It’s nebulous. AI is an item in the news, but most people pass those headlines to concentrate on politics or sports. I wonder what to do about it, and am not surprised when most folks don’t think about it. Besides, there’s probably some celebrity news. I am writing my third scifi novel (Exodus/Genesis series) about a bunch of folks who left Earth to escape an nascent AI. That’s fiction. This is reality, but in both cases the main players don’t know what comes next. Here’s what I am thinking now, really, somewhat.

Sorry to those folks who want a simple declarative statement. Maybe ‘Keep it simple’ will suffice; but, we can’t know what will happen before it happens. When transistors were invented I doubt anyone was reliably predicting digital cameras in smartphones connected in a world-wide web. Dick Tracy watches might have been in the comics, but very few were investing in companies that didn’t, couldn’t, exist, yet. 

What comes next in AI can’t be predicted.

AI has reached the phase where people no longer laugh at it as much. But, companies are hiring back employees they laid off / fired thinking AI could do their jobs. The CEOs thought the AI could do the job, found it couldn’t, and are reacting to their mistake. I suspect many of those jobs will be eventually lost to AI and it may only take months of development. Some will never come back. The fear that I have and see is that most will be lost to automation.

Why care?

I care because I like people. I’m retired, so I am not competing in that job marketplace. I invest, so I am interested in companys’ and employees’ futures. I think the biggest shock will be to C-suite managers, but I don’t worry about them because they don’t seem to worry about other humans, generally. 

I am also curious about the world and how to live in it. I no longer have a mortgage (MyTinyExperiment.com), but I no longer own land. While AI matures, I would like to buy enough arable, local land so I can live, grow food, harvest water, generate power (ideally solar, but negotiable), and generally be self-sustainable, possibly in concert with others.

I’m not that rich. It takes money to live off the land. The prairie farmer could homestead (also known as ‘legally’ stealing from the ingenious population), but now, land costs money. I hope to accumulate enough soon. I think I’m in a race.

Politics is worth worrying about. Politics creates crises to distract from real crises. 

Social injustice is more apparent now, thanks to the internet. I do my part and recognize that I can’t do it alone.

Climate change has passed critical milestones. I think there’s no going back any time soon. It is time to react, but not to fix soon.

In my opinion, AI is something individuals can react to now. Unfortunately, AI is seen as an ‘us versus them’ issue. AI is tech, and tech has been the province of those who could afford it, but AI is already taking jobs regardless of the color of the worker’s collar.

I’m old (67). I retired years ago, though ‘retirement’ no longer has a simple definition. I was an engineer. Now, I am a writer and photographer. Along the way, I’ve been a museum manager, a realtor, a consultant, and generally poor. Just like retirement, ‘poor’ may need to be refined because AI is changing employment and hence the economy. I feel sorry for anyone who is trying to adjust their career in middle-age. At least the young are more adaptable; if only they had opportunity.

As an investor, I’m investing in companies that will play to the rich, or to the essential. Pardon me as I sip my tea and consider my portfolio yet again. – sip – Yep. Good enough,for now. (My Semi-Annual Portfolio Exercise)

I write this because I am thinking about this. AI is treated as if it is an all-or-nothing proposition. I think it has already surpassed some humans, and will eventually surpass all of us. It has become too easy to unleash it. Curious techies have already done it. Curious, and less educated, are likely to unleash it without knowing what they’re doing. I worry more about a less-than-human intelligence causing problems while trying to solve legitimate problems. I worry about an AI with the intelligence, mobility, and lack of responsibility of a four-year old human.

I’m doing what I can, with what I have. Who said that first? I’ll let you do the research.

I’m investing in biotech, solid batteries, quantum computing, and lunar exploration. (I hold stock in MVIS, but that has become a story and a lottery ticket.)

I am aiming my life and hopefully being able to live a life that is frugal by choice, sustainable, healthy, and in community. Dancing alone isn’t as much fun as dancing with a partner.

I’m endeavouring to live in a small-ish house on a piece of land that’s able to accommodate what I’ve described, and more. To get there I’m invested in the larger world. Frugal lifestyle funded by owning slices of techie companies.

There are no guarantees. There’s no guarantee that AI will continue to advance, though I think it will. There’s no guarantee that I’ll find the lifestyle (including a partner) that I want. There’s no guarantee that this is all heading to a dystopia, but there is no guarantee that it is heading to a utopia. There’s no knowing. There is, however, guessing, which is all any of us can do. I wish you and me good luck.