Ep. 451: Cathedral Thinking
Guest: Rick Antonson
Groucho Marx once quipped, “Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?”
According to Rick Antonson, “You have a responsibility to your children’s great grandchildren.” In fact, Antonson says, “You need to wrench yourself from your phone and become a cathedral thinker about the big issues of our times.”
The concept crosses many cultures. Chief Oren Lyons, of the Onondaga Nation, a member of the Iroquois Confederacy, says, “Looking ahead is one of the first mandates given us as chiefs, to make sure every decision that we make relates to the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come.”
Antonson rhetorically asks, “Is cathedral thinking a relic of the past or does it still apply?” He says, “Yes. More, now than ever, we need to apply it to social policy issues, racial injustice, technological risks such as AI, public health and space to name but a few.”
We invited Rick Antonson to join us for a Conversation That Matters about why we should care about future generations.
