Museletter the Ninety-second

I'm originally from a little-known town called Palo Alto. At least it was "little known" when I was a kid, back in the '70s! I remember traveling to summer camp and trying to explain where I was from: "You've heard of Stanford, right? It's next to that."

It would be hard to find a more idyllic place to grow up, and one which has changed so dramatically in half a lifetime.

When my family moved there, houses were bought for tens of thousands of dollars. (Now, the homes go for millions, and Mark Zuckerberg lives a few blocks away.)

My sister and I used to walk two blocks to our elementary school. (Sadly, the school was torn down decades ago; I'm sure the cost of real estate factored into the decision.)

As a teen, I loved riding my bike downtown to meet friends at Swensen's Ice Cream Parlor (now a fancy "bubble tea" shop), or catch a movie at The New Varsity (now a high-tech "community workspace"). When I felt adventurous, I'd peddle in the other direction and cross the bridge to East Palo Alto, avoiding the scary liquor stores and dive bars of "Whisky Gulch," to explore neighborhoods that were radically different from my own. (Today, that area houses a Four Seasons hotel, and an IKEA sits just a little further down the road.)

It was a privilege to grow up in Palo Alto before the term "Silicon Valley" became widespread — a town in which Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters launched the Acid Tests…?Jerry Garcia met Bob Weir at Dana's music store and launched the Grateful Dead…?Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard launched a little company called HP…?and I suppose you could say my parents and teachers launched me!

I don't know what the heck they put in the water back then, or what magic was planted under that Tall Tree, but it was a special place at a special time.

The Ultimately Safety Net

You know I'm a big believer in AI technology, but there is a dark side that we need to be brutally honest about: I think there is a good chance that AI will lead to massive unemployment in the next 5 to 10 years. And that is why I think it is critical that all major countries must look seriously at implementing UBI — a universal basic income.

You may recall that UBI was one of Andrew Yang's primary talking points during the 2020 presidential campaign (he called it the "Freedom Dividend"). The idea is simple: the government should give money to every adult every month, just to cover basic living expenses. Yang suggested $1,000 per month.

While this may seem crazy at first, there is an enormous amount of economic research behind it —?even by many "free market" conservatives. Just do a search for "Universal Basic Income" and you'll find thousands of articles that point to the fact that it can work.

Unfortunately, it drives most people crazy to know that money is being given to people whether they work or not, whether they use it for food or drugs, whether they invest it or gamble with it. But that's the way UBI works: everyone gets it, from the poorest to the richest person. You don't have to earn it. It's a right, to have enough to survive.

UBI is a tough pill to swallow, but imagine if we don't have this, and unemployment shoots to 20%. What happens to the crime rate then? What happens to the social safety net (police, schools, hospitals, etc)? We had a small taste of this during the pandemic… the shock from AI could be far worse.

We shouldn't wait until millions of truck drivers, taxi and uber drivers, warehouse workers, actors, and other people are out of work. We need to plan ahead, and start implementing UBI now.

The Most Important Skill

The most important skill for children and adults alike — more important than math or history or writing — is a skill rarely taught in school or even at home. It's the primary skill that decides between success or failure in almost any task, and can literally make the difference between life and death. The skill is self-soothing — the ability to remain in an uncomfortable situation, the ability to be okay even if you don't feel okay, knowing that it's going to be okay.

Self-soothing takes many different forms, from breathing exercises to physical activity, from denial to rationalization. In fact, all of Freud's "defence mechanisms" are self-soothing methods, even the ones that can get you into trouble.?

For example, one common reaction to uncomfortable thoughts is projection: insisting that a feeling we have is due to something outside of us — like saying "you're so weak" (when in fact I'm the one feeling weak), or "it's your fault that I feel this way." Narcissists often rely on projection because, after all, "if I'm so awesome, then the problem must be you." But remember that they're not saying it to be mean; they're saying it to self-sooth. That doesn't make it right, but for me, understanding what's going on inside them makes me feel better. (Ah yes, intellectualizing is another form of self-soothing.)

Let's face it: life is scary, and our fears and anger and sadness can quickly become overwhelming. Self-soothing — hopefully with healthy methods, not pathological ones —?is the way out of fight-or-flight, it's the way to avoid emotional flooding and acting out badly. That's why I say: If there is one skill every person needs to get better at, this is it.

Thank You!

I enjoy sharing my musings… and I enjoy hearing yours! Please share this newsletter with a friend,?follow me on LinkedIn, and send me feedback. You can always reach me at [email protected]