Kids, the 90’s, AI and More
I was speaking with my best friend on the phone last night about kids, the 90’s, AI, and more.
I treasure those calls. For all work stuff I do, it’s the relationships that are worth their weight in gold.
And talking of gold, the market nuked yesterday. As did silver. As did stocks. I read it was a “6-sigma” event, with a market cap drop of $5.6 trillion – bigger than the GDP of the UK and France combined.
An incomprehensible number!
Seriously, can you picture it? I can’t. In 30 minutes, all that ‘value’ disappeared.
Poof! Gone!
Anyway, my friend was talking about how when we were teenagers the world was better. How we had this Nokia mobile phone with the radio on it and the ability to add up to thirty mp3 songs.
Each of those songs got played hundreds of times. They were carefully selected. Getting the songs on the phone was an event all by itself! Comparing song selection became a topic of great debate.
These things had permanency. Which gave them value.
Now we don’t value anything.
It’s all damn fleeting!
Just like jobs in the AI age, fleeting. At least a lot of white collar jobs, anyway. I’m not sure they will exist when our children grow up.
Which makes me think, if you’re unfulfilled in work that’s not going to be here in 5 years time, why are you doing it?
Better to be doing something that lights you up, whether for somebody else or for yourself.
In the knowledge economy, I think you’ve got to get really good at tech, or really good at relationships.
And not just surface level relationships either, but relationships with real depth. Because that’s the edge we have over the machines. And real depth takes both emotional intelligence and real competence.
Which takes work.
But better to start now than someday, and better for it to be something you enjoy.
Do you even know what you enjoy? Or did you just get swept up in the machine?
How about you start to figure it out, now. It’s probably going to be a better way to live than the alternative.