Thomas Edison famously said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Up until very recently, that was true. However, now that everyone with any means has access to Grok 4 and the latest model of ChatGPT, that is changing. Everyone has a tireless partner with a PhD in everything to do all the grunt work for them. Probably, by Christmas, everyone with any means will have a super genius at everything as their loyal partner helping them through the highs and lows of any and every intellectual pursuit.
How long, in that kind of environment, will it take for someone to make and flesh out a discovery that has the potential to change the world beyond recognition? With robotics rapidly catching up, how long will it take them to bring their ideas to full fruition? This could turn out to be a wonderful thing. However, it is unmistakably the most dangerous transition humanity has ever gone through. Someone may discover the secret to eternal youth. However, someone else may find a cheap, handy way to build a Q-bomb.
The most dangerous part is that countless people are determined to be the one to “make a difference.” I know people who think they have created a revolutionary new system that is capable of solving any problem. Probably they are wrong, but what if they are right? Moreover, how long will it be before one of them really is right? There are a lot of clever people out there that, up to now, have lacked the tools that would be necessary to push their budding idea to the next level. Now they have those tools. Now they have an engine that can quickly do the math and test a proposition that, otherwise, would take months of trials and sweat.
In the book by Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, the Tralfamadorians explain to Billy Pilgrim that the universe ends when a Tralfamadorian test pilot presses a button while experimenting with a new kind of fuel. Now, the world is filled with Tralfamadorian test pilots. Here is my caution to all you pilots out there. Lay off the buttons! Do not be so determined to be the one that makes all the difference. Just relax already!
spikosauropod 