Have you ever had a feeling about something that you simply couldn't explain? Something you might describe as intuition or gut feel? Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink (http://gladwell.com/blink) was dedicated to this topic, describing how many of the best decision-makers aren't those who process the most data.
The good news is that we all possess this amazing ability to some extent, simply because we are human. I am not going to pretend I totally understand how or why we can think in such non-linear ways (does anyone really?), I have just come to accept that we have an in-built ability to make intuitive decisions about things without much information. Sure we get it wrong sometimes, but how many times do we get it right? This is one significant advantage we humans have over computers.
The Machines are coming, apparently.
I have been reading articles recently about the progress of Deep Learning and projects like Google Brain. Image and speech recognition are becoming so good that computers 'have opened their eyes. Whilst it seems we are still a little while away from computers improving themselves without human involvement, it does mean the writing is on the wall for certain tasks and types of thinking.
There is no doubt that computers have an edge over us when it comes to data storage, and the ability to process copious amounts of hard data. But at least for the time being, they can't reason or relate to context, and they aren't particularly good in circumstances that require creative or unpredictable solutions.
Yet, there continues to be a push towards artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Sure these are cool things, but isn't being human about the experience itself?
Develop your uniquely human skills.
People tell us all the time to listen to and follow your gut instinct. It is all of a sudden very wise advice. This is a skill and a talent, something to practice. It is going to be the skill that lands you in your next great job, or keeps you in your current job. Computers and machines are going to be able to do a growing number of things we can't, but we have a strength which can't yet be replaced.
It's a great time to become more human by laying the foundations for the future. Learning to balance our Mental, Emotional, Physical and (dare we say it) Spiritual wellbeing is a great place to start. It's the basis of creativity, decision-making, collaboration and humour, everything that computers aren't (yet).