Marc Prensky

From “People with Tools” to SYMBIOTIC EMPOWERED HUMANS

Many believe that as technology develops, we remain “the same people”—just with more powerful tools. Prensky goes beyond this thinking to seeing humans becoming “symbiotic empowered hybrids” with all the powerful new technologies we have created.

This highly re-framing talk focuses on SYMBIOSIS, and how 21st century humans are becoming SYMBIOTIC HUMAN HYBRIDS.

Marc believes technologies have effectively given humans new, helpful body parts—like our having grown a new, useful tail—and we must learn to use Our new body parts wisely and well.

The “new symbiosis” with technology IS NOT “addiction”— it is figuring out how to do new things with our new capabilities. Figuring this out, says Prensky,  is probably our most pressing 21st c. task as humans, Because it will help us solve all our other problems.

Takeaways include:
• Why we require a better way to look at humans and technology
• What being a “symbiotic empowered hybrid” means.
• Why that is positive for all of us.

Moving From TWO Worlds to THREE Worlds, and From the DIGITAL DIVIDE to the BELIEFS DIVIDE3

People often think there is, or was, only one world—the one they physically work and exist in. They forget about the ‘world of imagination’ in each of our heads. Yet that is the world from where all creativity springs. What we mean by ‘being creative’ is bringing the world of your imagination into the real world—particularly in positive ways. Clearly some do this more than others, and one can learn to do it more.

But up until now, people could instantiate their imaginations only in the real world. This is often very hard, and most people give up, and keep their imaginations to themselves. It is those that persist whom we call “highly creative people” and “artists.”

But things have changed dramatically in our times. Today, we have “The Cloud.” The Cloud is a brand-new world in which to bring forth imagination. It is a huge and growing world, with many dimensions. The Cloud is growing exponentially—far faster than the “real-world,” and offers many opportunities. It is, in fact, a new frontier of opportunities to be creative. The Cloud is here today. It is where the new opportunities for creativity lie.

The ‘Metaverse” —currently so highly-hyped— refers to the visual dimension of the Cloud. It is the part that, through a headset or special glasses, looks like a real world. It is still in its earliest stages—it exists only in many imaginations of writers, people like Mark Zuckerberg, and creators of early attempts like “Second Life” and virtual game worlds. It is still in the very early stages of being built and getting to the point where many would choose to live, work, and pour their imaginations into it. But The Metaverse—despite its name— is only a small part of the already quite large and rapidly advancing “Cloud.”

Creativity is also highly linked to BELIEFS. Today, beliefs around the world are changing, radically and rapidly, between generations. This belief change is about to have a huge impact on humanity, because OUR BELIEFS—embedded deep within our minds—DETERMINE ALL OUR ACTIONS. Prensky shows how Beliefs are changing generationally regarding education, technology, privacy, property, personal relationships, sexuality, race, security, power, kids, work and jobs, empathy, violence, religion, justice and injustice, money,, love, government, and even time and space.  Beliefs about creativity are changing as well. The most important 21 st century belief, says Prensky, is “I can.”

It is now time, says Prensky, for all of us to re-examine and go beyond our own 20th c. beliefs because such beliefs hold us back on our journey to the world of the future. Marc shows both WHY the “belief re-framing” is key, and HOW to do it.  In this highly RE-FRAMING talk, Marc Prensky highlights the creative opportunities of today—which are enormous— and opens your eyes to what is coming faster than many think.

Takeaways include:
• How to be creative in the 21 st century
• What is currently happening in “The Cloud”
• What “The Cloud” means for you and your business
• What to expect—and not—from the Metaverse, and when.
• 20th vs. 21st century beliefs
• Why beliefs are key to 21st century accomplishment and change.

Moving from “Jobs” to “Projects” and from Employer to Employee-focused

We all know work is changing. But few have the re-framing perspective that Marc Prensky brings. Marc helps audiences see the NEW AGE OF EMPOWERMENT THAT IS ARRIVING, and its far-reaching implications for human work.

• As Artificial Intelligence and increasing automation enter our workplaces, we can expect that ANYTHING TWO PEOPLE CAN DO EQUALLY WELL WILL BE REPLACED BY A MACHINE. But we should not be afraid of this, says Prensky, because WE WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF: 1. People with dreams, 2. Problems to fix, and 3. People who need help. Nor will we will run out of people who want to do those things. Those three things are the future of human work.
  • The way we will do these things better, says Prensky, is through SYMBIOSIS.  To solve all our pressing problems—like climate change—our key challenge in the 21 st century is to BECOME SYMBIOTIC with our new technologies as rapidly as possible. This goes for people of all age —and the young are starting faster.
  • In our New Age of Empowerment, individuals will finally HAVE THE MEANS TO CONTROL THEIR WORLD, starting at early ages. They need to understand not just how to take control of their world, but how to improve it.
  • Work will begin to be seen not as “jobs” that people get and hold as they do today, but as “projects” that teams of people accomplish. Says one Fortune 500 executive: “We don’t do job descriptions any more, we do project descriptions.” Now more and more firms and—entire fields—are moving to this “project”—rather than job—orientation.

This means one now requires a specialty that can enhance many teams, and to be continually increasing one’s skill at that specialty, so one can move fluidly between projects at different organizations rather than climbing a hierarchical ladder of job promotions in any single one.  Everyone who now works in—or is considering— a so- called “permanent” job needs to understand this, and prepare for this new version of “work.” Prensky shows us why it’s important to empower ALL our people, and how to do it quickly.

Takeaways include:
• Why and how work will be changing (and is already)
• What the new models of work mean for you and your children,
• Why empowering people is key we to the future of work, and
• How to be successful in the new environment.

From a “you must have” to an “I wouldn’t want to NOT have”

Most of us think we are both trusting and trustworthy, and that we support diversity. But the reality is that most of our workplaces are less diverse than many might like, and sorely lacking in trust. In this "highly re- framing” talk, Marc helps audiences see diversity and trust in new ways.

“What makes us unique,” says Marc, “are the individual projects we each choose to do and be part of.” Marc shows us that when we are each working on things we actually care deeply about, diversity and trust become not only easier, but desirable and necessary.

In this unusual keynote, Marc Prensky brings his re-framing lenses to this issue, helping us see how trusting each other leads to far greater outcomes and satisfaction.  But it involves seeing the issue of “trust” from a very different perspective.

Marc asks: If a team had members of every race, religion, gender and nationality, and yet they all thought similarly about the problem at hand—how much diversity would there be?” and “What id someone let’s you down?”

Takeaways include
• How to create situations where people NEED and DEMAND diversity and trust?
• How do we promote diversity of THINKING—and use that to our advantage?
• How can we measure diversity of thought?
• How can we build higher performance through trust, diversity of thinking and projects?
• Can trust in workplaces be increased? How can we do it?

From old beliefs to NEW 21st Century BELIEFS, and from “You’re not ready yet” to “We can”

Today we are far beyond the terms “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” that Marc Prensky coined two decades ago. We are now in a time of massive generational change in attitudes and beliefs, including a more positive attitude.

Attitudes and beliefs are currently changing generationally changing with regard to a huge number of areas, says Prensky, including education technology, privacy, property, personal relationships, security, sexuality, power, kids, violence, god, justice, money, love, government, creativity, and even time and space.

We are, today, in the midst of a major transition from the beliefs and attitudes of the world’s “Last Pre-Internet Generation,” raised entirely in the 20th century, and the “First Internet Generation,” raised entirely in the 21st. The most important new generational belief, says Prensky is “WE CAN.”

The consequences, Prensky shows, are profound.

Takeaways include:

• How beliefs differ between generations.
• What this implies for adults and for young people”
• What are the best actions for us to take?