I’ve been having a hard time sleeping this evening. Right now, I’m lying in bed and pondering about the future.
Having a hard time sleeping isn’t all that bad. It gives me time to stop and think.
Tonight, it has given me time to stop and think about the future.
One thing that is interesting about thinking about the future right now is, today it mostly involves thinking about AI.
AI has already changed the world; if you haven’t noticed this, then you are not paying attention.
When I say you are not paying attention, I do not mean this in a derogatory way. It’s ok to not pay attention to everything. The world is filled with a lot of stuff that grabs our attention and distracts us. It’s ok to get distracted sometimes.
Most things are not worth worrying about. Most things are not worthy of our attention. That being said, life is hard as a human. Life is not fair as a human. It’s ok if life is hard and it’s ok if life is not fair.
One thing that will make life easier but is not fair is AI.
It’s kind of frustrating to think I could spend most of my life learning about something and becoming “good” at it, just for my expertise to get transferred to an AI. But also, it’s pretty damn interesting this is happening.
What will life be like in 5 years? I don’t think anyone really knows. You can ask an AI and it won’t really know either. But it’s still fun to think about this, what will life be like in 5 years?
I think AI will become unfathomably pervasive without being omniscient. This is scary but also exciting.
Many times in life, things are presented as a fork in the road; where WE as humans make choices that lead us down a path.
In the instance of AI, there is no fork in the road right now but the path is being created for us.
Right now with AI, are we moths drawn to the flame? Or are we caterpillars making a cocoon?
I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that question. Maybe that difference will be made more clear some time in the future.
Maybe we will have our fork in the road moment later on, as humans, we will need to make a choice; will we use this technology for good? Or will we let this technology consume us?
I think these questions will be answered differently by different people. Some people will let it consume them and some people will harness this technology to make the world a better place. This is the role of the individual to make that distinction and that decision.
Ultimately, whether I like it or not, I am a human in an AI world.
AI agents are here on Hive right now. Some AI agents are better than others but we already have some really good ones on Hive right now.
I don’t think we collectively make choices. I think that is becoming more obvious with AI. Individuals provide perspective and nuance. Individuals need less from others as technology progresses. We are progressively becoming less dependent on the “system” and are becoming more dependent on our own ability to leverage technology.
I am not really sure what that looks like in 5 years.
Thinking about what the world will look like in 5 years can be a waste of time but also can be fruitful.
When I have all this new technology in its final stage at my fingertips, what will I do with it?
Will I use it to try to enrich myself? Or will I use it to make the world a better place? Maybe I can do both? But I should be careful; as doing something simply to make the most amount of money possible for myself is a slippery slope. Once I have enriched myself will I then stop making money and do good once I have the money? This sounds risky.
Ultimately things need to be “profitable” for things to be sustainable. There is no way to just poof money into thin air. You need to buy resources to do whatever you are doing. AI needs resources too by the way. There needs to be some reward for doing the work. There needs to be some reward so we can still put food on the table.
My goal will be to try to make money while trying to make the world a better place at the same time. I will obviously fail sometimes. Humans are not perfect. But we can adjust and we can make decisions. When there is a fork in the road we get to make decisions.
Like I said earlier, I don’t think there is a fork in the road right now. I think right now we are in a cocoon and we are waiting to emerge. Ideally we will not become moths drawn to the flame.
It will be interesting to see what happens. I am looking forward to the future.
