So, Just How Worried Should I Be?

Here are a bunch of seemingly unconnected thoughts…

On an evening walk, the street lamps by the river turned on. 

I prefer going to an ATM. 

My Driver’s Education teacher spent almost an entire class on how to fold up road maps. 

My parents gave us Dickens Village sets for our wedding anniversary every December. 

In a Dickens Village set there was a lamplighter figure who would light the street lamps. In order to deposit my first year teacher paycheck, I had to race out of school to get to the bank before it closed (at 3pm). I used a road map, a street atlas, even printed off a Map Quest map at one time.  

Our lives are so different now. The displaced lamplighters had to find other work. There really aren’t “banker’s hours” anymore. (The only time I write checks is for charities). It’s impossible to imagine driving without a GPS system navigating our route. And now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expanding exponentially.  

As Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” But here goes: AI is in the process of changing everything. 

That’s it. AI is changing everything. 

We are in uncharted territory, yet again. And I don’t know how to respond to AI possibilities. Expert’s predictions are all over the place. Some are very positive, most, though, are negative. It’s not clear. So, just how worried should I be? 

The best course is to be cautiously optimistic. The skills in the Age of the Heart like empathy, understanding, perspective taking, and love will go a long way and can lead us through these tumultuous times.