Thought Leadership: “The Coming Sonic Boom:” Last week, I gave a presentation on artificial intelligence. At the time, I didn’t use this analogy, but this is how you may want to think about the technological era we are currently living: When I was in the Navy, I served aboard an aircraft carrier, The USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). Once a year, the captain would conduct a “tiger cruise” in which our parents, spouses and loved ones could join us at sea for a day. One of the surprise highlights for the civilians was having two F-14 Tomcats zip over the deck from a height of about 200 feet. What most of the civilian onlookers didn’t initially grasp was that the F-14’s were flying faster than the speed of sound. The result was that our guests had the strange sensation of watching–but not hearing–the jets until the sonic boom rattled them a few seconds later. It is my professional opinion that we are now living in an era where AI is moving super fast, but the “boom”–in terms of social, political, economic, technological and spiritual change–has yet to be experienced. It is coming, though.
Think Like a Child: The speed of change is disorientating to many people, myself included. One constructive method for navigating these turbulent times is to use curiosity to rewire your brain. The big takeaway is this: Curiosity reframes the concept of uncertainty–instead of viewing uncertainty as a threat, curiosity turns it into an invitation to learn and grow.
Think: Amazon has made a “fundamental leap forward in robotics” after developing Vulcan–a robot with a sense of touch. The robot–which can identify and maneuver items using AI–are capable of grabbing about 75 percent of the items in their warehouses. While Amazon states that Vulcan will not completely replace humans, it appears that advances in generative AI will cause significant job displacement. To this end, some people will counter that AI has not yet displaced radiologists as many technologists predicted. This is true, but it is also true that AI will continue to get exponentially better and, thus, the displacement of radiologists has not been prevented but merely delayed.
Think Again: Advanced AI is becoming more accessible. Lightricks announced the release of LTXV-13B–AI video generation that is 30 times faster than existing models. It also doesn’t require expensive GPUs and can run on consumer-grade hardware. The company’s open-source model has accelerated research and development, and its advancements will allow creators to produce professional-quality AI videos on standard desktops (instead of expensive $10,000 GPUs).
Think Different: Drone technology, which was initially developed for military and reconnaissance purposes, is now being used to transform healthcare. A new study has shown that Zipline’s drone deliveries have drastically reduced maternal deaths in Ghana. This is just one example of how advancements in technology in one field can be used in different ways and lead to unexpected social benefits.
Thoughts from Beyond: Reality is a strange thing. I recently watched this brilliant old video of Carl Sagan using an apple to explain the existence of a fourth dimension. The existence of a fourth dimension begs the question of the existence of a fifth dimension or even multiple dimensions. It is the possible existence of multiple dimensions that keeps me open to seeing, viewing, thinking, and experiencing the world in non-materialistic ways.
Afterthought: “Ego says, ‘Once everything falls into place, I’ll feel peace.’ Spirit says, ‘Find your peace, and then everything will fall into place’.”–Marianne Williamson
