Apologies in advance for this rant. I’ll make it quick.
At the end of this month, I’ll be leaving my job at the University of Chicago. It’s time to get back to the work that’s most important to me — the only work that, truth be told, I’ve ever been really good at — connecting with people, and connecting people to each other. It’s my passion and, to quote Spock from The Wrath of Khan, “Anything else is a waste of material.” Plus, to be frank, I’m ready to live a life that’s far more joyous, social, adventurous and profitable than I ever have. I think I’ve earned it.
Besides, America feels a bit stuck on stupid right now.
I don’t just mean our political climate, although… yeah. I mean the fact that so many of us seem so bound up by petty interpersonal foolishness: Puerto Ricans at the Super Bowl, etc. We have midterms coming up, and now’s the time to refocus on the things that affect us all. Democracy is inherently competitive, but infighting is a plague. There is so much we could accomplish if we found ways to work together, especially since the future is not going to wait around for us to get a little unified.
If we did, then maybe America would’ve been the one showing off fighting robots this week. China beat us to it.
Americans are already enjoying the thrilling acrobatics of a gymnastic robot, created by Walt Disney Imagineering for their Avengers Campus:
Very cool trick, but on Monday the state-owned China Media Group held its Spring Gala Festival: a high-tech spectacular lionizing Chinese culture. The highlights are indeed striking, like Shen Yun but even more eye-popping (and less problematic). Nothing compared to the jaw-dropper of the Festival: AI-powered robots doing kung fu routines on an elaborate, shape shifting stage. They performed alongside children doing martial arts, symbolically representing China’s future: traditional culture mixed with staggering innovation.
I really wish the video was a deepfake.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the United States should invest in martial arts robots. Besides, American companies like Anduril, led by Oculus creator Palmer Luckey, are already developing autonomous fighter jets and making money off the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown. The line between AI and warfare was erased long ago. Real questions need serious answers not just from America but from every major military power to prevent us from annihilating ourselves because a 19-year-old activated some janky code by accident when he sneezed.
But as we deal with that, I’m also worried about what our AI revolution says about us. China’s state-sanctioned display is obviously high-tech propaganda to make its regime look powerful and great. No doubt about it. But it’s also a flex: the kind that America doesn’t really make anymore. I am NOT SUGGESTING that we make killer robots and have them do tricks. Nor am I suggesting that we act like Luddites, turn off everything AI-related and go back to downloading AOL from CD-ROMs. (Remember when you had to make a phone call to get online? Felt like churning your own butter.) But it would be nice to see what we can do when art, tech and culture combine in ways that made us all proud.
It would be nice to see anything that made us all proud.
Am I overreacting? Am I not taking this seriously enough? What do you think of the kung fu robots and the signal they send? I’d love to hear from you, especially if you work on AI and are seeing this emerging frontier firsthand. Let me know. I still have hope that this nation can come together and do amazing, impactful things. Yet another reason it’s time for me to get back to the work that matters most.
But time is running out. The future is knocking on our doors with titanium hands, flashing an LED smile, and sweetly promising that it’s only here to help. It even did a backflip to entertain your kids. How bad could it be?
