What Would Happen If We Unplugged the Internet?
You are the most sophisticated “technology”.
There is only one of you in this world - and you’re pretty astonishing.
You have 37.2 trillion cells, made up of 7 octillion atoms, exquisite neural pathways, 78 organs, not to mention your mental 1,000 trillion brain synapses and your 5ft electromagnetic field . . .
- and we haven’t even touched on your untapped potential yet.
Woven into who we recognise as you, are your beliefs, values and subconscious conditioning all impacting your unique thought processes, filtering and reflecting the ways and means in which you ultimately choose to communicate and express yourself.
I know our current landscape is chockablock with copywriters and marketers postulating that the likes of ChatGPT heralds the dawn of their obsoletion… whilst others claim using these tools as your minions is the only way through . . .
- but we seem to have overlooked one critical element.
We created the machines.
They might have been “trained” by billions of data points, but data lacks soul.
You are irreplaceable.
. . . and perhaps now is the precise time to acknowledge that we could all do with revealing more of our humanity -
. . . in the process of rediscovering our genius.
If the world unplugged the internet, I can’t imagine it would be fun, but you would live on.
It’s easy to get immersed in the intensity of life as we know it - but things can change and you have the ability in every moment to redefine how you want to experience the world.
In an interview recently I was asked “are you a data or a creative person?” and that dichotomous question reminded me that we seem hell-bent on slapping a label on ourselves and sticking ourselves in boxes. Who is to judge what the perfect “profile” is or skills blend necessary for achievement and success? Who makes all this stuff up?
And there’s the rub.
It’s us.
We are the species who like to overcomplicate things, as if we weren’t complicated enough.
I’m a huge fan of André Chaperon and Shawn Twing’s musings (hit reply if you’d like an introduction) and a few weeks ago Shawn reflected on being able to distill the learning from a mountain of masterclasses into two words: “less, better”.
I suspect the boom of AI will result in an initial deluge of content, some of it poor quality, some of it brilliant. Through time and iteration it will be honed.
Can we say the same is happening with our ability to understand? To develop our talents? To learn? How much closer are we in edging towards our own, individual genius? We distract ourselves with Netflix, outpace ourselves with tech and flit between jobs rather than mastering ourselves to begin with.
I have faith in us though.
There’s a spirit in human resilience which defies logic.
When it’s crunch time we “get” the lightning.
One of my favourite songlines is Neil Finn’s “I’m walking on the spot, to show that I’m alive.”
Whether the internet gets unplugged, or AI infiltrates our world, there’s a lot to be said for stopping, evaluating and recognising your presence, how you feel and who you are before you take the next step.
Today, I invite you to stop, reflect and acknowledge your genius.
With love and belief in your ideas,