We are rapidly entering an accelerated period of AI (Artificial Intelligence) research and roll out of new autonomous thinking devices such as self driving cars, etc. As we all know, this is only the beginning of this "Brave New World." The world's economies must come to terms with these emerging disruptive and intrusive technologies.
The process by which I wrote this book of imagination has been illuminating in so many ways for me. I was once told, "If you want steady employment anywhere in the world...become an engineer." I am not an engineer. I realize that this was sound advice, however. I have spent over 40 years framing life through a camera lens. I've been quite fortunate to have had an active and passionate interaction with the world through the medium of photography. I firmly believe that it's how I made sense of the world, carefully framing what I chose to see and discarding what was of less interest visually. This is a very ordered way of interpreting the world. I saw the world as a series of visual acquisitions to be assimilated and captured...And then I wrote a children's book. The ability to travel anywhere real or imagined and do anything I wanted with my characters, was intoxicating to me. I knew I was riding an undisciplined horse (this is my first attempt at writing a full length book) that could take me anywhere I wanted to imagine. Which brings me back to the I.D.D......Imagination Deficit Disorder. An active imagination is Freedom. An active imagination is the healthiest alternative to the fire hose spigot of digital media cramming "content" into your brain. Take some time. Take some time to dream. Allow thoughts and images to come to you...you may be amazed at the result. There would be no Avengers, Ironman, Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, HAL 9000, Winnie the Pooh and Captain Hook et al. without someone imagining them. Go ahead and become an engineer if you choose but, I suspect AI will invade this profession of orderly and reasoned thought. Tell stories to your children....make them up on the spot while driving them to school. Make children's toys come alive with simply your imagination. I have enriched my life with my imagination. I have traveled through a " Continuum" of spectral bridges made of fine filaments that resemble spiderwebs. I've traveled through a "Soulscape" of illuminated symbols of immense size that represented long departed and influential human souls. I've jumped through paintings and time traveled with a psychic cat and a Renaissance artist who is 500 years old. I've created a painting of a young princess that has "animated" into a flesh and blood being.
Your imagination is vastly superior to the latest Photoshop software program. Your imagination sets you free to dream without borders and restrictions. I fear we are entering a time where, particularly children's imagination will wither in the face of the digital onslaught of convenient "content" readily available across so many entertainment platforms. Elon Musk may be a complicated man, but he dreams big. His imagination seems boundless and it's his engineers who are entrusted with his vision of the future as he wills it to be. Dream. Imagine. Great things can start with just one idea. Carve out some time to think, dream and imagine, knowing that it requires discipline just to be still. Don't judge yourself...just be with it and see what happens!
AI is here to stay and it will morph in predictable and unpredictable ways...not all benevolent.
Take the time to create your own Personal Intelligence...your Imagination Intelligence.