When I was learning to fly, I can remember how complex and
sophisticated that little 2 place Cessna 150 trainer seemed as I sat looking at
all of the instruments, gauges, and switches.
But, later, as I graduated to the cavernous, 4 place Cessna 172, I was
then embarrassed at how I had struggled with the child’s play of that first little
plane. Surely, this 172 was the be-all,
end-all of the general aviation world.
And, indeed, that was true.
Well – it was true until I went to check out in a Piper 235 with
retractable landing gear, a constant speed prop, an autopilot, and a GPS navigation
system. And then, I knew for sure that I
had finally arrived at the ultimate aviation experience. It could not possibly get any bigger or more
sophisticated than this. And, that was,
indeed, true – until…
Since those early aviation object lessons, I have discovered
that it is actually typical of human beings to experience life, itself, in the
same way as I did those airplanes – and for precisely the same reason – our
naivete. In other words, wherever we are
and whatever we’re doing today is as big and important as it gets. Well – until tomorrow, when yesterday is
again dwarfed by today’s new level of bigness and sophistication.
So, in our brave new world, we have watched digital swallow
analog. We have seen computers morph
into multiple forms and become progressively faster, more sophisticated, and
bigger – even as they slide into ever smaller cases and drag us in after them. And now, we stand in the very foyer of an AI
World. And, again we think, “Surely,
this is it, life’s final form of “Big and Sophisticated.” But, as always, it is not.
