Let's use technology to solve humanity’s real pressing problems.
Long before smartphones and binge watching came along, daily life was different. Very different. Survival was a constant struggle against the elements, predators, and horrific challenges such as famine and pestilence. It was a time when moving a massive stone for shelter construction or transporting a bountiful carcass to eat required sheer brute force, countless hours, and sometimes the collective effort of an entire tribe. Such backbreaking labor seemed an inescapable part of existence—until one fateful day when a brilliant spark of ingenuity changed it all.
I’m speaking of the wheel, of course.
This simple invention revolutionized life. No longer did people have to drag their burdens across rough terrain. They could harness the wheel’s power to ease their toil. From the carts of ancient civilizations to the high-speed bullet trains and combustion engine cars of today, the wheel continues to be an essential part of humanity’s journey. It solves a burning problem.
And as the saying goes: “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Of course, business owners know all too well that every great innovation begins with a burning problem to solve. The printing press, for instance, emerged to address the laborious and time-consuming task of replicating texts by hand. Before its invention, manuscripts had to be meticulously copied by scribes, a process prone to errors and limited by the scribe’s speed—and accuracy.
Later, the typewriter expedited the writing process, making the time-consuming act of handwriting a relic of the past. The typewriter also introduced uniformity, speed, and efficiency to the creation of documents, drastically reducing the effort required to pump out written content.
Word processors supercharged such productivity. Suddenly, everyone from schoolchildren to famous authors became comfortable using computers to write, edit, and share written works. And finally, today, sophisticated chatbots and AI-driven text-generation tools are once more transforming the writing landscape, offering content-creation capabilities.
Undoubtedly, AI has already wildly shifted how we approach tech. More than just the latest buzzword, artificial intelligence enjoys new developments daily.
But are these the developments we need? Not really.
Our current uses of AI invariably lean toward the mundane, streamlining banal tasks with remarkable efficiency. (Example: Are today’s non-stone moving humans really so lazy that we require Netflix to recommend our next movie, Amazon to tell us which book to read?) Other typical AI uses seem just as needless, such as composing personalized wedding toasts and penning greeting cards for loved ones.
But are these the burning problems that were keeping us up at night? (When you were a kid dreaming of the ecstatic future, did you envision technology that would enable you to write up a month’s worth of socials? I sure hope not!)
If we stop to really think about it, artificial intelligence is replacing the wrong labors—particularly creativity. To put it bluntly, today’s AI does not fit the tradition of “necessity breeds innovation.”
Instead it’s solving pseudo problems.
This isn’t some Luddite rant. It’s a rallying cry for course correction. There are compelling AI applications worthy of exploring. One that comes to mind is translation. Imagine if language barriers were obsolete. It’s possible. After all, AI excels at taking large data sets and interpreting them quickly, making real-time, accurate translation possible.
Another transformative example is improved medical diagnoses. Instead of relying solely on doctors’ limited cognitive abilities, AI can predict conditions in ways humans simply cannot, connecting dots in mind-boggling ways. These applications have the potential to better our world—not to mention save more lives.
And if I could be selfish for just a moment here, I would love to see someone create an AI-powered massage robot. Just imagine if your AI-masseuse could learn how to give you a better deep tissue massage every time you use it. That would be the perfect holiday gift—unless your AI-masseuse turns on you, Westworld style.
For now, my criticism targets the limited thinking around AI.
Take self-driving cars. They are a roundabout solution to our transit crisis. In a country plagued by massive infrastructure issues, AI-piloted vehicles represent a Band-Aid fix—too little, too late. Instead, we could harness AI’s problem-solving prowess to design the flying cars we were promised in Back to the Future Part II. And while we are at it, AI could also knock out some hoverboards. (Just imagine your children’s commute years from now when they can fly to work. I can safely tell you my flight playlist will involve hits from Huey Lewis and the News.)
Looking forward, as we contemplate emerging tech like AI, we must ask ourselves: What are the core problems that need solving? Are we focusing too much on short-term gains and quick fixes, neglecting the bigger picture? And how can we leverage AI to create long-term solutions to address big, thorny challenges—like our decaying infrastructure?
Returning to the wheel and the idea technology is meant to solve real problems—not to infantilize us—it’s past time we demand tomorrow’s innovators turn their attention to things that matter. What we don’t need is more dehumanizing innovations that make us dumber, less creative, and more isolated. Instead, let’s dream bigger dreams, imagining ways AI can help humanity make the next great leap forward.
At the very least, let’s get going on those AI-masseuses, okay?
