Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
MindPrep 373 – My technologies are making me weaker
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Reader, So, I sat back the other day and thought about how my life has changed over the past bunch of years. And that got me thinking about our use of personal technology. Here are some of the things that ran though this aging brain. I remember my first “transistor radio” that only had a single earphone. I had to find the AM station the was in my area that had a good DJ. (WLS was my go-to station.) Technology is good, but I don’t search for new artists anymore. I just let Spotify curate stuff for me. Oh well. I was a Marine forward observer in Vietnam and could find my way (sort of) in the jungle using a map and compass. Now I rely on GPS and don’t even have a map of Chicago or Illinois. I’m in big trouble if I lose my phone and have to get to a “foreign” destination. Our friends (fiends?) at Meta have introduced a personal AI app called Muse on September 8, 2026. It is a personal agent that sends emails, makes travel reservations, browses the web, fills out forms, negotiates and completes checkouts for its user, and it keeps working after the app is closed. And all you have to do is give Meta all of your personal information. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that? I used to read both the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times to get differing points of view to “think about.” Now I have a news feed that someone else's optimization target decides what I see. But their target is engagement, not accuracy or importance. I (you) get more of what provokes us and less of what's slow, local, or boring but consequential. I’m being played! I have bills on auto-pay and subscriptions on auto-renew. Very convenient, but I’d better check every now and then to keep aware of where my money is going. I don’t have an Oura ring (health app) but a friend of mine told me the other day that his app told him he had a bad night’s sleep. Did he feel tired? No, but that app told him he should. One-click checkout on Amazon. Very convenient but I’ll admit to buying a few books that I should have pondered before buying or, at least, looked for them in the library. Bottom line: I don’t want to be a Luddite, but I’d better ponder skills that I don’t want to give away to the techno-gods. Cheers, Bill P.S., Ken and I are a couple weeks away from publishing Dealing with Complex and Wicked Problems. Stay tuned. |
Bill @ MindPrep
Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
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