Superflow
Fulfilling potential
Hello from London!
The last two months have been a swirl of discussion and experimentation with ChatGPT. Everyone is experimenting and trying to figure out what it means for their world. This is the cusp of change and we know it. Nearly a Third of White-Collar Workers Have Tried ChatGPT or Other AI Programs. And it’s not just ChatGPT - it’s everything from MidJourney to Dall-E 2 to other tools you’re less familiar with such as Andi AI as your AI assistant, writing copy with Copy AI, or voice cloning with Murf, for example. There are a heap more, many of which have existed for some time. ChatGPT has become the poster child for these AI tools that are heralding this new era. It’s not about replacing humans. It’s about how you embrace them. And that takes me to my topic for today: Superflow.
As many of you know, my day job has revolved around the education industry, in many guises - books, online tuition, courses, edtech - education fulfils part of my MTP (Massive Transformative Purpose) which is to support others in achieving their full potential. Education, at its core, is something that supports this, but things that pique my curiosity are wider.
For some years now, I have been intrigued by the concept of “Flow”. Flow is a psychological state in which someone becomes fully absorbed and focused in an activity, often referred to as "being in the zone." Flow is characterized by a feeling of effortless concentration, loss of self-consciousness, and a sense of control over one's actions. We often hear this state being associated with peak performance in sports or tasks requiring high focus.
But my concept of “Superflow” is wider - how might we stack numerous factors together to best achieve who we are, no matter our background? This is a combination of know-how, drive, street-smarts, tech and health. If we wanted to be our most optimal self what would we need to do? In addition to ongoing lifelong education, I belive there are five core areas:
A Focus on Flow - achieving and knowing how to reach an optimal state of concentration to achieve one’s fully defined purpose.
Personalised tracking - creating a data-centric approach to eating the right food and undertaking the right physical activity to best achieve maximum physical capacity and capability. Leveraging tools like continuous glucose monitors blood and gut intelligence tests as well as sleep trackers to achieve our optimum physical state.
Mind & Energy Practice - understanding how to control your own voice within through tools such as meditation, breathing and ancient healing techniques balanced with newer neurobiology techniques to get the most from the brain and reach a fulfilled mindset.
Digital Toolset Use - optimizing the power of productivity toolsets and techniques as well as workflows combining widely available tools
Emerging technology application - using AI and other related technology that we are hearing about more and more these last few years, the latest biotech and even physical augmentation, such as braintech (e.g. Neuralink) that allow us to become beyond our best selves.
This concept of superflow is not yet fully formed, but it’s a stack of interrelated thoughts and concepts. So often we think of one of these verticals in isolation in order to reach our greater goalm, but it’s the synergy of them all that allow us to reach our heights. Together they will drive the most fulfilled our daily lives, getting the best bang for our buck from our time. Who knows - maybe I’ll write a book on this one day (or get a chatbot to do it for me)? It’s an area of focus that we, as humans need to congregate around. It’s how we best embrace the next technology like ChatGPT rather than be afraid of it.
Stay Curious,
Here are my recommendations for this week:
Now
The Future 100: 2023: This annual essential trend almanack offers a snapshot of the year ahead and the most compelling trends to keep on the radar.
Op-Ed: Don’t ban chatbots in classrooms — use them to change how we teach - Will chatbots that can generate sophisticated prose destroy education as we know it? We hope so. It’s time to reinvent education for the world that we are moving to. See also Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach
Want to improve your memory? Try these unexpected tips. - Your memory probably isn’t as bad as you think.
This 22-year-old is trying to save us from ChatGPT before it changes writing forever - The fight begins.
‘They’re 25, they don’t do emails’: is instant chat replacing the inbox? - Bosses at Davos say direct messaging can be more effective for Gen Z employees – but email still has a role
Next
Meet Claude: Anthropic’s Rival to ChatGPT: The chatbot alternatives are coming. AI is amongst us.
Who Owns the Generative AI Platform? - “Many hot technology trends get over-hyped far before the market catches up. But the generative AI boom has been accompanied by real gains in real markets, and real traction from real companies. Models like Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT are setting historical records for user growth, and several applications have reached $100 million of annualized revenue less than a year after launch. Side-by-side comparisons show AI models outperforming humans in some tasks by multiple orders of magnitude.”
Google Calls In Help From Larry Page and Sergey Brin for A.I. Fight - A rival chatbot has shaken Google out of its routine, with the founders who left three years ago re-engaging and more than 20 A.I. projects in the works.
Next up for CRISPR: Gene editing for the masses? - Last year, Verve Therapeutics started the first human trial of a CRISPR treatment that could benefit most people—a signal that gene editing may be ready to go mainstream.
The Era of Happy Tech Workers Is Over - Silicon Valley as we know it — with its radically transparent company cultures, empowered employees, flat hierarchies and rarefied perks like nap pods and free food — is quickly disappearing. And it’s unlikely to return. See also: What the Tech and Media Layoffs Are Really Telling Us About the Economy