Author: SHAH SAUD

“This is the most important thing to know about living in the 21st century, that we are now hackable animanls. That we have now the technology to decipher what you think, what you want. To predict human choices, to manipulate human desires in ways which were not possible before.”

~Yuval Noah Harari

The 2 most important skills that Mr. Harari say are important for the rest of your life are:

1. Emotional Intelligence
2. Mental Flexibility

As I am currently pursing a master’s degree in Advance Materials and Innovative Recycling. My future professional focus would be on developing and managing advanced materials within a circular framework. This positions me as the forerunner of economic and ecological necessity. This specialization demands a strategy that prepares not just for evolution, but for repeated, radical reinvention. Therefore, the two important skills mentioned above are of even greater value in my field of profession.

1. Navigating the Material Innovation.
The video emphasize that the 21st-century career is not built upon a “stone house with very deep foundations,” but must be “like constructing a tent that you can fold up and move to another location very quickly and easily”. For a professional specializing in the Circular Economy and Innovative Recycling, this adaptability is crucial for two main reasons:
Rapidly shifting technologies: As new advanced materials are developed and enter the waste stream, existing recycling methodologies quickly become obsolete or insufficient. The expertise mastered today in advanced materials recovery may be “irrelevant in 20 or 30 years” as new streams, processes, and legislative requirements emerge. This is why mental flexibility will be a paramount skill.
Multi-stake holder profession: Unlike traditional engineering fields, the Circular Economy is driven by political, ethical, and resource scarcity factors, alongside technological change. My professional value must therefore reside not in specific recycling techniques, but in the meta-skill of “how to keep changing throughout your life” and “how to keep learning throughout your life”. If I reinvent myself today to master innovative recycling, I must possess the mental flexibility to give up that expertise and reinvent myself again decades later as the material landscape changes.

2. Emotional Intelligence for Systemic Change
While my technical background (materials science, metallurgy) is essential, the core functions of the Circular Economy involve system-wide transformation, policy negotiation, and inter-industry collaboration.
Leading Policy and Collaboration: Driving circularity requires navigating human elements: managing conflicting corporate interests, influencing consumer behaviour, and convincing stakeholders to abandon linear economic models. Success in these high-stakes roles demands high levels of emotional intelligence. This ability to manage complex human interactions, unlike predictable technical processes, is less susceptible to algorithmic replacement.

Ultimately, a career in this vital field demands treating one’s own mental and emotional flexibility as the most critical resource to be conserved and developed, allowing the adaptation necessary to respond to the constant change driven by materials science, economic and social pressures on a global scale.

Therefore, as Mr. Harrari says, even though we are now ‘hackable’ but he also believes this can be put a positive effect. Being able to make sense of bio-chemical data on your existing competences and using these data algorithms to hack yourself into master the skills important for the future. Having said that, governance on privacy and data protection issues around these new technological development are also paramount.