Remember your first day at school? Or uni, or a new job? Or any of those times when you’re dropped into something new without really knowing how it works?
Chances are, you had butterflies. That’s the weird blend of excitement and fear, when you’re nudging into something new but don’t yet know how to play it.
That’s how I feel about the robots. My butterflies start fluttering the minute someone mentions AI... and boy, does it get a lot of mentions.
“It’s a brave new world,” they say. “There’s stacks of opportunity,” they tell us. And I get it and it’s exciting. But I still feel the butterflies. While I understand the promise of smarter, faster and better, I just don’t know where I fit.
It’s exciting. And terrifying. Just like that first day at school.
So I got to thinking. What if I go back to that? What if I dig up those best bits of advice we all got before shuffling off the bus and into the school yard.
Here’s how that plays.
“Give it your best shot”
This is standard Mum advice when you don’t really have a choice. New school, new sports club, dreaded speech competition. It’s the go to advice to build confidence without adding anything material. And it works.
Same is true of any new thing. So the same is true of the Robots. “You won’t know if you don’t try,” said Mum. And she’s right. “What’s the worst that can happen?” adds Dad through a Dad lens. And if you don’t have an answer to that, you have give it a go.
Just like braving it into the sea in the summer. The water feels cold to start with, but whether you tip toe into oncoming waves, or dive head first, the net result is always the same – sooner or later, you’ll be swimming.
“See if you can join a club”
It’s not by chance that those first weeks of school are stacked with a marketplace of club stuff. Sports for the jocks. Music for the musos. Drama and debating for the weirdos. That was the recipe at my school - I was in the last group.
But the point of all the club stuff isn’t what you do, it’s connecting with the people you do it with. Learning new stuff with like-minded people is the best way to build new skills. Same applies in robot land.
Are you sharing your ‘digital art’ from Dall-E? Are you coding your way to the next big Wordle? What are you playing with? Who are you playing with? Finding people like you who are trying new things is a fun way to learn new stuff. And when everything’s new, everyone is learning. So you’re more likely to fit in than stand out.
“Always sit in the middle of the class”
This isn’t Mum advice, it’s sibling advice. And it's gold. On your first day of school, the goal is fitting in. So the best place to aim is average. Nerds up front, rebels at the back and the best seat in class is bang in the middle. You can hide if you need to and shine when you choose to put your hand up.
Same advice applies with the robots. There are plenty of people at front of the class soaking it all up, trying it all out and prattling like they’re experts on LinkedIn. Then there’s those at the back who refuse to do their homework or engage in the conversations. No prizes at prize giving for those guys.
But those of us in the middle will listen when it’s interesting and zone out when it’s not. And that’s most of us. We don’t need to be the experts, but we don’t want to get left out. It’s the comfort zone of learning – and it works.
Wrangling your butterflies
Feeling excited while being nervous is totally normal thing. Butterflies exist to keep us safe – but they also flutter when there’s cool shit coming. Fear and Hope are fundamental human drivers. And when both are in the driving seat, it’s weird.
But butterflies don’t last forever – and the best way to conquer uncertainty is to jump in and get started. So if you’re feeling weird about the robots, try dating one. ChatGPT kicks the arse of Google – and it’s awfully polite and “human” for a robot.
The robots don’t know your afraid (unless you tell them) so ‘Give it your best shot’, ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ And if you start to get into it, find some friends and share stuff. And whatever you do, cuddle yourself into safety in the middle of the class. There's no big wins in being first - but no prizes for opting out either. So settle in and give it a go. Before you know it, the butterflies will flutter by and you’ll be putting your hand up for more.
That’s what I reckon, what do you think?
