We’re not afraid of AI. We’re afraid of our own Apathy

The experts are all proclaiming it. I hear it across all my podcasts while lifting at the gym, doing errands in the car, while washing dishes at night. This past week I’ve heard the same thing over and over again. AI is here, most just don’t know it yet. So many jobs are gone, even if layoffs haven’t started. It can do what a lawyer/CPA/developer/human does, but faster. Or my personal favorite: My AI assistant does X while I sleep.

College students are outsourcing their essays. Companies are cutting copywriters, graphic designers, even engineers. AI has already become recursive. It’s surpassed humans, the economy just hasn’t corrected yet. It makes me wonder if my dream career is over.

I want to make a living as a writer and photographer. It’s what I love to do. But I hear a lot of smart, respectable people saying some semblance of those words. Is a writing career no longer viable? Is photography a bygone art?

Matt Shumer’s viral essay this week declares as much: “The experience… of watching AI go from ‘helpful tool’ to ‘does my job better than I do,’ is the experience everyone else is about to have. Law, finance, medicine, accounting, consulting, writing, design, analysis, customer service… The people building these systems say one to five years. Some say less… I think ‘less’ is more likely.”

This is on top of all the other uncertainty in the world. Political and economic upheaval, alarming geopolitical drama, the ambiguous precipice of automation. It feels like there’s a collective, unspoken agreement that the world will not be the same. That the world we knew and all agreed upon is changing before our eyes, in real time, faster than we can process or comprehend or appreciate it. That we’re basically powerless to stop or affect it. And that’s downright scary.

That’s how I often feel when I reflect on the world and my place in it. When I consider how I can make my mark, fulfill my purpose… even make a living. Is writing a dead-end career now? Are real photographs actually necessary anymore? My psyche in two words: scared shitless.

Then I think about my daughter, who just turned one, happily scurrying across the floor from toy to toy, reveling in the pure joy of carefree freedom with reckless abandon. What kind of world will she inherit? How will she make a living? We’re doing our best to raise a strong, smart thinker, but it’s hard to predict what will be important for her education. What skills should we focus on? Coding? Analytical thinking? Simply resilience? What happens if there are simply no more viable jobs? What if it’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’?

Ben Affleck recently pushed back on this on JRE: “I actually don’t think it’s… going to be able to write anything meaningful… the technology is not progressing in exactly the same way they sort of presented it and really what it is going to be is a tool…” He also cites the concerns over cost and energy requirements versus output. AI’s improvement curve may already be flattening. Each new model costs exponentially more energy for only marginal performance gains. The early growth line shot upward, but now it’s leveling. Maybe the AI revolution will be incremental. 

Sure, Ben Affleck is an actor/filmmaker. I doubt he’s more technical than you or I, so his view, like everyone else’s, should be taken with a grain of salt. But I do believe he and Matt Damon are two smart people with expertise in their industry who are rigorously and honestly evaluating AI’s impact on their space. Then again, they’re already rich, so maybe it’s arguable they can afford to be cavalier and dismissive.

What about someone less rich but better positioned in the space? Cal Newport is an actual computer scientist. In both his essays on his website and on his podcast he regularly refutes the hype around AI, such as his workforce essay from January: “AI agents failed to live up to their hype. We didn’t end up with the equivalent of Claude Code or Codex for other types of work. And the products that were released, such as ChatGPT Agent, fell laughably short of being ready to take over major parts of our jobs.” Reading quotes like this from someone who studied algorithms at MIT allows me exhale a little bit. I hope Ben and Cal are right.

Yes AI is scary. But I believe we’re collectively holding our breath because we’re scared about our humanity, not the technology itself. Most laypeople like myself don’t understand it technically. We don’t know the differences between supervised and unsupervised learning or what deep learning and reinforcement learning really means as they pertain to AI. But we feel the malaise and dread. Not just in AI, but in every sphere of society. The chaos isn’t isolated to AI and Big Tech, it’s all around us in the housing market and cost of living, in our leadership and government. We’ve had serious problems before AI came along, and they’ve been bubbling to the surface for a while now. Maybe AI is the straw that breaks the camel back—we fear not just that it will replace us, but that AI represents our loss of value, our loss of purpose, a loss of meaning. Maybe the AI hype makes us feel we’ve lost our way and can’t gain it back.

I know one thing for sure. Our salvation is not AI. It is ourselves. Our empathy and humanity are what will save us from ourselves, not an artificial technology. I believe in the power of humanity. I believe humans can be kind and amazing and terrible and good and intuitive and beautiful. How well we organize is what will determine our fate. Tommy Lee Jones has this line from the first Men in Black movie that has always hit me: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it."

I reject that. We may be dumb animals sometimes. But we’re also capable of so much more. What separates our species is our ability to organize. Look at the world humans have built. Sometimes it’s messy and unfair and disturbing, but there is less suffering than ever before. See Steven Pinker’s work. We must reject apathy in the face of disorder and uncertainty. Maybe the world is changing faster than we’re able to process. That means we must look deep within our humanity to change the world. Things like supporting human art, even if imperfect. Prioritizing our relationships over entertainment and consumption. Teaching our children to think critically and empathetically. Organizing along our shared humanity instead of tribal differences. We can do all of this. We can refuse to give into our fear. We can take action.

AI isn’t deciding our future. We are. Through our attention. Through our organization. Through global consciousness. Through what we teach our children, and what we build for them. So that they grow up in a world with AI, but without apathy.

Another World

The problem with ignoring the news: I don’t know all the facts about Los Angeles. But as I’ve ‘caught up’ a little bit over the past few days, I’ve noticed that there are very little facts; it’s mostly rhetoric.

I browsed some Reddit threads in the L.A. and relevant subs. Most of the comments are anecdotal.

I read a few articles in yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News (the delivery man will toss another paper up the stairs if they miss my neighbor’s door). There were figures regarding the troop deployments and statements from both sides about the ongoing legal proceedings—a little better. But by the time I read through the paper, that information was undoubtedly outdated, as this situation is escalating and changing rapidly.

I watched Gavin Newsom’s “major address to Californians” and found it to be mostly theater. He made a good point about the lack of due process with masked men disappearing people in the streets, but I was otherwise left wanting for more facts. What were the casualties and damages in L.A. from the initial protests, before the National Guard was deployed by Trump? What have the casualties and damages been since? Providing these simple details would validate his claims that the situation was “under control.”

I believe the protest and unrest in L.A. were mostly peaceful, that there was little violence or property damage. But how can I be sure?

Our national conversation around these events prove it’s difficult to know the truth, even if one follows the news. In today’s world, virality is the only thing that matters. It’s how our news creates revenue. Thus overreaction is the intended effect. Get on a team and root for your side while disparaging the opposite’s position.

All the while, these events have significant consequences and scary implications for the rule of law and former precedence.

It's alarming and disheartening. My only solace is the sentiment I have strived to maintain through the past decade or so, one that was encapsulated perfectly in a window I passed by on a walk last week: “another world is possible.”

As of this moment, Americans have the right, and the power, to choose the direction and path of our country. Every human alive has the capability to contribute to another world. A better world. Can we organize and rise up as one? For our shared values of love, health and freedom?

We won’t find inspiration from the news. It must come from ourselves. I pray it does. And I still believe.

Uncertain Times

Uncertainty is difficult for us. In the modern world, we're habituated to cleanliness, order, convenience. For the first time in human history, we know what to expect at home, at work, and out in the world. Hunter-gatherers constantly faced the unknown. Uncertainty was a daily stressor. We are simply unaccustomed to the kind of uncertainty sparked by all the recent tariff announcements (and recantations).

I have always struggled to see Trump as anything more than someone who stumbled into enrapturing the Republican base. His brashness has attracted a cult following, swaying American politics unlike anyone since FDR. 

But the circus walk-around may be ending. The uncertainty caused by these tariffs appears unwelcome. If ever actually enforced, they would result in significant consequences to the average American. So what to do?

No one has figured it out yet. Uncertainty prevails.

The way to defeat a clown is not through scorn or anger, but indifference. Unfortunately that’s more difficult when it’s the White House. Maybe the wisest/only thing we can do is lean into the roots of our humanity and become more comfortable with regular uncertainty. And rebuild.

Eye of the Storm

The world seems to rage like a storm outside. Sheltered in our home, I’ve been perfectly content within the bubble of our newly grown family, only distantly aware of the outrage, the despair, the rollicking tide of emotions outside. I haven’t read the news or listened to any podcasts—although I’ve gained Joe Rogan’s guests are gloating with glee, while the likes of Kyle Kulinski and NPR appear to be in full meltdown.

Here in the eye of the storm, we are immune.

So is what happens when you bring a child into the world. I know once things settle down, once we establish a routine and the newness of everything wears off, I’ll peer out from our fortunate tower and survey the carnage. For what’s happening now has consequences. And we can’t hide under the sheets forever.

Now that I am raising a child, the future of this world is paramount to me. As I watch her study her environment with growing understanding, it hits me. My daughter will grow up in the world we establish, and we are determining what is acceptable, and what is not, right now. We are negotiating the conditions our children will inherit. We are deciding the storms of their future.

All those with children can appreciate this. We may disagree, fiercely, about politics and policy. But two fundamental truths can unite us: we all want the best for our children, and we all share this one world. When I watch my daughter gaze into my face with her beautiful blue eyes, I’m reminded that her future matters more than today’s storms.

Perhaps if we approach our politics as parents first, we can focus on establishing a better world for our children. Maybe these truths can quell any emotional storms by uniting us in our shared longterm purpose: ensuring our children can live happy, fulfilling lives. Our love for our children can be the eye of the storm, the calm center from which we build a more peaceful world. 

Attention in Peru

At 9 years old my parents took me to visit my grandparents in Peru. My grandpa was a civil engineer and helped build water systems all over the world. We took advantage of their Lima residence to go see Machu Picchu.

Back in the 90's this was a long journey. We flew from Lima to Cuzco, high up in the mountains. I remember being forced to drink tea to help acclimatize to the altitude. My mom and I hated it—we both piled a ton of sugar into our cups so we could force it down. We then took a train (now very popular) from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu, along the Urubamba River. For a 9 year old, this was a wild adventure, unlike anything I had ever experienced. The train was old compared to any American trains, and we lumbered alongside the river, precariously swaying above the gushing rapids below. The river was RAGING. I had never seen a river so large or powerful.

Me next to the 12 Angled Stone at age 9 in 1997

With no available distraction for several hours, I drank in the scenery. Steep mountain cliff on one side, the river on the other, and a dense forest beyond, my imagination went wild. I loved it. I daydreamed there were 'bad guys' in the trees across the river who started shooting arrows at the train. The bad guys somehow got to the front of the train and were climbing toward our compartment on the roof. In my mind's eye I returned fire with my own bow and arrow, both across the river and to the intruders on the roof of the train, ducking behind seats. Swordplay ensued, and it was a raucous duel between the train passengers and the bad guys.

I still remember this fantasy today, almost 30 years later. I was a 9 year old with no entertainment, so I created my own, and it felt completely normal. There were no cell phones back then, and definitely none that would work in the deep mountains and jungles of Peru. I had to entertain myself.

This wasn’t a one-time occurrence. When I was a kid I used to stare out the airplane window and watch the clouds for entire flights. I loved deciding what objects the cloud shapes were, and would feel this strong desire to walk out on the clouds; they looked so soft and warm and welcoming.

Returning to the same spot to recreate the picture at age 30 in 2019

Similarly I have memories of watching the moon when I was very young. I would be in the back seat of the car on drives home. I would look up out the window and stare at the moon, seeing its face. I knew rationally that it wasn't following me, but I enjoyed the sensation as if it were. I would watch it the whole way home, wondering about it, how far away it was, how wonderful it was that we had a moon to look at and enjoy.

And I wonder now... are we missing something by not affording ourselves the opportunity to engage in such fantasies regularly? Do we gain anything when we have only our observations about our environment and the thoughts inside our heads? In today’s world we are constantly stimulated, our attention fractured between different screens. Are we losing presence, and thus our true life experience, because we’re constantly absorbed by the digital world?

I recently learned that “rawdogging flights" has been trending this year. What does 'rawdogging a flight' mean, you may ask? Basically, you sit on a long-haul flight without any distractions—no phone, headphones, no internet. Apparently people, mostly young men, are engaging in this practice as a sort of rite of passage and a way to disconnect from the digital world. It’s supposed to result in a lot of deep introspection. I hear this and wonder if our subconscious somehow recognizes our plight and is crying out for a release.

The beautiful Andes along the Inca Trail in 2019

I used to think of my life in units of time, believing time was the ultimate currency. We only have so many years, so many moments on this earth. Money is only a means to an end to secure more time. Time appeared to rule all. But recently I’ve adjusted my thinking. We have a finite amount of time in life, but within that we also have a finite amount of energy and attention. Attention is a limited resource just like time, and we only have so much available to us in our finite lives. Our fate in life is determined by how we direct our attention, what we choose to focus on, in the limited amount of time afforded to us. Units of attention are the true currency.

If we adopt this paradigm shift, we may reconsider how we spend our time. We might choose to disconnect from our iPhones and stare out the window on a train, enjoying an outlandish fantasy, leaving our devices untouched. In tune with our attention, we might better enjoy our time on this beautiful earth.

What if we solve the Internet Problem?

I try my best to consume news that is balanced, or at least containing viewpoints across the political spectrum. It seems to just result in conflicting information. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to believe, to know what’s fake news, to identify mis or disinformation. When both "sides" speak so fervently about their position and vehemently attack each other, how do we determine the truth?

And then I thought: what if the world has always been like this? What if it’s always been difficult to know what to believe, if there's always been uncertainty? Perhaps that's not actually the problem—maybe it's a feature, not a bug. Perhaps the issue is not the divide itself, but the mechanism of information consumption, the consequences resulting from the amount and accessibility of information today. What if we just have a phone problem, an internet problem, not a polarization problem?

Internet cafe in Diqing, China near the Tibetan border - June 2013

The intensity of our rhetoric appears to have increased. It’s common for pundits or elected officials to make bold claims about what’s at stake. This is the most important election in the history of our country. Democracy is on the ballot this year. WE CANNOT LET THE OTHER SIDE WIN! Democrats and Republicans both regularly make such grandiose statements. Everything is a crisis. But this could be less of a sociological problem and more of a phone/internet problem.

I think back to my reading of Truman by David McCullough—there was a lot of mudslinging during the 1948 election between Harry S. Truman and Thomas E. Dewey. Sure, the language was more 'professional' than the language today. Many people blame Trump for that. But language changes. I’ve noticed my family swears more often in casual conversation now, which never happened when I was younger. We even swore in front of my Granny in the last few years of her life, something forbidden growing up. Similarly, there was mudslinging in the elections of the 1800’s too. Criticism of political opponents is not new.

But maybe the abrasiveness has increased, maybe the language has intensified. Are our phones to blame? We are constantly connected to the zeitgeist through our internet-capable mobile devices. Most people check their phones the moment they wake up and look at them throughout the whole day, only putting them down right before going to sleep. Compare that to 1948. Harry Truman ran a ‘whistle stop’ campaign, touring the country on a private train, stopping in tiny towns all across the contiguous United States, speaking to groups of a few hundred. Sometimes there were merely dozens of listeners. The press traveled with him, and the newspapers were the disseminators of information, the campaign updaters. News traveled slowly. Today, most people get alerts anytime anything ‘newsworthy’ happens. Information's travel time is negligible, with incessant updates occurring instantly after things happen, day after day after day.

Examining a red telephone box in Westminster - February 2023

The more recent democratization of news media means competition for your attention is fiercer than ever. Everyone knows the newspapers are dying; their business model can’t keep up with the technology of today. Independent news shows attract hundreds of thousands of daily consumers. There are thousands of podcasts and Youtube channels, Reddit threads and Twitter conversations, all competing for your attention. It’s disorganized, chaotic, and still new. We don’t yet know how to handle it.

But what if we did? Would solving this information overload actually solve our 'democracy crisis?' Would it decrease polarization? In other words, is the technology upstream from these sociological (and thus economic and political) consequences?

Our phones are not the devil. The internet shouldn’t be abolished. But survey after survey show we are increasingly stressed by, and concerned about, our relationship to technology and our obsession with our phones. Whereas information scarcity yields its own perils, the past twenty years show information overload has its own profound consequences. What if it’s as simple as solving the internet problem? What if we change our approach to the internet, and measured public discourse start to return?

Simple and easy are not synonyms. “The internet” is not one single ‘thing.’ But if something is simple, it becomes approachable, and when we can approach something, we can solve it. Maybe the problem isn’t us. Maybe it’s just how we use our phones.

Summer Closing

You can feel the summer winding down. The temperatures are cooling, school is starting soon (as well as football season!), and the year is on the back half. And so it goes.

Time keeps going.. are we contributing? Are we enjoying it?

Summer Moment

The heat of summer is always a turning point. The first half of the year has passed, and we either look forward to the back half or live in the moment. We can prepare for what’s to come, but we can’t live in the future.

With children out of school and all the fun events and travel, summer is the easiest time for us to embrace the moment. Can our species see itself while in this moment?

Elections 76 Years Apart

In January 1948, nobody thought Harry Truman could win reelection. Almost every single poll counted him out, all the news media counted him out, even his political party counted him out. And yet through determination and a deep belief in what’s right, after touring nearly the entire country, he won.

This is not 1948. And obviously Joe Biden is not Harry Truman. It doesn’t appear a Truman candidate will emerge this election cycle. Most Americans seem unhappy with both major candidates. So what will we do? What will the great citizens of the United States demand of their representatives in 2024? How will we self-govern?

The power lies with us.

These Political Times

And it all changes again. I had a feeling something would happen while away and disconnected in Yosemite. Books will be written about this time in political history. And while everyone seems to have hot takes, the summer succession of the Presidential debate, the Trump assassination attempt, and now Biden's drop out of the election is unprecedented.

It seems like a long time until November, in which a lot can still happen. It's our responsibility as citizens of this country to continue to voice our opinions and to demand change and transparency from our representatives. Information is available to ordinary citizens as never before; the time is now to choose the direction of our country. Who do we want to lead us? Because that's truly our choice, not the Democratic or Republican parties.

We enjoy incredible rights and freedoms in this country. They come with responsibilities. Let's act on behalf of them.

American Baseball

Nothing like a summer baseball game to make you feel American. Hot dogs, balls and strikes, the National Anthem.

There are many things we can enjoy together as a nation. We only need to look at what’s right in front of us.

Democracy Now

What happened at the Trump rally today is appalling. It makes one scared about their country.

I don’t even know how to react, still. I’m still processing. But I’ve realized that although I’ve never voted for Trump nor ever will, I’m glad he appears relatively unharmed.

We have a choice as a country. How we move forward through this election and in the immediate future will go a long way in determining the success of our country and our democracy.

Citizenship Now

It’s easy to succumb to reactionism today. Our phones, constantly attached to our bodies, feed us information continuously throughout the day. Thus presidential gaffes become quick news.

Reading this Truman biography during an election year was coincidence. But the contrasts between the Oval Office in 1950 and today could not be more jarring.

As citizens, it is our responsibility to govern ourselves and to direct our representatives. A phone call or letter can be the most effective way to make our opinions known, our voices heard. Facing the “choices” in November, now is the time for us to be proactive citizens, and to make our history.

Momentous Citizenship

Recovering from traveling and the time change, I read a lot of my Truman biography book at home today.

I can’t help but feel we are living in a momentous time period politically. That we must rise as citizens and actively guide our country toward our desired direction.

Most people in this country, and in the world at large, can agree on basic, just policy. We all want the same things: love, freedom, health, and opportunity. We can show this with our votes and our voices this year.

Will we rise?

American Dive Bars

American bar culture is unique. Many bars in the United States have no or limited food, serve mainly regulars, and foster a “home away from home” environment.

I remember being struck by the similarities in Italian cafes: locals would congregate briefly in the morning on the way to work, catching up with neighbors and enjoying their morning brew.

In America, many folks do the same on the way home from work, visiting their local dive bar and spending time with friends before going home for the night.

I think one could gleam a lot of American culture by visiting various bars around the country. We’re an open, friendly people, and we like to have a good time. Especially in our bars.

How Good We Have It

Today I stopped and thought, “we have done pretty well.” It’s kind of amazing, the world as it’s set up now. While working out at the gym this morning there were TV’s showing the news from around the world. We have cars that can take us great distances, and people can communicate across continents instantly.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t inequity, hardship, or even horror in the world. We have monumental problems in our global society, and billions of people suffer every day. We have a long way to go.

But most of the world eats every day, and is connected to the internet. People live healthier and longer than ever before. We’ve made progress. Progress that must be constantly maintained and expanded; it’s not automatic. Will we continue the march onward toward an even better world?

Remembered Like Bill

My parents met at UCLA in the 1980’s. They camped outside Pauley Pavilion to get seats for the basketball games. I was even named after forward Trevor Wilson.

So even though like most millennials I primarily knew of Bill Walton as the goofy broadcaster, I also knew of his prestige as a basketball player. Growing up my dad often implored me look up his collegiate statistics.

I was saddened to learn of Bill’s passing yesterday and immediately texted my dad. Although I never met him, I feel he had some distant impact on my life, growing up in a UCLA family, obsessed with sports.

The statements from the sports and entertainment greats are endearing. Bill Walton is talked about as selfless, generous person, who always made time for others. Countless basketball legends professed him a dominant, captivating player, but an even better person. Someone who was funny and lived life with excitement and enthusiasm.

I want to be remembered like Bill Walton. To be remembered for being great at something, but for that to pale in comparison to the impact on people’s lives. Thank you Bill for being an inspiration to me, and to so many others. I aspire to live a life well lived, so that when my time comes, I can be remembered like you.

Reckoning Approach

It feels as though we’re reaching a reckoning point. As a society, as a species. It might not be negative; we may we trending toward a collective epiphany. What will be our approach?

Slow Thinking and Slow Living

I only know my time, but wow does the world move quickly. Our technology brings us incredible speeds of communication and computation. And the advent of machine learning may contribute to an even greater acceleration of change in our society.

And yet, are we more connected now than 20, 50, 100 years ago? Or do we just know more things faster? Another way to think about it: if we are more connected in today’s world, does our biology enable us to benefit from that increased connection? Or do we suffer?

There are many difficult questions to answer. The only way we can approach solutions is if we slow down to think about their repercussions. Instead of reacting constantly, we can employ slow thinking and slow living.

Wonder in 2024

It can be hard to see the beauty with all the increased prices for everything, the red lights run, the online negativity…

I find it easiest to go back to the most basic things—the flowers blooming all over the Northern Hemisphere, the fact we’re all here together in this magical moment, the breath.

When we step back, figuratively and literally, we see can see the wonder of living on Earth in the year 2024. It’s important for us to see it.