Neuroscientists use Matt Damon to show an incredible brain bias | Ari Wallach

Futurist Ari Wallach shares how to become future-conscious.

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
Up next, Bored out of your mind at work? Your brain is trying to tell you something. ► https://youtu.be/LodHArsgZ-I

Futurist Ari Wallach knows it can be very difficult, but he's going to need you to think about yourself. Not yourself right now — that's easy to do. You're already doing it! He means thinking about yourself in the future.

Keeping what may lie ahead in mind — being future-conscious — makes you more likely to eat right and exercise; more likely to plan ahead financially; more likely to forge strong, healthy relationships and treat people right.

Researchers have found we see our future selves like celebrities, like some vaguely knowable figure. And when that extends society-wide, we make decisions that may not benefit us, like spending recklessly or harming the climate for quick gain.

Wallach is the founder and executive director of Longpath, an initiative that wants to foster being future-conscious. If you can keep tomorrow in mind, it can be possible to have a better today.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/explain-it-like-im-smart/future-conscious/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Ari Wallach:
Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake. He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum. As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach's TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008's pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman. He has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, CNBC, Vox, and more. He lives in the lower Hudson Valley with his wife, three children and wonderdog Ozzie. More at https://www.longpath.org/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read more of our stories on long-term thinking:
Three habits to master long-term thinking
► https://bigthink.com/smart-skills/long-term-thinking/
Why is it so hard to escape short-term thinking? Biology and technology
► https://bigthink.com/the-present/escape-short-term-thinking/
Why professional soccer players choke during penalty kicks
► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/choking-under-pressure/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think
The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century.
► Big Think+
Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Want more Big Think?
► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/
► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter
► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook
► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram
► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter