What Will I Tell My Sons?
I suppose this should have been the first post. Oh Well.
Hi there! I'm MusingFather, a 36 year old father of 2 boys, a 2 year old and a 3 month old. Ever since I was young I have been intrigued by technology. My highschool and college years were at the height of the smartphone revolution, the social media revolution, and the downfall of traditional mainstream media. At the time I thought these were all unalloyed goods. We were going to democratize media. We were going to democratize the power of information. The revolution would be organized, planned, and yes, televised, online.
Now I'm not so sure. I look at these little humans that I've helped make and I wonder what kind of world they're going to inherit. What will their minds be like when they've grown up in an algorithmic world, served nearly empty but addictive content at the barest tap of a screen. I had a hard enough time focusing with cable and a Nintendo Game Cube, will they be able to manage their attention with 24/7 access to streaming video?
Will there be jobs after AI? What kinds of jobs? Will my boys be able to get those jobs, or will they go to the children already rich and powerful? If they can't get jobs will there be other ways to make money, or will they have to live with their parents forever? Will I be able to support my kids living with me forever? What will happen to them when I am gone?
Will there be a functioning democracy in the US for them to inherit? What role has modern technology played in making that a reasonable question? Is information technology a worthwhile endeavor anymore when measured against that question?
This should give you an idea of where my head is at. However, I don't intend to make this blog all fear and darkness. For instance I am planning a post about how my 2 year old reacts to distant loved ones on FaceTime. It's really quite something.