I should set the scene first so the hero and their actions make sense.

This is hard because we all perceive the context in different ways. Not everyone perceives the emergence of AI as important. Culture, education, the consequences of our decisions and actions, our personality traits, and the context shape our reality from moment to moment.

Lights, sound and... action. - AI is here to stay; there is no way we can put the genie back in the bottle.

In this context, I'm an optimist. I must be an optimist because I can't afford to be otherwise. My life experience has been generous with challenges, and it's a gift that keeps giving. Right now, I just hope that I can articulate well enough to share a perspective, nothing more.

Context matters—more than we want to admit. The context is forming around us issues of today even more. Some people can afford it and will pay attention, understand it, and make the best of it. Sometimes, they get richer, more intelligent, and live well or above. Others ignore it and struggle; sometimes, they fall victim to it. There is a small group in between, and their decisions to welcome or reject this new reality will decide their future. I believe I'm part of that group; we'll see.

I can't afford to think and act as I used to—ten years ago when I showed up at Luton Airport (UK) with a plastic green suitcase and 500 Euros in my pocket - hoping to get a contract in London. We cannot afford decade-old thinking as a collective, either. The age of learning things by repeating them in a classroom or at home is gone. The age of hyper-specialisation has lived its life. Anyone able to hyperspecialise can be replaced by a machine. Rejecting technology and arguing against AI won't get us far.

As I can see, AI (as technology) is levelling the field, but not slowly and peacefully, with images of tiny cats dressed as astronauts or cancer cures— by bulldozing through institutions and organisations—and sometimes through our lives. This leveller is already changing how we collaborate and participate in societies and will not stop soon.

By now, I hope that you guessed that the hero of this story is you - and your account is being written either by ignorant, incompetent politicians unable to keep corporations accountable or by delusional billionaires thinking that our realities are just simulations and you shouldn't worry about it - you and yours can get to respawn - type this in a terminal:

] find respawn "cash_player_respawn_amount" = "0" client notify replicated "mp_forcerespawnplayers" game cheat - Force all players to respawn as NPC. ] reset life

By now, I hope you are getting worried enough to think of a plan, educate yourself and yours, keep up and participate in shaping the future, and have conversations that can clear the dust.

We need brave but responsible pioneers and explorers. At the same time, we need the rest of society to understand why we are doing this. We need them to pay attention and participate. We can't afford to be happy with our current jobs in a corporation hoping for a corner office. We can't afford to go to the gym twice a week and leave important decisions to a tech messiah or a greedy corporation.

I wish I had something inspiring to end with, but I need you to get worried first. I need you to be concerned for a while to cement the importance of these things.

I do, however, wish you could make room and worry in a productive way—in a way that allows you to be part of the next chapter, where you get educated and make a plan—a plan that covers more than your current mortgage, your gym, and Netflix subscriptions—a plan that includes all of us.

Good luck, we need it!