Many of us are familiar with feeling stuck in our situation. Whether it’s continuing to work in a job we loathe or attending a school that is making us unhappy, the accompanying feelings of guilt, judgment, and obligation can make us believe that we have no choice but to stick it out. By taking a step back and assessing the situation you may find that you have more freedom of choice available to you than you initially thought. This week on the show we unpack the concept of freedom of choice and how modern society can make us feel unworthy of that freedom. Tuning in you’ll learn about the impact that small everyday decisions can have on the planet, how to empower yourself through distance, and why the opportunity to make a choice is the true freedom, not the choice itself!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s topic: Freedom of Choice.
• Why the freedom to make a choice is the true freedom, not the choice itself.
• Common misconceptions about karma and why Bahar prefers Alan Watts’ definition.
• Why karma means reaction and how this can be observed in nature.
• How your choices cause chain reactions and many more choices.
• Artificial intelligence and the freedom of choice that they possess.
• What the Matrix can teach us about freedom of choice.
• Why allowing yourself distance from a difficult choice can empower you to choose wisely.
• How modern life causes feelings of unworthiness and how this affects our decisions.
• Examples of situations where people are deprived of their human dignity and autonomy to make decisions.
• How our everyday decisions can have a lasting, global impact.
• Bahar’s message of inspiration and pride in all her listeners.

Tweetables:

“Every day, we're presented with many, many choices, from where we want to go to how we want to behave to how we want to react, to what to think, what to feel and beyond.” — @baharansarilaw [0:01:42]

“Sometimes pausing, not choosing hastily from the obvious choice can be the most intelligent choice. It's giving oneself an opportunity to think through each choice.” — @baharansarilaw [0:05:11]

“Once you understand that there is a choice in everything, in how we feel and how we react, and then the life that we're creating through these small, everyday choices, you will recognize the immense power we each have, and collectively have in changing our future.” — @baharansarilaw [0:07:15]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

2nd.Law

Bahar Ansari on LinkedIn

Bahar Ansari on Instagram

Bahar Ansari on Twitter

Today’s guest believes in the power of technology to solve the problems we face as a society and he has devoted his career to using technology to make purpose-driven learning count. For the last five years, Michael Robbins has led District of Learning, a technology-enabled ecosystem for 'any time, anywhere' learning in Washington DC, an initiative from the MacArthur Foundation. He also has experience as a senior advisor for the Obama administration, where Michael led work for the US Department of Education and the White House in community engagement and digital transformation in education. He has advised and collaborated with mayors, school superintendents, community organizers, nonprofit leaders, and corporate executives on a range of public initiatives. Today Michael joins us to explain how he believes that we can co-create solutions for our education crisis, transform learning with the power of data of ownership and technology, and come together to learn what we need for life in order to chart a better pathway for a digital society. To find out more about the decentralization of learning, how we can put power in the hands of individuals, and co-create a better future, tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Thoughts on Arthur Clarke’s third law and the gap between what’s happening in tech and what people understand.
• Michael’s background and his passion for the intersection between technology and education.
• Michael’s belief in the power of technology to solve the problems we face as a society.
• The District of Learning project and its goal to decentralize learning and put power in the hands of individuals.
• The opportunities that lie in individual data ownership and especially learning data.
• The importance of thinking about different value models for how we generate income and value exchange, individually and collectively.
• Ownership rights of ancient cultures that could merge well with society and digital rights.
• Insight into ‘Solid technology’ and ‘edge computing’ to claim power individually.
• The concept of semi-autonomous decentralized application systems for native democracy and justice and establishing governance.
• How Learning Pathmakers is charting a path for a distributed learning ledger.
• What 501 (c)(6) corporation status is and why Learning Pathmakers is pursuing it.
• Michael’s approach to decentralized education to make purpose-driven learning count all the time and everywhere.
• The need for a new generation of public-minded young people who are interested in inventing this next generation of digitally native governance.

Tweetables:

“For me, the height of innovative achievement isn’t sending a billionaire into near space, it’s using the ingenuity that we have, our technology, our people, our commitment, to solve the problems that face us a society.” — Michael Robbins [0:05:38]

“Our schools have a lot of recovery to do but we also, in our educational approaches, have to prepare young people to be digital natives in a way that most people don’t even understand where this is heading.” — Michael Robbins [0:25:10]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Michael Robbins on LinkedIn

Learning Pathmakers

MacArthur Foundation

Open Badges

Bahar Ansari

Bahar Ansari on LinkedIn

Bahar Ansari on Instagram

The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental right guaranteed in the constitution and defined in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy, as long as you act within the law. Consider rules as a frame to a painting, rather than a limitation on your freedom. Does that perspective change how you feel about rules? People make decisions for two reasons: it is either what the law requires of them, or it is what they want. People-first design is the most effective way to reach your goals. Human capital is the most important thing, which is why setting a Human Satisfaction Threshhold is such a gamechanger. Hence the saying, happy stakeholders, happy shareholders! Join us today to hear more.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The right to happiness, as guaranteed in the constitution and defined in the Declaration of Independence.
• Why Bahar believes that rules take away as much from your freedom as a frame from the beauty of a painting.
• What the two reasons are that people make business decisions: because it’s what they want, and because that’s how the law requires for it to be done.
• Why human capital is so important even though it is often left out of the conversation.
• The importance of setting a Human Satisfaction Threshold.
• People-first design as the most effective way to reach your goals.
• Bahar’s equivalent of the saying ‘Happy wife, happy life!’: ‘Happy stakeholders, happy shareholders!’.
• Her message of inspiration and pride in all her listeners.

Tweetables:

“I feel a sense of freedom knowing relevant laws. Once you understand the borders, you know the frame, and within that frame you can go wild with creativity. Rules take away as much of your freedom as a frame does from the beauty of a painting.” — @baharansari [0:01:30]

“The human capital are what keep the lights on and serve the human customers. Human customers are those who consume whatever it is that the company provides and keep the company going. Yet these people’s happiness is often left out of any significant conversation.” — @baharansari [0:04:14]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bahar Ansari

Bahar Ansari on LinkedIn

Bahar Ansari on Instagram

Bahar Ansari on Twitter