There's a notion that the third Golden Age of computer science, as described by Grady Booch, is upon us. That now-common feeling of simultaneous dread and excitement has been forcing us to question our purpose. When automation takes a leap forward like the one we're witnessing with generative AI, it's hard not to ask: "What am I doing here?"
To watch a machine produce reasonable answers to questions of all kinds as quickly as a slot machine spits out winnings is a disquieting thing. But my mind races to find the narrowing sliver of purpose that has always eluded me. If work is the thing you do to distract yourself from thinking about purpose, and work is being consumed by an automaton, there are fewer and fewer places to hide.
I don't think there's a good answer to purpose yet - our minds aren't capable of fully encircling that concept. But there's a satisfactory one: focus on what makes humans unique. As it turns out, intelligence is no longer that thing. Important? Yes. Unique? No. Humans have created something more intelligent than themselves. But if intelligence isn't the differentiator, you could argue that wisdom is.
Einstein said, "A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it." Wisdom is the power to choose which problems are worth solving, and no AI has come close to doing that in any meaningful way.
With that in mind, I've chosen my purpose: creation. Not creation for the sole purpose of making something from nothing -- that's exactly what AI can do. What it can't do is draw on experiences that shape what gets made. Its experiences are our experiences, and so it cannot meaningfully choose what to build based on something moving from within.
That's not true for humans. Our experiences create both the tools and the canvas on which we unleash our art.
To be fair, there are humans who duplicate the output of others without applying any unique fingerprint -- and it's those people who are most easily replaced by AI. But the ones who transform, mutate, and shape their creations from something deeper are the ones primed for this next era.
It's easier said than done, though. Shaping your creations meaningfully requires understanding yourself at a level most of us haven't had to go to. It demands a kind of introspection that hasn't been necessary -- or even wanted -- for a long time. Those who have been tested in the crucible of their own life experiences are the ones who can flourish now.