Finding Purpose and Embracing Paradoxes

“Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you.”

That’s just one of many gems from Kevin Kelly’s new book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier, bits of wisdom that he thinks of like handrails to grab when he needs a quick reminder about what is most important.

In this conversation, we revisit our 2016 discussion about the power of human-AI partnerships, give you permission not to become a billionaire, help you lean into serendipity and embrace paradox, and encourage you to buy your time (through delegation) so that you can focus on doing the work that only you can do. As Kevin says, “Don’t be the best, be the only.”

This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on May 7, 2023.

More About Kevin: Kevin Kelly helped launch WIRED magazine in 1993. He is a renowned technology and science writer, futurist, and thinker who has been at the forefront of digital culture for decades. Kelly's work explores the intersection of technology, culture, and society, and he is known for his thought-provoking insights on the future of innovation and the impact of technology on our lives. He has authored multiple books including The Inevitable, Out of Control, The Silver Cord, and What Technology Wants. His newest is Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier (May 2023). He lives in Pacifica, California with his family.

🌟 5 Favorite Takeaways from Excellent Advice for Living

• ChatGPT and generative AI tools are becoming the intern that everybody can have; you’ll still need to check their work, but you no longer need to start from scratch.
• You really don’t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person.
• Measure your wealth, not buy the things you can buy, but buy the things that no money can buy. Delegate what you can.
• Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone.
• Be generous. Give ideas (and compliments!) away, and even more will return to you.

✅ Try this experiment: You’ll get invited to an argument in the next week or two. Decline the invitation; don’t attend!

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Kevin on the web, Instagram: @kevin2kelly, Twitter: @kevin2kelly, YouTube, podcast: Cool Tools
• Articles: WIRED’s Picture Limitless Creativity at Your Fingertips, NYT—Bing’s AI Chat” I want to be alive,” and A Conversation with Bing’s AI Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled
• Video: TED—The Future Will be Shaped by Optimists
• OpenAI’s ChatGPT

📚 Books Mentioned

• Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier by Kevin Kelly
• The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future and What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly
• Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
• Life After College

🎧 Related Episodes

• Pivot:
• 36: Kevin Kelly on Techno Literacy, Systems Thinking, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (July 2016)
• 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis
• 264: Embrace Your Onlyness with Nilofer Merchant
• 61: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker
• 270: Free Time Framework for Moving from Friction to Flow in 2022
• Free Time: 153: Behind the Podcast — Increasing Serendipity Surface Area — Mic Flip with Matthew Thompson, 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch, 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes

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