In short, it is a mindset of moving beyond disruption to sustainability for the common good. This is a topic myself and Lily Chambers explore in blog posts and podcasts.
Too optimistic? Let me ask, have you ever wondered why nearly every article you read on artificial intelligence leads with a photograph or graphic of a robotic-looking cyber head or body part or some gnarly-looking abstract business graphic?
So where does this all lead in our lives? Let’s find out.
In How Automation and Artificial Intelligence Strips Us of Our Humanity by Carlos E. Perez explains how we may be losing our Ikigai (生き甲斐): A reason for being, because we’re overly focused on automation and machines. I get that.
I’m going to talk more about this in BeyondAI with the goal of placing our minds beyond all this talk about disruption into a conversation around sustainability for the common good. There is no doubt we’ll experience great change in this next decade and we will automate everything we can.
So then what? Who wins? Who looses? Is a meritocracy model of living the only way we can survive? In Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway, he illustrates a thought-provoking alternative.
What about everyone else in our world worried more about food, water, shelter, and giving their kids a chance in life? William Gibson said, “The future is here it’s just very evenly distributed”. He’s right. Let’s move beyond the obvious and put front and center the goals in life we want versus what business wants. Sure it’s going to take time I’m just saying why wait, start influencing the direction before someone else does it for you.
You know automation will march on. Push the march in the direction you want. Get up to speed, and learn what you need to learn in the way of new skills. And, let’s lean into how we, you and I can change and reorganize our lives and social structures for the better good and have time for the common good.
The industry has created an instant-on, 24×7 access world striving toward hyper-competition with predictive analytics. We may see near-zero maintenance manufacturing in the future. How do we move this paradise of profits and automation to be shared more evenly? If we know it’s coming, let’s just get our minds on what we want as people versus workers.
Could we negotiate a 20-hour work week given you can automate your job by 50%?
That’s my point. This is what I’m wanting to know and discover with you.
So next time you see a cyber-headed graphic as the lead picture for an online article why not visualize that as a zen moment in the mountains of Colorado, maybe Aspen, or a view of the desert from a home in Santa Fe? Let’s live the life we want not the one we’re told to like. We can all negotiate change for the future with this in mind.
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Appreciatively
Tom Parish and Lily Chambers Co-Hosts for the Podcast Show
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