Well, Well, Well... Something's Coming to Life!

I started The Human Advantage with Natalia Blagoeva back in 2023 as an invitation to remember, acknowledge, celebrate, and embody The Human Advantage—the unique ways in which humans outperform AI and other machines.

A lot has happened since then, both here and in the world at large. The Human Advantage has become more important than ever, and no matter what the future holds regarding the development of AI, one thing is certain:

Unless we awaken to the true faculties of our humanness —and therefore our competitive advantage in this new environment— we may indeed exchange ourselves for the very tools we built.

In the three years that followed, many people and organizations have adopted the phrase The Human Advantage. And to make things spicy, with the WEF–McKinsey report released this year, The Human Advantage has entered the mainstream agenda.

I disagree with most of the definitions and philosophy described in the WEF–McKinsey manifesto. I find them limiting, dehumanizing, and therefore disturbing. At the same time, however, I am grateful to them for putting The Human Advantage on the agenda. In the days that followed, I went through numerous emotions and reflections, leading me to the clear realization that:

No one owns The Human Advantage. And no one alone can define it.
It is our collective calling and duty to reclaim, cherish, and advance the strictly human and sacred gifts no AI or other technology can replicate.

I have no idea where you specifically, or my readers at large, stand on this whole subject of humanity and AI:

• Maybe you think that AI is amazing and you are actively engaged in incorporating it into your life as a tool enhancing your own ingenuity and creativity, or as the ultimate way to get ahead. Or maybe you think that AI is dangerous and you are greatly concerned about all the ways it impacts society.

• Maybe you think that AI is already sentient, or perhaps you think it never will be.

• Maybe you are not concerned with AI itself, but with the power it wields and the lack of regulation.

• Maybe you are concerned that capabilities we don’t use in the age of AI are capabilities lost, and you are monitoring with concern the impact of technology on young people. Or maybe you are excited that you are gaining new capabilities and believe that everything we lose are capabilities we no longer need.

The list goes on and on…

The reality is that we are entering a whole new world- a world that seems more competitive and complex than ever, and frighteningly unfamiliar. At the same time, the old world seems to be falling apart in front of us, with tons of disclosures that only 20 years ago would have seemed unbelievable.

• It will get much weirder before it starts to feel “normal” again.

• The more surprised we are, the further away from the truth we have been living.

• Any endeavor approached with a sense of ‘fear’ or of ‘being less’ is a battle lost.

• Power is not a given. Power is allocated by those over whom it is exercised.

• Everything one of us does or doesn’t do ultimately shapes the world we live in.

• We bring meaning to our lives by how we allocate our power and make choices.

• The belief that we don’t have power rips the meaning out of our lives.

• Skills not used are skills lost, so we need to be mindful of what we outsource.

• The ability to detect what’s ‘authentic’, ‘real’, and ‘truthful’ is “the new black.”

• Soon, the only thing real will be the physical, embodied experience.

• We will continue to probe AI’s limits, only to remember more of our humanness.

• And as we do, we’ll rediscover relatedness and connectedness in a whole new way.

I was recently contacted by Gaia Montelatici, Lauren Zavlunov, and Olja Aleksic from The Enclave. Within minutes of meeting, we felt the significance of that relatedness and connectedness, along with the beauty of our humanness, and the shared awareness of what’s important here and now.

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Gaia, Lauren, Olja, and I see ourselves as the Curators and Guardians of what is being birthed. We know we will be joined by others who understand that this is not about ownership, it is about stewardship and guardianship of The Human Advantage.

About The Human Advantage Commons

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You will continue to hear my voice here: inviting you to listen with your heart, think on your feet, cherish inconvenient voices, speak truth to bullshit and power, and cultivate the habit of committing acts of ‘creation’ and ‘acting on your truth’ every day—thus acting sacred, not scared.

Love,
Natalia

P.S. If you are relatively new here and you were intrigued by how I talk about power, I recommend reading one of my evergreens: Next Time Someone Wants to Empower You, Tell Them “I’ve Got This”!. I also recommend another one of my evergreens from three years ago called: When we fear AI, who are we really afraid of?. Both of them are fundamental to The Human Advantage.