Your time to break from the paradigm was 10 years ago.
With the heated debates around A.I., I’ve seen a lot of articles, talks, and blogs guiding folk toward their “new reality”. They were all essentially asking how you, the human in the room, can shift your mentality, behaviour, and patterns to better survive the upcoming shift. Because there is a shift, one that’s gradually seeping into our day-to-day even now.
We are witnessing a moment of unparalleled discovery and technological evolution, one that few among us have a certainty of surviving. The job system as we knew it is on its way out. And while many choose to see it as an age of liberation, dedicated to convenience, and a better use of our time, I take a more cautious approach.
I sincerely doubt the great “powers that be” have our best interests at heart.
Which is why I’m sceptical of discourse insisting that we “diversify” our educational avenues, become more introspective, become self-taught, all in order to still maintain relevance in the soon-to-be A.I.-dominance.
(Note: by that, I don’t mean “the robots will take over the world”. Just that they will go on to heavily dominate several industries. Humans will still rule. It just won’t be you or me.)
Another reason I’m sceptical is that, for me, this is old news. I was part of the “become self-taught”, and take charge of your own education movement ten years ago, when it was still fringe, and weird. When people who thought honoring their inane talents and aptitudes were considered outsiders.
The bad news is, so were the real “industry leaders”. While you were busy sitting quietly in school, the people now running the show were thinking outside the box. I’m not sure what to think of Elon Musk. I don’t think he’s the Messiah some will paint him out as, but if there’s one thing I’m sure of, he was in this “self-taught/introspective/innovative” group thirty years ago. And love him or hate him, he’s the richest guy (as far as we know) in the world.
The only reason this kind of advice is surfacing now is that it’s too late. Gradually, we’re being told that maybe the traditional schooling system was not the best choice. That maybe not everyone can prosper when confined in the same narrow metrics. We’re being told our employers won’t want a degree, they’ll want innovative thinking, and experience. We’re being told to travel and meditate, and take care of our inner sanctum, in order to be better, more capable human beings.
All of these things are true, yet if you’re labouring under the impression that checking these boxes will give you an edge, you’re wrong. The true innovators were those who broke from the paradigm ten, twenty, fifty years ago. Look around you, the paradigm as we knew it is crumbling. Discarding it now is no longer innovative or radical. It’s the only thing that’s sensible.
Which is why I say the time to break free of the paradigm would’ve been ten years ago. But “now” is a good enough second option. It’s gotta be. It’s the only option some of us have.
Why am I telling you this?
Because I’ve worked as a copywriter for six years now. I can’t read this type of “X skills to dazzle employers” or “Y ways to reinvent yourself with ChatGPT” articles without rolling my eyes.
‘Cuz they’re all cutesy and peppy-sounding, leading you to believe you can really reinvent yourself with nothing more than a can-do attitude. It’s the same pacifying garbage you were being unwittingly fed ten years ago, when breaking from the paradigm was considered cooky and fringe.
And it’s this same trite, you-can-do-this bullshit that publications the world over will mass-produce and feed you over the next ten years while our world reinvents itself… without you.
If there is one thing to learn from our current situation, it’s that much of what we’ve been taught is wrong. Not only that, it was taught to us by institutions who knew it was wrong. Which should make you a little sceptical about any magazine trying to tell you how to “keep up” with the new world.
If there is a way for us to survive this en masse, it’s not in any magazine, or blog, or cutesy self-help book. It’s in you. The answer has always been there, in terms of:
- where your skills are;
- what your weaknesses may be;
- which activities feed your soul;
- Which drain it;
- What makes your heart sing;
- What makes you feel dead inside.
A lot of this shit is more intuitive than you may think. But some of us have stepped off our true path so long ago, we can hardly hear that intuition now.
I do believe there’s hope to breaking from the paradigm even now. Even at this late hour in the game. As long as we manage to hear that inner chime.
So stop listening to ‘advice’ pieces that tell you how we’re gonna be fine. We may well fuck it up. It’s a very real possibility, and given our track record, it’s a big likelihood. Acknowledge that before you move forward.
Thank you for reading. Guess what. I am actually publishing my first novel this fall. Wild, I know. Meanwhile, I’m gonna be documenting my process/journey/slow descent into madness on here, while also dropping the occasional opinion piece.
So if you’re someone who enjoys that kinda writing, well, why not subscribe? It’s free. And I’m desperate. So there, honesty.
