Are Ancient Civilizations the Answer to Our Future?

The unexpected advantages of a digital detox.

Erik P.M. Vermeulen, PhD
4 min readNov 25, 2022

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Photo courtesy of author

The first fifty years of my life — I was born in 1969 — have been good to me.

Yes, there were bumps in the road — the 1970s oil crisis, the early 1980s recession, the Dot-com Bubble, and the Global Financial Crisis, to name a few. And it was devastating to lose a loved one or a family member. When the memories remain, life will never be the same.

But things have always looked bright for me regarding my personal development and career. I continuously learned, unlearned, and relearned. I developed skills through training and experience that helped me deal with the ups and downs of life.

What also helped is that the conditions of (most) people around the world improved. A better infrastructure contributed to our communities’ health, safety, and living standards. We live longer. We eat more varied diets with healthier and tastier ingredients. Our transportation — planes, trains, cars — got safer and more comfortable. We are generally more and better connected. The laws on safety at work gradually made our jobs more enjoyable.

But I’ve made a mistake.

I was naïve and convinced that our future would only get better. Emerging technologies. Cryptocurrencies…

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