The writer Ross applied Darwin’s theory of evolution to technological change when he said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one who is more adaptable to change”.

There will be no stopping these technologies and more and more people around the world will have to adapt to survive.

The digital age that we are living in has significantly and fundamentally changed the way business and commerce do business. Some of those changes are outside of our comfort zone but it is imperative that we adapt to these monumental changes.

If we do not, our country will be seriously disadvantaged economically and socially and not able to obtain the levels of prosperity and jobs that Bermuda enjoyed in the past.

There is resistance to change in every single community but change is absolutely necessary for our very survival.

We must learn from the past but we must not live in the past.

We must not become too entrenched in practices, partisanship and ideology that robs us of flexibility, compromise, reconciliation and the willingness to change.

In this hyper-connected, constantly changing world, the roles of the public, parliamentarians, business and trade union leaders are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

We should be well-advised to pause to recognise the indispensable commonality between Bermudians and residents and not be so eager to constantly parade our differences.

Let us hope that we can address our differences in a reasonable way so that we can cope with the unanticipated changes facing us.

People of goodwill in every sector of our community want to see a cohesive and caring community where equality of opportunity, fairness and levels of prosperity are created which lead to full employment.

I firmly believe that our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our differences, fears and prejudices.

In adapting to this constantly changing world, we should be ever mindful of the reality of our shrinking population as a result of our declining birth rate. We, therefore, must be conscious of our strengths and limitations and focus on carefully selected areas of commerce and business that would not only enhance our country’s survival, but we will prosper as a country and as individuals.

All indications are that things are going to change a lot faster than we expect and in ways we can’t predict.

It is, therefore, imperative that we prepare to meet these changes.

The leaders of our country and the general population must change some of our attitudes and be more unified.

We should refrain from using hurtful and/or negative language.

In all of our actions, we should ask, “Will our actions do the greater good for our country and will our actions help others as well as ourselves to be better people?”

In order to manage this change in the interest of all Bermudians, we will, perhaps, have to change some of our Government institutions, legislation, business models and attitudes with the stark reality of a rapidly changing world that is affecting every facet of our lives.