Thoughts: Andrew explores make-believe adventures in a logical world, EP21

Andrew Crone: What happens when we focus so much on logic and fact and we don't spend as much time thinking about make believe fantasy and emotions? Is there any real truth behind spirit and magic? is there something we lose in our humanity when we just discount those emotions? Let's explore that. Hello everybody. You know, AI has been in the news so much in the past few weeks and all the different precautions and risks that might be unfolding. So I thought I'd give you a little bit about my background. Twelve years ago, I was developing an AI program that could help with global sustainable development. I still needed a large language model to make it the user interface do what I wanted it to do. So when ChatG PT came out, I decided to reinvestigate my original thoughts on how to use AI. And I needed to learn a little bit more So last year at this time I was 100% into catching up with AI and working with models and tweaking the weights And in that process I realized that the rate at which things were advancing were far more than I could just keep up with, by participating in programs at a university. By the time I'd learn something, it'd be way outdated. And that's when I w went to my plan B, which was to create this podcast. And I'm starting to realize that it's so important for us to keep track of how this technology is getting into our lives so that we don't forget what we had before AI. So like as always on the show. A lot of my thoughts are inspired by music. And again, it was Big Thief that touched me last week and I was listening to their song Dragon New Warm Mountain, I believe in you, which immediately took me back to when I was in grade school. I remember going to my library as a little kid and watching little slideshow of Puff the Magic Dragon. The teacher would turn the music on on one machine and then she'd flip through the pictures on another screen and as kids we would sit on the floor and just watch that and get lost in make believe. And this summer I was on a road trip out west and we were driving through Oregon and I saw a driftwood dragon built on the side of the road and I turned the car around to get a picture of that. It's something magical. But when I was listening to this song last week, I felt a tug from Kind of some other world, a different side of me, just as real, but a part of me that I realized I wasn't paying enough attention to. And I felt lonely and I missed it. And I wanted just to really sit there with it. And it's kinda this magic that we feel as young kids. At least I did, because we didn't have all this technology and phones that we do today. I remember being at home with my kids and playing with cars in the living room and putting voices to the cars and we'd have an evil car that would want to take over the world and other cars that we'd drive around that were protecting it. And we just played and created this completely new fantasy world every time we engaged. And coming up with make believe bedtime stories with their stuffed animals and the adventures that they would go on. The other day a picture popped up on our Google device in our kitchen that shows family pictures and there's a picture probably ten years ago of us standing on a bridge going over a river. I think it was near Mount Rainier. And I had my shirt pulled over my head and I was hunched down and had a big stick and my son was hunched down. We pretended we were elves and gnomes tryna protect the bridge across the river and just totally getting into it. And that's the kind of fun exploration that I haven't been as engaged with as my kids got older and I haven't been engaged with it. Yeah, I suppose I could read books, watch some fun, magical movies. But I tend to watch more, I don't know, dark movies and follow the news and technical stuff. But I I really missed that feeling. And I think that it's important when we think about what AI can do to transform our lives. Also think about How much of this do we really want in our lives? What are we willing to live without? And what are we giving up? And I think it's important to deliberately step away from our technology and find ways to engage with our friends outside around a campfire, at a picnic, going on walks. where we leave our f technology behind and just rekindle what it means to just be human and get along together and to have our lives be reclaimed in a different way. Kind of a yeah, it's a timeless way, right? The other night I was out having a campfire at a friend's house late at night. And we're talking about The outlook we have on events around us. our outlook on our own lives and being reminded life is good. Life is already good. We don't need things to make it better because without hardships, without challenges, without having to negotiate relationships with friends, a lot of that stuff that makes life good is gone. Like if I had a robot that could make my bed for me, then I would lose the negotiations of marriage with my wife where we decide what house chores need to get done. And if everything is taken care of, we don't have that give and take. We don't learn to see things from each other's point of view because there's really no need to talk about those things anymore. And The more we fill ourselves with the whole rat race, the speed, the monetization of technology, the fears, the political concerns. It's good to know those things, but living in that stuff all the time consumes us and it fills our head. And that is kind of the key of what I want to talk about right here. If we fill our minds, or if we have our minds filled by being responsive and latching on to all the stimulation that exists around us. Then there's no space. left for the universe to kind of flow into us and connect with us and talk with us and guide us. And sometimes we just need to get empty. completely empty, without expectations, without goals, without thinking about how long we're gonna sit for. And just be open. With no expectations. 'Cause the more empty we become more space there is for love. to Phyllis. And the more space there is for Recognizing that our Extreme states are providing playful opportunities for us to think of new ways of looking at the world. The more we open ourselves up to let this information just flow through us, to let the energy come into us. The more we we realize that no matter what happens We still have each other. And that's the most important thing 'cause that's what helps us get through life. That's what makes it meaningful to us. And I think we can lose touch of that. and be so distracted in this changing world. So yeah, that's my goal right now, this week and maybe the coming weeks is to Lean in to those moments when I feel places where can connect with being a kid, with my creativity, with my excitement at listening to new music and seeing new paintings and poetry and watching other people enjoying life, that's what I want to reach into. And I f I feel like there's some there's some message from the universe that's tapping into me saying, Hold on, go there. And maybe that's the kind of stuff we should be thinking about more. So if you want more content like this, go ahead and subscribe, like this video. I want to say thank you to everybody in India that's been watching this past week. You've been my number one listener. In the past, it's been Finland or France, usually the United States. And last time when I had one of these thoughts episode. I asked you about who's on that motorcycle up in this corner. And that's Neil Young. That's a picture where he was driving along the w central coast of California between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay and somebody passed him, got a picture and he signed that for for a charity auction. that and see you next time.