Forging The Future: Ari Wallach on The Longpath Mindset, Telos & Transgenerational Empathy

We as a global society currently face challenges—some of which are existential in nature—that simply cannot be solved with the mindset, institutions, and paradigms currently in place.

Instead, these solutions require that we think beyond current economic, political, and social constraints—and even well beyond our individual life spans—to consider deeply the impact we will have on many generations into the future.

Indeed, these solutions require an applied mindset that Ari Wallach calls Longpath—an active way of being that cultivates future-conscious thinking and behavior to build more hopeful visions of the future, turn those visions into action, and foster more meaning in our lives and legacy.

Ari is a futurist (although he hates that term), a social systems strategist, and the founder and Executive Director of Longpath Labs, an initiative focused on bringing long-term thinking and coordinated behavior to the individual, organizational, and societal realms in order to ensure humanity flourishes on an ecologically thriving planet Earth for centuries to come.

A recent adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Ari is also the author of a new book out this week, aptly titled (you guessed it) Longpath, which extends a discussion he began with his 2017 TED Talk, Short-termism is killing us: it’s time for Longpath which has been viewed over 2.5 million times.

This conversation asks a simple question: how do we become great ancestors to our future descendants?

The answer lies in understanding the crucial nature of our current ‘Intertidal’ moment, which demands we upend our traditional thinking about the future and develop something called ‘transgenerational empathy’.

It also requires orienting our lives around Telos, shouldering a life quest that is bigger than you that will help you make peace with death and gird your lived experience with greater meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.

The future is not a singular certainty. Nor is it solely fueled by technological advances in some far distant point in time. Instead, the future is manifesting now—and it is very much human. In this fascinating conversation Ari explains why.

The visually inclined can watch the magic transpire on YouTube. As always, the podcast streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

I really enjoyed talking to Ari. I think this one just might leave you reevaluating your path and priorities in a positive way.

Peace + Plants,