A conversation with Roman Krznaric, a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society.
Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His books, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 20 languages. His new book, The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World, has been described by U2’s The Edge as ‘the book our children’s children will thank us for reading’.
Think about it for a second, you and I are living in the one and only planet we currently know for sure that sustains life, in the whole universe.
Let that sink in. How do you relate with your immediate surroundings? How does your neighborhood look like? How would you like it to look like for the moment when your kids, and their kids, inherit it? Are we currently living with a lifestyle that embraces the idea that we are living in the only planet that we know of that has life within it? Does this idea make you think about how much do you apply the golden rule in every interaction you have with other people, your surroundings, and the Earth itself?
My conversation with Roman and his newest book The Good Ancestor has made me become aware of this. It has always been in my mind, the notion that we haven’t found life elsewhere, but I have never thought about how this impacts the life of my children, which I don’t plan on having anytime soon, and their children.
This is what Roman calls “deep time humility”, which means that we can take a step back and think critically about how little time we have to experience life within this blue marble , and how much impact we can have in it.
“We are just a moment in the great cosmic story going back thirteen billion years — the beginning of the universe — and at least five billion years forward to the death of the sun. And I think when you have that kind of sense of who are we in relation to time, that we are just tiny, that gives you what I call “deep time humility”. — Roman Krznaric
Unfortunately, right now we are affecting it on the negative more than on the positive. This means that the world that my children inherit will almost certainly be left off worse than the one I inherited.
“It never once occurred to me that we disenfranchise future generations in the same way that women and slaves have been disenfranchised throughout history” -Roman Krznaric
Of course, no one ever has in its right mind the goal of leaving the planet worse for our future generations, but that’s exactly what we are doing. But, as Roman argues in his book The Good Ancestor, we can do something about it.
Humankind has Colonized the Future
In this conversation we discussed the many ways in which we can be Good Ancestors, from redesigning our political systems so they can take into account the long-term, how can individuals, such as you and me, live a lifestyle that makes us a Good Ancestor, we discuss six types of long-term thinking, and much more.
“We must extend our moral circle so it includes future generations. We must extend our social circle not just across space, but through time”. — Roman Krznaric
This is by far one of the most important conversations I will share with you during my trajectory in this show. It made me Think of my future kids, their future kids, and being Good Ancestors; Reading the Good Ancestor has made me want to Apply the Golden Rule with future generations, who have no saying in the world they will inherit, and how being a good ancestor and living a good life are not mutually exclusive but rather excellent complements.
I do hope it makes you think about your relationship with the future generations and it makes you go grab a copy of Roman’s book, The Good Ancestor, right now, available everywhere books are sold.
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Website — www.romankrznaric.com
Buy the book here with a 20% discount.
Twitter — @romankrznaric
