The future is scary for Millennials in North America.

(To see the Heartbeat dashboard for 2016-18 Millennials and Future, click here.)

I started asking young adults these questions three years ago: How do you feel about your future? The future of your country? The future of this planet?

Hundreds of Millennials from Canada, the US, Australia, UK and Mexico shared their feelings. I wrote a post about Shades Of Fear. Unfortunately, today fear is still growing in the US and Canada.

Just like in 2016 and 2017, American Millennials are more negative about the future of their country than Canadian youth.

This word cloud sums it up

I am reading a very interesting book called The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent. The main idea (among many brilliant ideas) of this book is that "culture shapes values, and those values shape history". The author lays the foundation of “cognitive history” and integrates such complex fields of science as neuropsychology, history of East and West, biology, anthropology, systems theory and linguistics. He argues that the human mind has the power to constructs its own reality.

I wish I had answers or solutions.

I just spent two months in Japan, going through an AI Accelerator Program by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. I walked a lot and watched people, especially young people on Tokyo streets. Without understanding a single word in Japanese, I focused on their body language, how they dress, what they eat, their non-verbal communication with each other and the world around them.

I still can't describe the world of difference between Japan and North America, but I felt no fear from Japanese Millennials. They feel happy and connected - to each other, their environment, their culture and their country.

Now, I am curious how Japanese feel about the future…