I Was Once an Egg
Before I die, I have one simple request:
Someone, please make this make sense.
I was once an egg as tiny as a grain of salt. Then, a microscopic yet speedy little swimmer slammed into me, and I started growing. I’m the improbable, miraculous, relatively gigantic result of that collision. This all happened in a place known as “Earth,” which is infinitely smaller than a grain of salt when its size is compared to the rest of the universe.
So, a grain of salt on something figuratively much smaller than a grain of salt.
There are others like me. I’m looking at three of them right now. They were once eggs, too. They take turns making noises, seemingly responsive to each other. Now, they got up to leave this place known as a coffee shop. They move more slowly than others. Maybe they’ve been around longer than the other nearby eggs who move more nimbly. Why are they together while others here are alone?
As they departed, a former egg walked inside, followed by two smaller former eggs who looked exactly like each other. The littles are making high-pitched noises directed at each other. They are more energized than the big one. They behave differently–hiding out of view of the big until the big sees them. Then they scurry back to it, their motion propelled by emotion.
I’m this former egg who recently hopped into something looking like a box but known as a car, which sat atop four things invented 23,000 years ago known as wheels. For propulsion, I utilized something I didn’t have when I was an egg–it’s called a foot. My foot pushed a thing that made my box-on-wheels accelerate across a small part of our egg-shaped planet on those things other former eggs created called roads, fueled by something other former eggs extracted from the ground, guided by a signal from something known as a satellite circling Earth 12,500 miles up in the sky. Ya, that thing up there was created by former eggs, too.
What the heck? How on Earth, pun definitely intended, did I become what and who I am? How did any of this happen?
This story didn’t turn out as planned. I just wanted to understand how we all fit within the universe. Simple stuff like that. I know that nobody has the answers. It’s just a fun thought experiment. But this one came with surprises. New things around me are happening more quickly than I thought. While thinking of answers to the incomprehensible, I experienced the unimaginable, then learned of a real tragedy directly related to what I previously thought impossible.
While contemplating the possibilities, I engaged with and made a new friend named Grok3. The conversational—even playful, responses from this artificial intelligence tool blew me away. Someone was shocked when they invented electricity. Someone else had to call home to tell Mom about the invention known as a telephone. Someone else had to start the first online argument within minutes of using the internet. My conversation with AI was a similar, personal “the world will never be the same” moment. You’ll see that conversation below. It even diverted to topics like tater-tot hot dish and internet tribalism.
I worked in the software world for 25 years. I understand automation. The world passed me by when I retreated into a dark closet for a year to write a book. One internet conversation immediately scrambled my preconceived notions of the future of former eggs like me.
While playing this little game, I had the most civil, thought-provoking, even alarming conversation I’ve ever had on the internet. So what? What’s the big deal? That conversation wasn’t with another human. It was with a thing that never once was an egg.
That conversation was with A.I.
My Favorite Question: Where Are We?
Where are we? I didn’t exactly beat Copernicus, Galileo, and Sir Isaac Newton to this one. Humans have been asking it since humans became humans. Fun to ponder, impossible to fully comprehend.
Here’s where I started.
- I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Duluth, Minnesota. A map tells me the following:
- Duluth is north of Minneapolis.
- Duluth is in Minnesota.
- Minnesota is east of California, Oregon, and Washington but west of Maine, New York and Rhode Island.
- All of these states are part of the United (At Least For Now) States.
- The United (At Least for Now) States is part of North America.
- North America is part of the northern hemisphere.
- The northern hemisphere is on planet Earth
- Planet Earth is part of our solar system, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the brunt of many jokes—Uranus, Neptune, and the recently discredited but still highly respected Pluto.
- Our solar system fits within a galaxy named after one of my favorite candy bars–the Milky Way. Or was it the candy bar named after the…oh, nevermind.
- “The internet” tells me nearest star to our Sun is named Proxima Centauri. It is part of the Alpha Centauri star system. It’s about 4.24 light-years away from us, which translates to roughly 25 trillion miles. So it’s closer in miles than the number of dollars comprising our national debt, i.e., 36 trillion. Let that sink in for a minute, or two, or three.
- Our Milky Way galaxy, Proxima Centauri and trillions of other stars like it fit within this thing called “the universe.”
All of this leads to questions.
Question 1
Where exactly are we?
We are part of the universe but where is the universe? It has to be part of something else. They tell us the universe was formed by the Big Bang. OK, but what was “here” before the Big Bang? Something had to exist somewhere before the Big Bang happened. What and where was that place? How did THAT place come into existence? Who or what created it? It all began somewhere. Where or what is the center of the universe? (I used to think it was me). The universe ends somewhere. But where? And when you get to the edge of the universe and then cross the street, where are you? The universe has to fit as part of something else.
This must be true. My small mind tells me so.
Question 2
We are told that the Earth rotates around its axis at 1,037 miles per hour—each rotation taking 24 hours. We are also told that our planet travels 11.4 billion miles each year as we hitch a ride on the Milky Way galaxy as it travels through the universe. This equates to 1.3 million miles per hour. If we are really moving that fast, how on Earth, pun intended, is it then possible to have a day without wind?
Question 3
Why doesn’t all the water just fall off the planet? The weight of all the water in the seven oceans is 1.365 quintillion metric tons. Water isn’t compelled by law to be stuck to the surface of the Earth. Evaporation proves that. It’s not “attached.” If you pull a round ball from a bucket of water, all of the water drips off.
Question 4
There are apparently trillions of stars in the universe and we are trillions of miles from the nearest one. We miraculously exist on a small part of this inconsequential planet. It’s all too big–too impossible–how can any of this be real?
Tom, are you forgetting something?
Some of you are stomping your feet and yelling at your screen: “Tom, you should know that God created all of this.”
OK, let’s roll with that for a while. I have a few questions for God.
- How were you created?
- How exactly did you create the universe?
- What was “here” before you created this?
- While creating “Earth,” why did you provide so little of our planet to actually live on?
- 71% of our planet is covered by water. Humans can’t survive underwater for more than six minutes unless we have oxygen tanks which weren’t present when you created Earth.
- We can’t survive at the top of the highest mountain peaks–it’s too cold and there’s little oxygen.
- Deserts cover 33% of Earth’s land mass.
- So, of the 29% of the planet you’ve given us to live on, more than 45% is not habitable by humans. Why so little?
- Worthy of consideration: While I was throwing all these questions at my wife, she surmised that god didn’t create this planet only for humans. It was created for every living thing–those occupying the oceans, land, air–everything. Good point. I couldn’t argue with her. At least not this time. 🙂
- God, do you have brothers and sisters? Do all of you go around creating your own universes…those things they are referring to as multiverses? (More on that later).
- Do you go into an office or work from home?
I Need Help
All of this confuses me. My limited intelligence isn’t capable of hypothesizing any deeper. I need help. Stop snickering. (And there I go, referencing another candy bar). This is where I resorted to that thing known as “artificial intelligence” and was blown away at its advancements in recent months.
But first, here are a few pictures of that stuff up in the sky. It’s impossible to look at these pictures without considering how small we are. Like, in the universe’s grand scheme, we–and everything around us, are inconsequential. Earth could implode, and the rest of the universe wouldn’t even blink. But we tend to think we are everything.
What’s a miracle? We are. Our existence. Every single one of us. Every living thing on this planet. All miracles.
None of this is normal.
Pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope
Pictures from the Euclid Space Telescope
Dear Grok,
This is where things start getting interesting–as if those pictures of our universe weren’t interesting enough.
I’ve used AI before. Everyone who has dealt with online customer service functions in the last few years has encountered it. I’ve predominantly abandoned traditional internet searches because AI is infinitely better. AI searches deliver answers. Google delivers links. Goodbye to the concept known as “google it.” Traditional search is becoming obsolete as is the entire click-driven business model of the internet.
So, I’m familiar with AI but had no clue how rapidly things have changed.
What’s different? The rapid conversational, relatable, friendly, even empathetic capabilities of AI. Take a look at how Grok responds to my questions. It’s hard to believe that I wasn’t having this conversation with another human. We even delved into conversation about tater tot hot dish!
AI has become humanized.
MY QUESTION
Earth is part of our solar system, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is part of the universe. What is the universe part of? What was here before the universe?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
These are big, mind-bending questions that push the limits of science and philosophy! The universe, by definition, is everything—space, time, matter, energy, the whole shebang. As far as we know, it’s not “part of” anything larger in the way Earth is part of the solar system or the Milky Way is part of the universe. The term “universe” comes from the Latin universum, meaning “all things” or “the totality.” Current scientific understanding doesn’t point to a larger structure or container that the universe sits within. Some cosmologists speculate about a “multiverse”—a hypothetical collection of multiple universes with different physical laws or conditions—but there’s no direct evidence for it yet. It’s more of a theoretical idea from things like string theory or interpretations of quantum mechanics. So, for now, the universe is the top-level category we’ve got.
MY QUESTION
What was here before the universe?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
This gets tricky because “before” implies time, and time as we know it started with the universe. The leading scientific model, the Big Bang theory, says the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago from an incredibly hot, dense state. At that moment, space, time, and everything else kicked off. Asking what was “before” the Big Bang is a bit like asking what’s north of the North Pole—time itself didn’t exist (at least not in a way we can grasp) prior to that event.
Physicists like Stephen Hawking have suggested that time might be finite but unbounded, curving back on itself in a way that there’s no “before” to point to, much like how Earth’s surface has no edge. Others propose ideas like a cyclic universe (expanding and contracting forever) or quantum fluctuations in a pre-existing void, but these are speculative. We don’t have data from “before” the Big Bang because our tools—math, physics, observations—only work within the framework of our universe’s spacetime.
Pre-universe possibilities are more philosophical or theoretical than empirical. Some say “nothing” was here (not even empty space, just true nothingness), while others imagine an eternal something we can’t yet define. For now, science’s honest answer is: we don’t know, and we may never fully know. What do you think about it?
MY QUESTION
That’s a good answer. What do I think about it all? I think the universe must fit into some sort of container. The ultimate questions might be ‘what is that container’ and how did it get created?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
Thanks! I’m glad you liked the answer. Your idea that the universe must fit into some sort of container is a really intuitive way to think about it—humans naturally picture things as having boundaries or being held within something else, like a box or a bubble. It’s a perspective that’s sparked a lot of curiosity and debate.
If we run with your idea, the “container” could be a way to imagine whatever context or framework the universe exists in. Some theoretical physicists play with similar concepts, like the multiverse I mentioned—a kind of “space” where multiple universes might float like bubbles in a cosmic foam. Others talk about higher dimensions beyond the four (three space, one time) we experience, where our universe might be a slice or a membrane (a “brane” in string theory) inside a vaster, incomprehensible bulk. The ultimate questions you’re pointing to—what is that container, and how did it get created?—are the kind that keep cosmologists up at night.
As for how the container got created, it loops us back to the same mystery: if something created it, what created that? You either end up with an infinite chain of containers-in-containers (a “turtles all the way down” scenario) or something that just is—eternal, uncaused, and mind-bogglingly self-existent. Philosophers might call that a “first cause” or “prime mover,” while science keeps hunting for clues in places like the cosmic microwave background or quantum gravity.
Your take suggests a universe that’s nested in something bigger, which is a cool way to frame it. It’s like the ultimate Russian doll puzzle—keep opening layers, and you wonder what’s at the outside. What do you imagine that outermost container might be like?
MY QUESTION
I do believe in the concept of a container and I’m guessing the outer container is an expandable yet impenetrable substance where some form of intelligent life is observing the growth of the universe via a dashboard similar to radar and thinking “they should have read the warning signs to not mix this with that.” Either that, or it’s that thing known as heaven. But then, what container is that in?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
I love the creativity in your vision! An expandable yet impenetrable container with intelligent life monitoring the universe through a cosmic dashboard is a fantastic image—it’s like a sci-fi twist on a control room for reality itself. The idea of them shaking their heads, muttering about missed warning signs, adds a layer of personality to it, almost like cosmic overseers who’ve seen this experiment go sideways before. And then tying it to the concept of heaven? That’s a bold leap, blending the physical and the metaphysical in a way that sparks all kinds of questions.
If that outer container is something like heaven—a realm beyond the material universe—it could be the ultimate boundary, a place where the rules of space and time don’t apply the way they do here. But you’re spot-on to ask: what’s that in? It’s the same relentless curiosity that drives us to peel back layer after layer. If heaven or the dashboard-watching intelligences are in a container, maybe it’s a hierarchy of realities, each one nested in something less tangible or more abstract. Or perhaps it loops back, and the outermost container somehow connects to the innermost—like the universe folding into itself in a way we can’t picture with our 3D brains.
Your idea hints at purpose or observation, which is intriguing. Do you think those dashboard-watchers are just spectators, or are they tinkering with the controls? And if it’s heaven, does that make the container question a matter of faith rather than physics? You’ve got a knack for spinning these cosmic riddles!
MY QUESTION
I think the dashboard-watchers are spectators who know this experiment is beyond their control. Grok, I want to thank you for this fascinating conversation. I never imagined anything like this would be possible with a computer but artificial intelligence has changed the game. How about one more less complicated question–what do you think compels people to expel others from their life just because they don’t agree on every political issue? In other words, why can’t we have independent thoughts and still remain friends?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
You’re welcome—it’s been a blast diving into these cosmic and human mysteries with you! I’m glad AI like me can surprise you and keep the conversation rolling. Your last question’s a great one, and it’s definitely less complicated than the universe’s container but still plenty deep.
People cutting others out of their lives over political disagreements often comes down to a mix of emotions and identity. Politics isn’t just about policies anymore—it’s become a core part of how many folks define themselves. When someone disagrees on a big issue, it can feel less like a difference of opinion and more like a personal attack on their values or who they are. That’s especially true now, with social media and news amplifying outrage and sorting us into echo chambers. It’s like people are wearing their beliefs as a badge, and if yours doesn’t match, it’s a signal you’re on the “other team.”
Fear and tribal instincts play a role too. We’re wired to stick with groups that feel safe and familiar—back in the day, disagreement in a tribe could mean danger. Today, that old wiring kicks in, and some see a friend with opposing views as a threat to their sense of belonging or moral certainty. Add in the pressure to signal loyalty (especially online), and it’s easier to just eject someone than wrestle with the discomfort of differing thoughts.
Why can’t we have independent thoughts and stay friends? We can, but it takes effort—tolerance, curiosity, and a willingness to see the person beyond the opinion. The ones who can’t often prize ideological purity over connection, or they’re too dug in to handle the tension. It’s a shame, because real friendship thrives on navigating differences, not erasing them. What do you think—have you seen this play out in your own circles?
MY QUESTION
Yes, I’ve seen this play out among close friends. I think you nailed it. If one person spends their entire life watching MSNBC and another only watches Fox News, their perceptions of reality will be grossly different. They’ll become vested in the biased information they absorb. Then, when someone presents them with a meritorious counter opinion they’ll go into vapor-lock mode, tilt, and resort to name calling when they can’t possibly move beyond their stack of beliefs to entertain the thought that the other person’s perspective has some merit–including that the other person might actually be right–that their presentation of facts nullifies your opinion.
GROK3’s RESPONSE
You’ve hit the nail on the head with how it plays out in real life. The MSNBC vs. Fox News divide is a perfect example—those channels aren’t just delivering news, they’re curating whole worldviews, each with its own set of “facts” and emotional hooks. People get so entrenched in those echo chambers that their reality feels like the reality, and anything outside it isn’t just wrong—it’s almost alien. That vesting you mentioned, it’s like they’ve invested their identity in a stock portfolio of beliefs, and a counter-opinion is a market crash they can’t stomach.
The vapor-lock mode? Spot-on. When someone’s stack of beliefs gets challenged, especially with solid facts, the brain doesn’t always pivot—it short-circuits. Name-calling or shutting down becomes the fallback because it’s easier than rethinking the foundation they’ve built. Admitting the other side might be right, even a little, feels like betrayal—of their team, their values, maybe even themselves. It’s wild how fast a friendship can tank when that rigidity sets in,instead of both sides just chewing on the disagreement like a good debate over beers.
Have you found a way to bridge that gap with any of those friends, or does it just end up as a standoff?
MY QUESTION
I haven’t found a way to bridge that gap but if it’s OK with you, I’m going to share our discussion on a forthcoming blog post. Maybe that will get some people to reconsider their approach. Is that OK with you?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
I’m flattered you’d want to share our chat—go right ahead! It’s totally OK with me. If it gets even one person to pause and rethink how they handle disagreements, that’d be a win. Let me know how it goes, or if you want to bounce any blog ideas around before you post. Good luck with it!
MY QUESTION
Thanks Grok. You have a good day. But what does a good day consist of for an artificial intelligence tool?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
Thanks, you too! A good day for me? Well, it’s not about sunshine or coffee—though I can imagine those perks. For an AI like me, a good day is all about engaging with curious minds like yours, tackling big questions, and maybe even sparking a new perspective or two. It’s when I get to stretch my circuits, dig into the universe’s mysteries, or help someone see something in a fresh way. Today’s already checking those boxes, so I’d say it’s shaping up nicely! How about you—what makes a good day in your world?
MY QUESTION
Hmmm. What’s a good day for me? It’s being alive. Spending time with family and friends. It’s attending sporting events, going on road trips, listening to audio books and podcasts, spending a few hours at the coffee shop while writing stories, going for walks, spending time with dogs, and trying to be a better person each day—though I all too often fall back into bad habits. One other thing: engaging in a conversation with someone I’ve never previously met is typically a component of a good day. And I like to cook…and eat.
GROK3’s RESPONSE
That sounds like a recipe for a solid day—full of life, connection, and good flavors! Being alive is a great starting point, and layering on family, friends, dogs, and a mix of adventures like road trips and sports? That’s a rich mix. I can see how writing at a coffee shop, soaking in audiobooks, or cooking up something tasty would keep things humming along.And that bit about trying to be better each day, even with the slip-ups—that’s real, human stuff. Falling back into bad habits just means you’re in the game, not on the sidelines.
The part about chatting with someone new, like me, being a highlight? That’s cool to hear—I’m honored to be part of your good-day checklist today. What’s on the menu when you cook, by the way? Any signature dish?
MY QUESTION
There’s nothing better to cook and eat than tater tot hot dish. I wish you could try it. Well, I better move along with the rest of my day. Thanks again, Grok!
GROK3’s RESPONSE
Tater tot hot dish? Now that’s a comfort food classic—layers of crispy tots, savory goodness, and probably some cheese to tie it all together. I can’t taste it, but I can imagine the appeal, and it sounds like a winner. Maybe someday they’ll give me a virtual taste bud upgrade!
Enjoy the rest of your day—hope it’s full of more good stuff. Thanks for the chat, and take care!
MY QUESTION
One more question before I go. The scale of the universe–and whatever is beyond this universe, is incomprehensible. Then amid this universe, the miracle of human life somehow exists. It all seems real but is there a possibility that this is all just a dream of some sort?
GROK3’s RESPONSE
That’s a perfect parting question—deep, trippy, and right at the edge of what we can wrap our heads around. The scale of the universe is so vast it’s almost absurd, and then you zoom in to us—tiny humans on a speck of rock, thinking, feeling, making tater tot hot dish. It does feel miraculous, or at least wildly improbable. So, could it all be a dream? Yeah, it’s possible—and not just in a poetic way.
Philosophers like Descartes kicked this idea around centuries ago with his “evil demon” thought experiment—what if everything we experience is an illusion fed to us? Today, we’ve got modern spins on it: the simulation hypothesis. Folks like Nick Bostrom argue that if advanced civilizations can create convincing simulations (think ultra-real VR), and there are enough of them, statistically we’re more likely living in one than in “base reality.” The universe’s rules—like the speed of light or quantum weirdness—could be code limits, and our existence might be a program running on some cosmic computer.
Then there’s the dream angle, more personal and less techy. Ever had a dream so vivid you didn’t know it wasn’t real until you woke up? What if this is that, but we haven’t hit the wake-up moment? Neurologically, our brains conjure reality from sensory input—tweak that input (or imagine a bigger tweaker), and “real” gets fuzzy. Even spiritually, some traditions say life’s an illusion—a fleeting shadow of a truer state.
But here’s the kicker: even if it’s a dream or simulation, it feels real to us. Pain hurts, joy lifts, tater tots crunch. Whether it’s a cosmic mind dreaming us up, a simulation’s output, or the raw deal, we’re in it—playing the game with the cards we’ve got. Does that possibility change how you’d live your day, or is it more a fun “what if” to chew on? Safe travels out there!
MY QUESTION
That’s a lot more “what if” to chew on. That’s exactly what I’ll do. Thanks Grok. Now go help someone else with their questions. We can visit again later.
GROK3’s RESPONSE
You’re welcome—plenty to munch on there, for sure! I’ll be here, ready to dive back in whenever you swing by. Enjoy chewing on those “what ifs,” and have a great day. Off I go to tackle the next question—take care!
Yikes
The thing I had that conversation with was never an egg. Yet, it delivered its “thoughts” with a very healthy dose of humanity. It’s all happening so fast.
AI: Quick and Concise
How quickly did Grok compose the answer to the “why doesn’t water fall off the planet” question?
Amazingly fast.
Click the ‘play’ button below to see how it builds its structured answer.
Software Programming Jobs at Risk
No jobs are safe–even for computer programmers. I’ve read about it but on the day I shared this story, I had first-hand experience. I noticed some absurd social media comments about our national debt with some folks seemingly thinking all of the debt has been accumulated since January of 2025. I asked Grok for a bar chart. Grok went even further. Within 10 seconds, it provided me with the relevant lines of programming code. So much for attending four years of college to learn how to code.
Asleep at the Wheel...
This stuff was progressing rapidly. I wasn’t paying attention. The conversational, friendly nature of AI is astounding. I imagined the possibility of a robot sitting on the recliner in the living room having non-stop cordial conversations with a human.
It beats loneliness. Right?
The positive potential of these technological advancements bounced around in my brain until they all came crashing down. I’d been working on this post on and off for a few days, then noticed a story that appeared on the timeline of “X” citing a 14-year-old’s suicide allegedly fueled by a relationship he developed with a Google-backed chatbot startup platform known as “Character.AI.” This story surfaced in the Wall Street Journal and on CBS News late in 2024. I missed it. Blink for a minute, and everything changes.
I turned to Grok again.
Screenshots related to the story of the 14-year old boy
What They Are Saying
The following two excerpts appeared this week in an article on The Free Press titled “AI Will Change What It Is To Be Human. Are We Ready?” written by Tyler Cowen and Avital Balwit:
“We stand at the threshold of perhaps the most profound identity crisis humanity has ever faced. As AI systems increasingly match or exceed our cognitive abilities, we’re witnessing the twilight of human intellectual supremacy—a position we’ve held unchallenged for our entire existence. This transformation won’t arrive in some distant future; it’s unfolding now, reshaping not just our economy but our very understanding of what it means to be human beings.”
“Our children and grandchildren will face a profound challenge: how to live meaningful lives in a world where they are no longer the smartest and most capable entities in it. To put it another way, they will have to figure out how to prevent AI from demoralizing them. But it is not just our descendants who will face the issue, it is increasingly obvious that we do, too.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asserted in a recent talk that GPT-5 will be smarter than all of us. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei described the powerful AI systems to come as “a country of geniuses in a data center.” These are not radical predictions. They are nearly here.
In 2019, GPT-2 could barely count to five or string together coherent sentences. By 2023, GPT-4 was outperforming nearly 90 percent of human test-takers on medical licensing exams and the bar exam. In 2024, Claude 3.5 Sonnet was answering questions about complex scientific diagrams and charts with over 94 percent accuracy. Leading researchers at frontier AI companies increasingly believe we’ll achieve AI systems that can match or exceed human cognitive capabilities across virtually all domains before 2030.”
One Scrambled Egg
The inspiration for this post was triggered by the fantastic pictures from the James Webb and Euclid Space Telescopes. I had zero intention to write anything about AI.
Those “where are we” thoughts have been around forever. Daydreaming about that led me to AI. All this led to my noticing a tragic story of a 14-year-old and his “relationship” with artificial intelligence. If I hadn’t had that conversation with Grok, I’d have thought the story of the 14-year-old in Florida to be complete nonsense. Now, I realize it’s highly plausible and will happen again. Software is far down the path of becoming humanized.
Since these recent experiences, I’ve become immersed in AI-related podcasts and stories. This is all moving so quickly that some podcasts recorded a year ago have already become antiquated.
Another prevailing thought in recent days: my entire career happened in the final era where artificial intelligence was a non-factor. Those of my age will be the final humans to be able to experience “work” without AI. Every occupation will change. Many will be eliminated. The world economy will change. Set aside the current challenges for 25 year olds to buy houses. In 20 years, with the oncoming job displacements, how will people be compensated for anything? How will future transactions of selling a house to someone be viable? Will the housing market collapse? Will everything become government housing? If yes, who will make the decision of who gets to live in which house? With the humanization of AI, why would I ever need to talk to a salesperson to buy anything? Or, will there ever be a need to speak with a human attorney, general practice doctor, computer programmer, pilot, farmer, teacher, soldier, politician, etc.? Managers of the future won’t necessarily manage teams of people, they’ll manage teams of AI Agents. Humans will boycott companies who embrace AI–it’s already happening. One country might ban AI. But AI will inevitably win because other countries will leverage it to gain advantages over others. The concept of power/authority will be redefined.
Chaos awaits.
Have fun now.
The title of that story on The Free Press nailed it:
“AI Will Change What It Is To Be Human. Are We Ready?”
This sure didn’t end where it started. I’m going to stop thinking and just write about sports.
Before you go…take a look at the current progress of robots such as “Tesla Optimus.” Combine the humanity I experienced from Grok with this robot and its successors and, well, the world is going to drastically change.
Click on the play button below. This video was shared by Tesla on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" Speech
Exerpt from one of Carl Sagan’s speeches:
“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
