive thinking, visualization and developing the immense personal and creative power that too often lie dormant in individuals who can achieve far more than they think.  It is really about how powerful the mind is, how powerful our thoughts are and how by transforming our thinking, we can transform our lives.

8. What must one do on an individual level to prepare for what you call the digital decade?

There are five things I tell my students they must do to prepare for the future:

1. Understand that knowledge is everywhere for the taking and you have the power to learn and grow and succeed faster and easier and more cheaply than at any time in history. Don’t think just about getting a job. You have the power to create a job.
2. Determine what you want, concretize it in writing, set goals with timelines to achieve them, and realize as Robert Collier taught, that success is the culmination of small steps repeated day in and day out that ultimately will result in high achievement.
3. Embrace and learn everything you can about the critical trends that are driving the digital decade; artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things (IOT), decentralized finance, the hyper personalization, the emergence of the Metaverse and much more.
4. Read every biography you can get your hands on about successful people. It is a great thing in life to have heroes and mentors. Learn and apply the timeless principles of success. Knowledge without discipline is like talent without action. Be a doer. Act now.  And remember the line from Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” “time’s winged chariot is hurrying near.”  Time is a finite resource. Use it wisely.
5. Never Give Up.