Becoming Digital Beings? Untapping the power of Human Agency
Co-authored by Rosario Londono, Michael Landers & Rosario B. Casas
Is that what we want?
On February 22nd 2019, at the launch of Singularity University’s NYC Chapter, we shared Four Dimensional Quotient (4DQ) with the rest of the world for the very first time. The response was positive. The three of us — Rosario B. Casas, Michael Landers, and myself — as co-founders of something new, were thrilled.
Over the following weeks, we shared our work with excitement and curiosity at events like Adobe Conference, Economist AI, The WSIE, The NAHB, The IBS 2019 Conference, Slalom Consulting, with Uber, SAP and more. With only minimal effort spent on organic social media, in less than one month, we had several hundred visits to the website and a potential pipeline of clients from 3 major corporations and even a couple of Governments.
Most importantly, we were getting encouragement from expert leaders, writers, and futurists in the space that 4DQ was exactly what was needed to bridge the Digital Divide: Untapping the power of Human Agency! We felt on top of the world.
Success! Or so we thought.
The truth is, we had actually failed you.
Writer and entrepreneur Seth Godin always asks, “Who is it for? What is it for?” As time went on, we found that a very important target audience was being left behind, and that the handshakes and ovations were coming more from within our own tribe, in a kind of echochamber — exactly what we originally set out to avoid.
Two years ago, we sat in a room with 300 people. Sam Hamdan, Founder and Curator of The World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was launching the World Innovation Organization, something he envisions being similar to the World Trade Organization, but instead focusing on trade it would focus on innovation ( Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Convergence, Deep Technology etc) and the future of humanity.
As always, anything organized by Sam and his team is of top intellectual and human quality, the conversation and proposals arising were some of the most interesting, relevant and meaningful discussions we had participated in awhile. However, we noticed a lot of people were missing from the table. Why? Who wasn’t in the conversation that should have been? Who was missing out on the latest innovations — and most importantly, who was missing out on the opportunity to co-create their own future?
It wasn’t only people from the largest base of our global pyramid — the poor, the disenfranchised, and the citizens of developing countries — who were missing out.
Our closest friends and family, colleagues and their children, were all being left on the sidelines of these discussions.
You, the hard working professional, you, the entrepreneur and business person bringing new products and ideas to life, you, person who was inspired to find a way to give back instead of retiring, you, the student who’s striving to make a difference: these were the missing voices.
At that moment, Rosario B. Casas, Michael, and I chose to come together to co-create a Discovery Guide, that would give people access to the new world unfolding before us and help break down the barriers of skillset, vocabulary, and access that so often prevent people from engaging with it.
Our intention is to provide this opportunity, for free, to as many people as possible and in as many languages as possible (for the moment, we’ve started with English and Spanish translations of the 4DQ work).
We knew that getting the interest of large organizations wouldn’t be too difficult — as a group, the three of us have been working on this in one way or another for a long time. Most companies already speak this language and already recognize the value of initiatives around engagement, preparing their talent for the future, and innovation. Instead, our core inspiration for 4DQ came from the chance to offer anyone, anywhere, the tools required to navigate this new world — to speak a new language to a new audience, to get everyone on the same playing field.
However, one of the most important intended audiences seemed to want nothing to do with us. It was the beginning of our quest to find out where and how we had failed you.
It became clear that we were too stuck in our own heads, and were trying to provide information about these topics before setting up strong fundamentals.
It’s like we were trying to teach a new language to someone, entirely in the new language — there was no bridge.
In the interest of getting people from Point A to Point B as fast as possible, we didn’t lay a strong enough foundation: for that we’re sorry.
But we’re not giving up. In the coming weeks, we are recommitting to sharing our knowledge and resources in a new way that hopefully does work for you. Most importantly, we recommend listening to you and what works and what doesn’t. We’ll update our website, create short videos, and do everything we can to make this information as accessible as possible. At this moment, keep trying is the only choice for us.
For now, let’s start at the very beginning. What is 4DQ, and why does it matter?
4DQ is primarily a free guide, updated annually, that details the latest innovations, trends, and resources at the intersection of the following four “Dimensions”:
Digital - Technology- Internet of Things (IoT) - Artificial Intelligence (AI); Virtual Reality (VR)- Apps; Coding; etc
Mind - Mindset; Neurobiology; Mindfulness
Body - Vitality( Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition, Hydration)
Source - Sense of Purpose and sense of meaning for the life we have been given -Alignment and flow with the energy that keeps us and the planets alive; the earth rotating and the sun rising every day).
In today’s world, the Digital Dimension is growing exponentially, and inevitably affects all the others. The other three dimensions (or the purely “Human Dimensions”) are evolving at a much slower pace, pitting our bodies, minds, and sense of purpose in an impossible race to keep pace with technological development (detailed in the graph below).
Based on the current scientific understanding of neurobiology and quantum physics, we believe that it’s actually the Source Dimension that should be the one leading the way, with the other human dimensions of Body, and Mind at the helm. The Digital Dimension should be at the service of the highest and best expression of humanity and not the other way around.
With 4DQ, we intend to provide a resource that anyone can use to help structure the year ahead.
The 4DQ Discovery Guide — a 92-page report packed with videos, links, and other resources — provides a roadmap to expanding your understanding of each Dimension. The goal? Leveraging all of this new information to become an active participant in designing the world and the future of our planet.
Picture yourself laying on a beach, piña colada in hand, and all of a sudden you hear a boy running up and down the beach yelling:
A tsunami is coming! a tsunami is coming!
You lift your gaze up, but the ocean is as tranquil as it can be. For the next few days, weeks, maybe even months, the same boy yells the same thing over and over, but you continue to ignore him and relax on the beach.
Until one day, you glance up to notice a tsunami rushing your way.
Within the framework of 4DQ, that tsunami is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and it’s already barreling towards us, whether you can see/feel it or not — and it is bringing exponential change along with it.
So, what are you supposed to do?
Here’s what you need to know:
This change is coming. It’s real. Don't ignore it.
The ramifications are already being felt, and will fully hit most-if not all industries within a decade.
It will affect everything and everyone on the planet in unimaginable ways.
Thankfully, you already have everything you need to not only survive this tsunami, but rise above it and turn something destructive into a positive force.
To be able to rise above the tsunami as if you were observing the ocean from a drone-view point, to best thrive in the wake of this change, combining, mastering and leveraging the tools and skills of the Four Dimensions is key.
We want to thank Sebastian Voortman for allowing us to use this beautiful video clip- Ocean Drone View....Become the Drone
We have a unique opportunity to consciously design mankind’s next evolutionary phase — let’s make it a masterpiece.
+This is an updated version of the original post. The 4DQ initiative was merged and re-branded into the Personal Accelerator Academy. The three of us continue to collaborate and co-create. Connect with us if you want our support.