What does it mean to be human in an age of AI, accelerating uncertainty, and collapsing systems?

In this episode, I sit down with Josep M. Coll — systems thinker, economist, educator, and spiritual practitioner — to explore one of the most important questions of our time: how do we navigate a world in deep transition without losing ourselves in the process?

Josep's story is as interdisciplinary as his thinking. From studying economics and international development, to living and practising Zen in South Korea, to bringing spirituality into business schools and the United Nations — his life has been a long practice of connecting the inner and the outer. What he discovered along the way is that you cannot address the big systemic challenges we face — climate change, inequality, AI disruption, the collapse of old economic models — without also doing the inner work.

We talk about what systems thinking really is (and why it's not a discipline but a field of interdependence), how AI is acting as a mirror forcing us to ask who we are beyond work and productivity, why education for children needs roots before screens, what spirituality actually looks like inside a business or organisation, how money and purpose can coexist, and what gives him hope in what Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci called "the era of monsters" — that difficult passage when the old world is dying but the new one hasn't yet taken shape.

This is a conversation about courage, curiosity, collective intelligence, and the responsibility we each carry to help build the world that is emerging.

Topics we cover:

Systems thinking: what it is and why it matters now more than ever
AI as a mirror: who are we when machines can do what we do?
Education, children, and screens: what should we actually be teaching?
Spirituality in business: how Josep brought meditation into boardrooms and the UN
Money, purpose, and the health of organizations
Universal basic income, techno-feudalism, and what happens to the economy
How to stay resilient and curious in times of chaos
Gramsci's "era of monsters" and the futures we have a responsibility to imagine

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About Josep M. Coll

→ Connect with Josep on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josep-m-coll-phd-0baaa0ba/→ Read more about Josep on his website: https://www.jmcoll.com/

⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions.

Thank you for listening, and for being part of the new world in the making.