Each morning my email inbox overflows with offers promising that AI technology will propel me to new heights.
How to become a better writer. A better parent. A better businessperson. And on and on.
The message is almost always the same: faster, cheaper, better.
Yet the intensity of this discourse pulls me in another direction.
“What,” I wonder, “are the qualities that make us uniquely human—qualities that cannot be replicated by technology? What traits do we possess that remain untouched by the pursuit of faster, cheaper, better?”
Human Tendencies
The first thing that comes to mind is the human tendencies, or needs, that I first studied as a Montessori teacher trainee: activity, exploration, orientation, order, becoming, belonging, repetition, precision, exactness, communication, and imagination.
Just as a spider builds a web and a bird builds a nest, human beings have distinctive tendencies that guide their behavior.
Whether observing a young child or a space explorer, you can see these tendencies expressed through their actions.
Universal Human Traits
Closely aligned with the idea of human tendencies is the concept of universal human traits.
In a Psychology Today article, Lawrence R. Samuel, Ph.D., identifies ten human traits that we all share. These traits help us do what is necessary not only to survive but also to improve our lives.
As I read through his list, I found myself imagining these qualities not as separate characteristics but as spokes on a wheel, each strengthening and supporting the others.
Samuel’s list includes:
- Belonging. We all need to feel that we belong, and meaningful relationships are central to our lives.
- Community. We need to see ourselves as part of something larger than ourselves.
- Creativity. We use our imaginations to build, communicate, and envision the future.
- Curiosity. Curiosity fuels intelligence by leading us to ask questions and seek answers.
- Family. Our desire to have a family and to belong to one is deeply rooted.
- Love. Our capacity to love has enabled us to build civilizations and care for one another.
- Memory. Through storytelling and writing, we preserve and pass on generational wisdom.
- Purpose. Each of us seeks to understand why we are here and how we can contribute.
- Storytelling. We learn through stories and seem to have an endless appetite for them in all their forms.
- Voice. The desire to communicate and express who we are is fundamental to the human experience.
These ten qualities connect and unite human beings in ways that technology cannot.
Three Gifts of the Human Being
Let’s add another dimension to what it means to be human: the three gifts of the human being—choice, natural laws and universal principles, and inborn intelligence.
Choice
One of our greatest human capacities is the ability to step back, examine our options, and choose our response.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl reminds us that between stimulus—what happens to us—and response—how we act—there is a space. Within that space lies our freedom and our power to choose.
An interesting thing happens when we practice making thoughtful choices: we become better at it.
That is one reason I hesitate to hand over my decision-making to technology, especially when its definition of good, better, and best may not be my own.
Natural Laws and Universal Principles
Just as we live within the physical laws of gravity, the Earth’s daily rotation, and its yearly journey around the sun, we also live within natural laws and universal principles that govern human behavior.
Kindness, respect, honesty, personal integrity, and service to others are principles found in every culture.
When we disregard principles such as respect, kindness, and trust, we often find ourselves facing unnecessary difficulties.
When we understand the natural laws of human development and the universal principles that guide healthy relationships, we make wiser choices and direct our lives in more positive and meaningful ways.
Inborn Intelligence
Each of us is a gift to ourselves.
We are born with the intelligence of our bodies, our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. Our talents develop through the environments in which we live—the people we encounter, the tools we use, the ideas we explore, and the natural world around us.
These intelligences give us the agency to act on our choices and to live according to our principles.
Human tendencies…
Universal human traits…
The three gifts of the human being…
As parents, teachers, and leaders, should our focus be on strengthening these qualities?
If we do, I believe we will arrive at good, better, best—well ahead of faster, cheaper, better.
Join me for a complimentary workshop…
