Hit by a truck, going 100mph

"The changes coming are going to hit many of us like a truck going 100mph. Can't stop this change; can't hide from it either. All we can do is get smart on what is coming. Prepare for it. Accept it. Will this be Frankenstein's monster? Maybe. Or it could take us to a brave new world."  

Many decades ago, I was selected by my local YMCA to represent them at a statewide youth conference in downtown Minneapolis (when it was safe to go there). It was an honor, and all of us high school kids were on our best behavior. In one small group I was in, the subject of "What is the biggest concern of the future" came up. War, pollution, overcrowding, were some of the topics brought up. But then some geeky kid from Edina brought up something from left field. "I think the biggest problem we will have in the future will be too much leisure time." That gave everybody a few chuckles but not much else.

By the end of this decade, a scant five years from now - history will prove that young man from Edina to be correct. Correct in spades. Ray Kurzweil, Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others, have been telling us this for the past few years. AI is coming and coming faster than anyone could predict - or could imagine. We are on a superhighway which will take us from AI to AGI to ASI at almost light speed. The changes coming will be massive, rapid and pervasive. Those who are not prepared for these changes, will be on the outside looking in.

One of the smartest people I listen to on YouTube is a young lady named Julia McCoy. She is the CEO of a software firm who uses AI. She is wicked smart on this technology and is sounding the alarm bell for all to hear. As most know, we are living in the world of AI right now. Big deal, right? Most have Siri, Alexia, or something similar. Well guess what? We are about at the end of that stage. The next stage (who some think that Google has already figured out, but not yet released as yet - is AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). When that becomes commonplace in the next few years, that is when change really starts to happen fast.

Meanwhile, most of us still have blinders on. Especially our schools. We are educating most of our kids to be unemployed when AGI starts taking over the workplace. Pie in the sky? Not according to the futurists and experts. This is coming and coming fast. If your kid is schooled in robotics or AI programing - there is a future. If, however, you kid is majoring in gender studies or art history - he or she will be riding the bench for a long, long time.

Julie McCoy thinks by 2030 (five years from now), billions worldwide will be without employment. Leisure time become the norm, just as the kid from Edina predicted many decades ago. Humanoid robots will be commonplace, and their numbers will be legions. The convergence of AI, quantum computing, and robotics will rule the day. Gargantuan data centers, powered by smallish yet efficient and clean nuclear power stations, will dot the landscape. Every home will be "smart", and self-driving cars will be as common as cars which need to be driven by humans. 

One more thing which Julia said in her last podcast. This election we are having in November, might be the last election which looks anything like previous elections. AGI will be so invasive by that the time the next election comes about, who knows what the landscape will look like. BTW - anybody hear one peep about the coming and changes AGI will bring during the last debate. No? Me neither. 

The changes coming are going to hit many of us like a truck going 100mph. Can't stop this change; can't hide from it either. All we can do is get smart on what is coming. Prepare for it. Accept it. Will this be Frankenstein's monster? Maybe. Or it could take us to a brave new world.