Boredom, AI, & Some Theories of Knowledge

The team decided that I’d guest star on our newsletter this week.

Believe it or not, pitch decks occupy a relatively small part of my brain! And it’s actually hard for me to concisely describe what’s going on behind the Deck Doctor’s screens. So, I will leave you with what I can: some musings.

It’s been raining in New York for a week. The rain clicks on the roof while my fingers click the keyboard.

I decide to “take the lid off.”

The lid is made of tasks, actions. My substance wriggles and pops — pretty much all day — beneath the lid. Neurons firing, atoms energized, you know the deal.

“Taking the lid off” is how it feels to stop for a bit. Enter, Boredom.

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It’s easy to turn Boredom into a villain, a state of being to eliminate. There’s just so much to be done! Did Alexander the Great ever stop to smell the bushes? No chance. Elon Musk? He times his bathroom breaks — even his wiping motion is a stroke of efficiency!

I spend $360/year on Superhuman because it makes emails more efficient. Less time on emails, more time on important things.

I find myself acting like a robot, with the help of real robots, to free up time for human stuff. A bit strange? Perhaps. But the AI optimist in me can’t wait to have Superhuman powers for everything. Less time moving pixels, more time on business strategy. Less time on business, more time at tennis. And so on.

Hopefully, AI will clear new space for human stuff, for Boredom. If you don’t buy that new tool though, pony up for that precious cybernetic — well, then you’re a loser. The next guy or gal WILL pony up, and they’ll eat your lunch, in the boardroom AND on the tennis court.

This is where the pessimist in me takes over, and I get scared. Moloch is in my ear, and I’m racing to the bottom. Moloch is a monster made of culture. I’m bones with a brain.

So, I guess it’ll all come down to pulling the plug on efficiency one day. Easier said than done, with a cacophony screaming “NO!”

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There seem to be two schools of thought on all this.

The former, encapsulated by the friendly manager who tells you, “hey young gun, try talking less in meetings, that’s how you’ll learn something,” states that Knowledge is Without. This is likely why I read books and listen to conversations, seeking knowledge in every nook and cranny. Civilized Drive.

The latter is a much older school. It shifts shapes and switches names to stay alive. Once shamanism, asceticism; more recently, transcendentalism, mindfulness. Knowledge is Within! Sure, it has its moments in the literary or SoCal spotlight, but we generally struggle with this one these days.

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life at the Knowledge is Without altar. Things have worked out pretty well for me thus far…

…BUT I’ve learned the hard way to hedge my bets, especially the big ones. Humans are fallible, belief is relative, yada yada.

So I’ll “take the lid off” again tonight. Get some more practice pulling the plug. Soak in the sweet sound of the rain.

Enter, Boredom.