Zoquento

Don't forget the fact that most of the time, the AI tools don't actually work well enough to be worth the trouble.

AI meeting notes are great! After you spend twice as long editing out the errors, figuring out which of the two Daves was talking each time, and removing all the unimportant side-items that were captured in the same level of detail as the core decision.

AI summaries are great - if you're the sort of person that would use a calculator that's wrong 10% of the time. The rest of us realize that an hour spent reading something is more rewarding and useful than an hour spent double checking an AI summary for accuracy.

AI as Asbestos isn't even an apt comparison, both are toxic and insidious, but Asbestos at least had a clear and compelling use case at the time. It solved some problems both better and cheaper than available alternatives. AI solves problems poorly and at higher cost, and people call you "threatened" if you point that out.

This book literally saved my life.

I read it in high school and it was okay. 15 years later I was taking a flight and needed something to read (pre-downloaded video was not quite a thing yet). I was NOT in a good place mentally, and hadn't been for a while. I was depressed and hiding it, suffering in my own head.

I'll be honest: I had a date picked out, and it was coming up.

This was in my library because I had grabbed a handful of free books from somewhere. I beasted the entire thing in 3 hours.

Something about it rung me like a bell. I saw myself in the dark place this character was 2/3rds of the way through the book. Lost, suffering, unfulfilled, failing to rise to his potential, lamenting choices and compromises of my past, looking back and knowing I would be a disappointment to the brilliant young man I used to be.

I can think, I can wait, I can fast.

These became my mantra.

I had the tools I needed. I could find a way out of this hole, I could be patient until the opportunities I needed arrived, and I could endure discomfort and hardship to get there.

I can think, I can wait, I can fast.

I told my wife I needed therapy. I told my therapist I needed meds. I've gotten more than ten years past that date.

I haven't quite found my river yet, but I'm on the road.

... so you should read this book.