“Let’s meet for coffee very soon. Next week sound good?”
“Sure does.”

Three months later.

I finally get around to meeting up with a good friend—catching up, enjoying company and the like. Our conversation bounced around quite a bit, as any good conversation does, and had a blip about the world of automation.

He runs an insurance company (shameless plug, but he’s a great guy and deserving of it) and I shared my concerns about the future for him and myself. We both have an understanding that technology, mainly driven by automation, will alter or erase our careers. However, I couldn’t help but point out that places like coffee shops and restaurants are booming.

To which he replied, “As technology takes over our lives, humans seek more spaces where they can gather together.”

I’m paraphrasing, but it blew my mind. You’d think as a scholar of Religion, this would’ve been obvious to me.

Nope—and he’s absolutely spot on.

Humanity thrives in community and technology has not become the replacement for it. In a turn of events, it has become the signpost pointing us to places where we can be with each other.

The sudden explosion of coffee shops, board game cafes, gastro pubs, restaurants, sewing weekends and all sorts of events are a showcase to this phenomenon. We can spend less time on menial tasks and more time doing what we love with each other.

It also means we’re going to need to create more spaces to meet.

I suppose this also means my “useless” Religion degree, Religion being a cultural landmark rooted in gathering people together, is going to be quite useful in this new world.