The Future of Technology: Serving Humanity's Journey, Not Replacing It

In this thought-provoking episode, Justin shares his vision for a future where technology serves humanity rather than the other way around. Drawing from his experiences at soul-filled festivals and tech networking events, Justin explores how we can use technology to improve our interactions and emotional intelligence. He discusses the importance of vision and commitment in creating the world we want to live in, a world where everyone has access to the resources they need and can be and express their true selves.

Key Takeaways:

• The role of technology in teaching us to be better humans.
• The importance of vision and commitment in achieving our goals.
• How to create a world with abundance and opportunities for all.
• Moving beyond the hero's journey to embrace the full human experience.
• The significance of viewing technology as a tool to enhance human connection and consciousness.

Overcome the daily grind with transformative techniques from Justin's book, 'Engineered to Love.'

These practices aren't just about finding peace—they're about reconnecting with yourself and the world around you in meaningful ways.

Access your free materials today at engineeredtolove.com/sample and start living a life filled with joy, ease, and love. 

Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!

Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go to https://www.engineeredtolove.com/ to learn more!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We don't have enough master yodas. We don't have enough humans to teach other humans how to be a human anymore. What scales? Technology scales. So if we can start getting these best ways to interact with each other and have technology so that it can help remind us and teach us and guide us that like, hey, here's how you talk to this person, hey, here's how you handle that emotion, then we collectively start becoming better humans as a whole. Then we can just sort of like let technology step out of the way unless we want it for fun. It's there to serve us. Technology is supposed to be there to serve us in our journey. It's not there for us to serve it. Are you ready to live a life with enough time, money and energy, have relationships and connections that delight you? Are you ready for the extraordinary life you know you've been missing? If so, then this is the place for you.

Speaker 1: 1:04

I'm a best-selling author, coach, consultant and speaker who's worked in technology for over two decades. I'm a leader at transforming people and organizations from operating in fear, obligation and guilt to running off joy, ease and love. It's time for Engineering Emotions and Energy with me, justin Wink, phd. For Engineering Emotions and Energy with me, justin Wink, phd. Hi there, today I am talking about my vision for the world and where technology fits into that, because this is going to be a little bit of a different type of a show, because I've been off for a month, because we've had some fantastic interview episodes. Today it's just you and me rekindling the love, and in that time where I've been out in the world, I've actually been out in the world. I've been experiencing things. I went to a festival for a three-day festival, so a lot of interactions with people, some great experiences, and then some other things not so great. I've also been going to some tech networking events and there's some great, amazing technologies and some great people and there's some stuff out there. It's not so great. So I want to kind of talk about how can we start going into this direction of a great world to live in, and I'm going to share with you my vision of what that world looks like for everybody, including you, yes, yes, even you. Even you, watching, listening with your background, the way you look, what you want to do with your life, the things that you've done, even you. I want a great world for you and I want technology that makes that even better.

Speaker 1: 2:47

So I'm going to keep things kind of general, because what I've noticed is that a lot of people, even the most well-educated, most open-minded, there gets to be certain topics especially in these topics that have to do with how different people from various backgrounds interact with each other that when those things start getting brought up, it's like something goes, and that ability to think and that ability to go inward and go hmm, how does this feel? Does that feel true? Does that feel right? Does that feel like something? That is how I want to be living in the world that goes out the window and it just becomes a muscle memory as far as the speech, things that are said and what's expected and how you're supposed to behave and what you're supposed to think and what you're supposed to do. So I'm going to avoid using any terms and to describe groups of people because, cause, when I get to talking about my, my future vision for what the world is meant to be, it doesn't fucking matter. You're like how, justin, how can I? How can it matter? How can it not matter? What's you know what kind of a household I'm, I'm born into, what my sexuality is, what my gender is, what my race is, stick with me. And so if this is for you, this episode is for you and you're going to totally get it, you're like, oh my gosh, I see what he's talking about and you're going to have some ideas of how, how we can get there. But if, if this episode is not for you, it's not for you. And if I, if I spelled it out a little bit more, it wasn't. And I don't want to take away the world that you live in right now. I'm not here to take anything away. I'm just here to provide even more, even more options, even more opportunities, because I believe there is plenty, there is abundance, there is so much possibility that this way that we have been living and are living currently, it's so outdated, it's so unnecessary. The way I see that a lot of people are viewing the world and operating the world is it's very similar to I write about this in my book Engineered to Love, going Beyond Success to Fulfillment that when I was growing up I had a sister and there was one time I was probably like nine, 10.

Speaker 1: 5:01

I was in like kindergarten, first grade, whatever that age is. Uh, I had a, a wireless TV, a TV that cause. Back then TV came, was broadcast, cable TV was existed. It was still early, there were still plenty of channels that you could just get from broadcast TV. And I had a. I had a TV, a little TV. It was like about not even a two inch screen color. I went fancy.

Speaker 1: 5:27

I think I bought this with my own money, or I asked Santa, because I was still into Santa at that time and I was, you know, watching it in the back of the Toyota minivan that my mom was driving and my sister was in the other seat or somewhere. And at some point, you know, I'm just like I want to watch Punky Brewster. Punky Brewster reruns are on Fantastic show. I really loved it. Punky Power Really enjoyed it. But my sister wanted it. She was like I want to watch something else. I was like, no, I'm watching my thing. I worked hard to get this thing and I'm watching something. I worked hard to get this thing and I'm watching something. I'm enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 6:07

And my sister just starts screaming, crying, like as if I would have, just as if I was beating the living fuck out of her right, like I was just like wailing. I didn't put a hand on my sister, not a hand. I didn't say nary, a naughty word at her. I just said, no, I don't want to. But this was the game she liked to play, the game of being like ooh, something's been done to me, I've been harmed. The victim she liked to play the victim. What role does this put me into? What role does this put me into? This puts me into the role of the perpetrator. I am the perpetrator because she puts in the victim. And again, you know, I'm like eight, nine, whatever. I'm not aware of these roles or how to get out of them, and you know it's very. I find it very interesting One word that gets thrown around a lot, a lot, is the word privilege Privileged I was privileged, I had the TV.

Speaker 1: 7:03

Privileged perpetrator, perpetrator, privileged. And then there has to be a victim for there to be a perpetrator or a privileged person. There has to be somebody without. I do find it very interesting that, again, if we're using this term privilege, it usually means there's somebody bestowing that, bestowing that upon some and not others, which means there ends up being someone or some other entity that is even above that, that has the power to decide who gets and who doesn't, and we seem to often forget this in these areas who's privileged and who is not privileged that well, who's deciding this? Why do we not get to call them out the one who is actually bestowing privilege and not? And we get kind of like, well, but the privileged one is the privilege. It's like no, whoever has, because if you are the one to bestow privilege, you just, you just have the power. You don't, you don't have privilege, you don't need privilege, you're above privilege, right? Ah, and so then, if you're above it, then you can bestow it to some and not others. And this is a way to do some control, right? Yeah, starting to think here what's really going on? So, really, in this situation, who's got the control? Who's above the privilege, the having more and the not enough?

Speaker 1: 8:21

My mom, my mom in this family situation, right? So who's mom in the societal situation? I'm not here to decide that, get into that. Just something like there's got to be something going on there. So my sister wants it. I don't want to give it up.

Speaker 1: 8:41

She plays the card of like oh my gosh, a wrong is being done to me, I am being wronged by not getting what I want. And my mom, you know my dad, my dad was in the military, so he was often you know away for weeks at a time, sometimes six months at a time. So a lot of times my mom was affected like a single mom, and you know she would have to work, take us around, tough thing. So I don't, she did amazing. She did amazing with what she had. So I don't blame, she was doing her best. But she would just like for limited, limited patience, limited training, limited ability, limited knowledge. She would just go like Justin, knock it the fuck off and just give your sister the goddamn thing. And so what happens here? Right, basically, it's now flipped. Now my sister is the one that has and now I am without.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Has anything actually changed here? Just the roles have flipped. We still have somebody who's privileged, someone who is not privileged. The roles have flipped. We still have somebody who's privileged, someone who is not privileged, someone who is now perpetrated and someone who has been victimized. And one thing that I've realized is someone like because I believe we all have had situations where we've done wrong, we've been wronged what is there is privilege in being the wronged individual. You're like Justin, how can you say that? That there can be privilege in being a victim? Ah, you know. You know what is going on. You know the story. You know something has been wronged and that there's somebody wronged you. It creates certainty, certainty. There's certainty in this. Ah, yes, yes, there's some certainty. You know the rule. Now we need something to right the wrong. So that's why the story likes to go back and forth. We've been doing it for as long as we've been humans, right.

Speaker 1: 10:38

There's other ways, though. Right. Picture it. Picture it Instead of just this one TV we're taught in life. There's only the one TV. There's not enough for everybody. So you've got to take turns. Somebody's going to get it, somebody's going to not Now, anybody.

Speaker 1: 10:56

That's probably, you know, grown up later than me and had parents get the more bougie fucking minivans where it's got the screens built in with the DVD player and it's got each, but each sheet back has its own individual screen. There's plenty for everybody. So what if my mom had just gone, like Justin, here's another TV for your sister. And you know it tells my sister, justin, here's another TV for your sister. And you know it tells my sister shut up, there's plenty. You have yours, he has his. You can each have your own experience. There's no need to fight. You can just have your experiences. You don't have to play this game right Now. Nobody's privileged, nobody's a victim, nobody's a perpetrator.

Speaker 1: 11:38

What are we going to do? Whatever the fuck we want, right? So that ends up being a challenge. It's like ooh, now I have to figure out what I want to choose. What do I want to watch, or what do I want to create? Or do I want to watch this thing or do I not? And my sister would have to decide.

Speaker 1: 11:57

So this isn't about this growing up. This problem. This is about what kind of world do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a world where there's not enough? We've been living in that world. We don't have to live in that world anymore. This is the vision, this is where things are getting to, and again, I'm not saying that there aren't challenges now, that there aren't things that need to be changed.

Speaker 1: 12:26

The question is is if we don't have a vision of where we want to head, if you don't know how you want it to be, you're never going to get there. You're not going to be able to know how we need to change the institutions we have or what institutions we need to create, if we don't know where we're going. So picture it. Picture a world where there's plenty. There's plenty of food, there's plenty of housing, there's plenty of healthcare, there's plenty of opportunities to create, to share, to consume all of this and people people are, on the one hand, they're human, just like everybody else, but, on the other hand, completely unique.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Completely unique like a snowflake. A snowflake is 100% unique, yet it is also made up of water. Each snowflake is completely uniform in that it's made of water, and I feel like, as human beings, we are like that as well. And what is in between the sameness and this uniqueness? That's where we get to play and create and enjoy the differences, and it's so much more than just three little variables that we like to say, like this I am this, I am this identity From my perspective, from this future. That is just one of the many things that makes up a unique individual, and it becomes something that we allow everybody like. I'm having this skin, I'm having this between my legs, I'm having this desire, as well as I'm having this idea. I'm having this mental challenge, I'm having this emotional experience, I'm having this interaction with substances, I'm having this loss, I'm having this celebration. There are so many things that make up what the human experience is, and no one thing should make up any individual more so than another.

Speaker 1: 15:20

So it isn't about oh, I can just look at somebody and I can go boop, boop. Now I know exactly who they are and what they are all about. I have to. It's like oh, I recognize, now I just gotta go. Oh, what is this person all about? What do they want? Who are they? Well, it fires them up and they likely, or likewise, also get to go that about me, and they likely, or likewise, also get to go that about me.

Speaker 1: 15:48

We go beyond the assumptions that just because I can see a certain thing with my eyes. So one of the events I went to, um, there was one who's, who's blind, blind, and I'm just thinking like and there's, there's actually, you know, it's like you must have a whole different way of, uh, categorizing the world if you can't see people. Right, because we are going to categorize, because that's what the human system does, but it's, what do you do with that categorization? And I'd be very curious, when somebody can't see, how they end up categorizing. Is it, you know? Is it tonality of words? Do scents start to play a bigger impact? Because we all like to go okay, am I safe? Am I not safe? Things like this? And so what if we were in a world where we could just get beyond the traditional ways that we go? A person has to be like this because they're this sort of way. It's like they have, they have this and they want that. Okay, no big deal.

Speaker 1: 16:47

And we also allow a little bit more like, because, again, the way I sort of look, again you know, 100 unique, but also 100 human, and in between then it becomes that these, these things, these ways that we appear, um, if we look at it, that these are just accoutrements, like putting on a coat, like if I put on a rain jacket, I am not a rain jacket. Just because I look a certain way does not mean I necessarily am that certain way or that that is going to define me. And I feel like that's a lot of the world that we've been living in, where we allow even though in some weird way we're told not to but on the same way, that it's also like, yeah, but you know, this is how it's supposed to be based off how appearances are. To me it's like if I can tell a story, and it's wrong for one group of people to do it to another group of people. If I swap the groups of people, it should still be wrong. It's like is this improving the human experience or not? No-transcript, maybe I'm a little. You're like okay, where does technology come into play? Well, because to me it really is about the human experience and it becomes going beyond the hero's journey and getting to more of a human journey.

Speaker 1: 18:15

And I think I had this thought but I got to give it to Rachel Wormath, who's just on the most recent episode with her book Alive in the Fire. It was just on the most recent episode with her book Alive in the Fire. She uses the tagline like this is about going beyond the hero's journey to the human journey. And I 100% agree with that, because the hero's journey it's going back to that same old bullshit where there has to be some problem, some sort of enemy, something to be overcome, some bad thing, and that the hero has to figure out how to be good enough to overcome it. And what if we just got beyond that? And there's no good, there's no bad, there's just.

Speaker 1: 18:58

And again, I'm not saying that there can still be the hero's journey, some people can still be having it, but I'm just saying that doesn't have to be the only experience anymore. I think there can be basically, basically like having a west world. What move this? The show west world is basically it's where there's robots, so people, so humans can go and they can be like I want to be, like it's the old west, I want to fucking shoot people and do some horrible things and it's like okay, great, but you're not doing it to to other humans that don't want that shit. So it's one of these.

Speaker 1: 19:28

Imagine a world where people are conscious, they are aware and they get to choose. And I want more people to have the choice to have a life where they are free, where they are happy, where they're joyful, where they're getting to be themselves as they are, maybe more than just how they look, more than just how they want to be romantically. It's also about how they want to enjoy the world. It's about how they want to create in the world. It's about how they want to explore, how they want to grow, what they want to learn, what they want to experience. There's all these multitudes of the human experience and I want whoever wants to have the choice to explore all that to have that.

Speaker 1: 20:05

That's the vision I hold and where I see technology coming in is if the technology can support that by helping to, because, let's face it, we no longer have enough humans that know how to be a good fucking human anymore, right? We don't. We just don't have that Like. Again going back to the hero's journey, one of the important parts of the hero's journey is the mentor. So think of Master Yoda, right, who teaches Luke Skywalker, you know, it's like here's how you got to be the Jedi, right? So there's usually we don't have enough Master Yodas, we don't have enough humans to teach other humans how to be a human anymore. What scales Technology scales? So if we can start getting these best ways to interact with each other and have technology so that it can help remind us and teach us and guide us that like, hey, here's how you talk to this person, hey, here's how you handle that emotion, then we collectively start becoming better humans as a whole, and then we can just sort of like, let technology step out of the way unless we want it for fun. It's there to serve us. Technology is supposed to be there to serve us in our journey. It's not there for us to serve us. Technology is supposed to be there to serve us in our journey, it's not there for us to serve it.

Speaker 1: 21:33

The Matrix if you remember the movie the Matrix I believe it came out in 1999, the Wachowskis with Keanu Reeves where, in a world that just, it's like, oh my gosh, it sucks, there's not enough, I got to scrape by whatever. And then eventually it's like, oh my gosh, it sucks, there's not enough, I gotta scrape by whatever. And then eventually it's asked the question do you want to stay in this, this matrix, or do you want to wake up? And I can't remember the pill colors, but chooses the pill that wakes them up out of the out of the um, out of the fucking, out of the fucking matrix, and realizes like, oh my gosh, humanity has been turned into a bunch of copper tops, a bunch of human batteries that are there in a simulation, just there, in this agitated state, because that is the most efficient way for them to create power. Um, for the, for these machines, these robotic machines that have taken over the earth and I'm not going to get into the other movies because I don't think this but um, and so I think that's, that's so. It's like no, that is not.

Speaker 1: 22:32

We're not here to make machines that are going to be like us or possibly do better than us that are going to be. We know we don't need conscious. We don't need conscious machines. We are conscious. We need to understand and use our own consciousness and we can design artificial intelligence, machine learning things, technology to help us in our own journey of consciousness, to help us on our journey, right. So this is about this is a human journey.

Speaker 1: 23:03

Technology is about the human journey.

Speaker 1: 23:06

It's not about the technology. Technology is here for us. We are not here for the technology Doesn't matter if it's cool. What matters is is it going to serve you and me being able to connect more, to have that connection, that love or that emotion, whatever it is that you and I want to experience together? That's why you know this technology that allows me to be podcasting, to have a video over YouTube, that's fricking awesome.

Speaker 1: 23:34

But if it gets in the way, if it prevents you and me from talking to each other like two humans, like that, I'm no longer allowed to say things and you're no longer allowed to hear things because someone somewhere said like hey, no, only one person can say this, or nobody should be able to say that, that now this technology is getting in the way and it's disconnecting us. That is not cool. That is not cool and that's what I've been noticing is there's a lot of stuff that's disconnecting us where I'm not allowed to say something because of who I am. You can't say something because of who you are. You can't say something because of who you are. We can't be our full self around each other, so I can't share what's going on with me, you can't share what's going on with you. And what happens if we were to connect and find out? Ooh, we both are having hard times. We're both having challenges. There's a lot of this that we don't like. No-transcript Everyone can have the experience they want.

Speaker 1: 24:50

There doesn't have to be somebody that's privileged and somebody who's not privileged. It doesn't have to be a perpetrator or a victim. I'm not saying that that has to go away. That can still be an option. Some people can play that game if they want to. Just, I don't want to play that game anymore. I've had enough of it.

Speaker 1: 25:06

And if you're still listening to this, I'm guessing you've had enough of that too and you're like let's build a better world where anyone can be themselves, regardless of what they, what their opinion is, what they look like, what they, what they want to do with their private life, like it should all be acceptable because it's all human. We're just all these beautiful, beautiful little fucking snowflakes, and that is a great thing. Someone calls you a snowflake. What's what I think is great is I think everyone can get gets called snowflake nowadays, it doesn't matter. So everyone gets called a snowflake. Embrace it, be like yes, I am a snowflake. I am a wonderful, unique individual that is part of this collective humanity, and let's work with technology so that it allows us to be that, to celebrate that, to enjoy that, to have these experiences where we're not fighting one another but we're just figuring out oh, how can we enjoy the experiences?

Speaker 1: 26:07

Cause the most recent event I went to is great tech weekend. I ended up meeting a woman and it was I mean, it ended up being towards the end because she was like, hey, I'm going to go to this really cool art event. Do you want to go? And I was like you know what? Fuck it, let's, let's go, let's go on an adventure, um, an adventure, um, so. Uh, you know they always say don't get in cars, strangers, but I think that's because you might have a really great time, uh. So I ended up going to this place called um the box shop, uh, the box shop in san francisco, um, and it's. It's so wild because it was at a spot that I'm like I've driven past here at least 10 times because there's an awesome bathhouse that I love to go to. It was just, you know, another like half a mile down the road.

Speaker 1: 26:53

I'm like what the fuck is this place? It's like I went into Mad Max with color and because with color and like happy, happy, joyful people, and what is is a place where they do massive art creation, a lot of it for burning man, and there was so much cool stuff at giant scale, and like there was a heart that is about seven, seven feet tall, made a metal, uh, because, uh, basically it's a it. It starts beating by spewing fire out, and so it's like I'll probably have a video up at some point or maybe that can get interspersed with this, I don't know. But what if we were in a world where, if anybody wants to do that, they feel like they can do that, just because it's really cool, and let's see why not?

Speaker 1: 27:53

Art really is a human thing, and it's not just for artists, it's for humans. Art is a human quality and what, instead of? Because it's funny, it's like I'm there and I'm going, I'm just going like this is such a waste, this is such a waste Cause that's like my old engineering scarcity mindset, but it's like, really, if you really think about it, what is the point of anything, anything, anything that humans do? Think about it? Is there a point to anything? Anything that we do other than it creates an experience, and we are here to experience it, and so why not have an experience that is happier, more joyful, more fun for everyone?

Speaker 1: 28:37

And then we just get to see like what fucking cool shit all of us create and we just kind of are offering great, amazing rides of, you know, creative writing, beautiful art, like ways to get to other parts of the galaxy, ways to get to parts of the ocean that we've, you know, maybe even not even seen yet. Yeah, ways to just use the body through sports or I don't know what. Human creativity is incredible. It's infinite. So let's say we've had enough of the fucking hero's journey for the 90 plus percent of us that I think are sick as fuck of just the same shit over and over again, and let's get over it. Instead of trying to figure out who should be the bad guy, who should be the boss, bitch, good girl. Instead of that, what if we just go like hey, we're all humans, there's plenty, let's just figure out We've got plenty of toys and we've got plenty of time. Really, let's figure out how we want to play together and make some really cool fucking scenes and some really cool fucking shit. That's the vision I have for the world and that's how technology should be serving that. If it's not, then fuck that technology, fuck who's creating it. And, um, yeah, serious, seriously, like it's. It's enough of people without a vision and without, uh, consciousness and without awareness. They don't get to run the show anymore. It's's over, it's over.

Speaker 1: 30:10

I like to call these the American pie entrepreneurs, the apes, because they're just like the movie American Pie back in 99, where Jason Biggs is like he's a fucking horny, horny kid who doesn't know how to deal with women. His dick is just hard. And he sees that pie, that's hot and it's cooling, and he's like oh, I bet that's like sweet, sweet woman loving and he just puts his dick in it and that's what so many of our leaders and our entrepreneurs are like. They're just like, oh, I just want to fucking get in there and fuck that, and they're not thinking, they're not being considerate that somebody else needs and fuck that. And I don't, they don't. They're not thinking, they're not being considerate that somebody else needs to eat that, that somebody else might be impacted by what it is that you're doing. You just want to fuck and this doesn't. And again, in this movie it was Jason Biggs, a white dude.

Speaker 1: 31:03

But in this world, anybody, anybody can be an ape and American pie entrepreneur and I'm not saying that we can't let them have their thing, but the adults need to be in charge, the Eugene Levy that goes like hey, this is, you know, people are going to eat that pie. We've got to put it somewhere else and you know, here's an appropriate way for you to you know, learn and to work with your urges. All right, it's time. It's time for those, those of us that can see things and know things and do things and guide. It's time for us to do it, and that's why I made this episode. It was very uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable. I really did.

Speaker 1: 31:40

I'd rather not, I would rather not, but I did it because I think this is important for this vision to be laid out, to see where we could be the world that it could be. How do we get there? I'd love to be laid out to see where we could be the world that it could be. How do we get there? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I'd love to hear some ideas. So please hit me up on social media, hit me up in the comments, reach out to me. Like, what are some ideas? Maybe there's some ways I can support you, because you know, yeah, it's not gonna happen overnight. Yet I know it's totally possible. If we can see it, we can create it, and it's just a matter of how do we get there? And I'd love to hear some ideas.

Speaker 1: 32:14

I'm so happy that you made it through this and hopefully it's kind of making sense that this really is a vision for everybody who wants to be a part of it. Like, literally, everybody doesn't matter what you look like, what you want, who you are, how you want to change. It's all welcome because you're just part of the great flow of being a human and let's flow more together. So, with that, thank you and good day. Thanks for tuning in to Engineering, emotions and Energy with Justin Wink, phd. Today's episode resonated with you. Please subscribe and leave a five-star review. Your feedback not only supports the show, but also helps others find us and start their journey of emotional and energetic mastery. You can also help by sharing this podcast with someone you think will love it just as much as you do. Together, we're engineering more amazing lives.