AI and the Future: Humanity's New Coexistence in 20 Years

Looking at the progress of AI in recent years, I can't help but feel that the world will be very different in 20 years. The seeds of world-changing technology are visible here and there. However, it always takes longer than expected for it to become mature and ordinary people can use it.

It was like the Internet in 1995. It was clear that the world was going to change, but it took the widespread use of smartphones after 2010 for ordinary people, not just early adopters, to use it in their daily lives.

However, once AI is integrated as an essential part of society, the history of mankind will change irreversibly. Just as the emergence of the steam engine once rewrote the history of mankind forever. Perhaps the lifestyles that we take for granted now will also change.

By that time, I will be an old man, so I don't know if I will be able to fully adapt to the new society. However, children born in the future will accept this kind of AI as something very natural, alongside old traditional technologies, and live with it as a given. That's how society changes. It has always been that way in the history of humanity over the past few hundred years. That's fine.

We will all become the "bosses" of AI. Our economic power will be determined by our ability to use AI. This coexistence of humanity and AI will continue for at least the next few decades. However, to be honest, I'm not sure if humanity will continue to be the "boss" and AI the "subordinate" forever. In the not-too-distant future, serious discussions may begin to take place on who will inherit this civilization that humanity started. However, by that time, I will have passed away and will not be able to see the conclusion.

It has been a while since I posted last

I don't remember how many years have passed since my last post. I will post entries sometimes. I have just started learning English again. I signed up for an online English school, where I can talk to teachers worldwide, that is, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. I have had teachers from the Philippines, South Africa, and Papua New Giniua. I used to worry about grammatical mistakes in my English. But does it matter? Everybody knows that I am not a native English speaker. My mother tongue is Japanese. So who cares about my English grammar? A far more important thing is what I express. How could it be helpful if I had nothing to convey but had perfect grammar instead? I believe my English is good enough for readers to understand. If there is anything unclear to you, please ask me. I will write what I feel inside from now on.

Watching television is a waste of time

Many people enjoy watching television. They can get useful information as well as good entertainment from it. At the same time, some people claim that watching television is harmful. They also point out that watching it is no longer necessary, because recent advances in technology are bringing about more efficient ways to get information. I agree. Personally, I believe that watching television is just a waste of time.

First of all, watching television is a passive activity. When you read books, you need to concentrate on whatever book you are reading. Otherwise, you will not be able to understand what the books attempt to convey. In contrast, you have to make no active effort when you watch television. Broadcasting stations decide what you can view. Once you have chosen a channel on the television set, you will never have a choice about what you will see. As a result, you might stop thinking for yourself. This is how television makes you passive.

In addition to the previous point, television is no longer the best information source. Nowadays, the Internet offers better information in both quality and quantity than television. For example, you have to sit and wait for a long time before your favorite dramas appear on television. By contrast, on the Internet, you can watch them anytime you like. Weather information is available on television, but you can get more detailed information on websites. Furthermore, the Internet provides a virtually unlimited amount of information, while a television channel has only twenty four hours a day to broadcast programs. In many ways, television is inferior to the Internet as a source of information.

In conclusion, watching television wastes your precious time. People tend to become passive when they watch television. Moreover, television is not as good as other information sources. Television used to be the main source information and entertainment at home, but it is no longer the case. Your time is always limited. You should think twice about spending a lot of time watching television.

(Thanks for the correction at CZ-Training)

What are the best jobs?

Personally I don not agree with the argument that the best jobs pay the most. Money is just one aspect of a job. How much you can learn from the job is a more important aspect.

First of all, many people who have high paying jobs are miserable at work. Let's assume that people have a well-paid job, but they are not interested in it. Although they can make a lot of money at it, they will not be satisfied with it and will feel a great stress at work. As a result, they will have to spend a great amount of money buying things to compensate for their regular dissatisfaction and distress. They will not be able to save money at all even though their income is very high.

Another pitfall of high income work is that you might be trapped in such a job and might not be able to move to another job that would potentially give you more satisfaction. This deprives you of not only the possibility to get a more suitable job but also the chance to grow professionally. People never perform best in jobs they do just to make a living. They need to really like what they do. If they don't make a serious effort at the workplace, they will never develop professional skills either.

In conclusion, the best jobs are the ones that offer workers the greatest growth opportunity both professionally and mentally. Many people are still unhappy even though their jobs pay a lot. High income jobs might also prevent you from getting a more fulfilling job or even a calling. Of course, sometimes people can get lucky and both growth and high income. However, even in such a case, we should consider the high income something extra on top of what is really important: personal growth and professional development.

(Thanks for the correction at CZ-Training)

A brief life story of mine

In 1970, I was born in Koga, Ibaraki, Japan, which is 60 km north of Tokyo. After I graduated from an elementary school in Ibaraki, I entered a prestigious private junior high school, Kaisei Junior High School in Tokyo. I didn't adapt to the school life there so I quit after 2 years. After I graduated from a public junior high school in Kawasaki, I went back to Ibaraki to enter a public high school.

In 1989, I was accepted into Japan's most prestigious university, the University of Tokyo. I studied economics.

My dream then was to become an academic economist. Although I passed the entrance exam for the graduate school of economics in the University of Tokyo, I declined the acceptance. I thought that just studying the economic theories seemed boring and I would rather look at the real economy. That's why I got a job at the Bank of Tokyo (currently, the Bank of Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ). However, I didn't like its conservative atmosphere and quit 6 months later.

I was a part-time worker for a year and experienced different kinds of jobs as such an office clerk at a community center, an assembly worker at a bus manufacturing factory, a salesperson for photocopiers and a security guard at a roadwork site. It was fun and each experience broadened my views.

In 1996, I found a job at a small software company in Kichijoji, Tokyo. This was the time when I became a professional software engineer. It was easy for me to master the technologies because I did a lot of programming when I was a junior high school student. I worked for cutting-edge companies including Rimnet and Tenartni.

In 1999, I moved to Canada. After I attended ESL schools in Toronto for 4 months, I became a regular student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. I took computer science courses, which turned out to be uninteresting. Although I got straight As, I felt bored so quit the college. I went back to Toronto.

Once I got permanent residency in Canada, I started working in a small software company run by Canadians. It was most thrilling when I worked with the media company Sound Source.

In 2003 , I went to Korea and studied Korean, and in 2004, Mandarin in China. I got the level 5 certificate(National Korean Proficiency Exam) for Korean and level 7(HSK) for Chinese. These grades are good enough to enable the holder to be accepted to universities in the respective countries.

In 2004, I worked as a bridge engineer for an Indian software company, Patni Computer. I was based in Tokyo to help Indian engineers working in Japan.

In 2005, I became a full-time stock trader. I didn't work for a company; I stayed home and traded online. Although I made one million yen at the beginning, I lost it all when the stock market crashed at the beginning of 2006.

In 2006, I started my own software company, Softculture. I worked for a lot of projects including http://go-jimbou.info/ and http://commonsmarker.com/.

In 2008, I moved to Vietnam. I studied Vietnamese in college language schools. Although I tried to set up a software company for offshore development, I could not make it due to some problems.

In 2010, I braved US CPA exam. After studying 6 months, I passed all the 4 sections of the exam. Although I tried hard to find a job at big 4 accounting firms in Vietnam, I was unsuccessful.

In 2011, I had a job interview with Twitter at its San Francisco headquarters. Unfortunately, I was not accepted. I started http://shohyoj.in. Its tag line is "A book review site that lets you know how attractive the reviewers are".

I was married for 2 years between 2006 and 2008. I have no children.

My IT skills include programming, web development and server administration. When it comes to programming skills, I am the best at Ruby. I am also good at PHP / C / C++ / Java. Currently, I am also studying web design.

Language skills include English, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese. My TOEIC(an English proficiency test) score is 965.

I am very active in social media. My Japanese blog(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/elm200) has attracted about 4 million page views in the past 5 years. I have more than 11500 followers at Twitter(@elm200) as of Feb 2012.

Life is an intriguing multidimensional object

I used to think in a simpler way; advanced countries should be the future of developing countries. Developing countries should follow suit and should catch up with advanced countries.

It was easy for me to think this way when I lived in advanced countries such as Japan and Canada. But my thoughts are started to change after I actually began to experience life in developing country such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

There are many social problems in developing countries. Social infrastructures are poor. Governments are corrupt. Many destitute people have no access to basic necessities such as medicine and education.

Yet I have also found positive sides in developing countries. People are more relaxed and enjoy their lives. Family bonds are strong. Friendships are more appreciated.

Even though advanced countries boast their power and wealth, their people are not at all euphoric. People in advanced countries have a set of problems that is different from that of developing countries. People are forced to work hard under pressure. They have no time to enjoy their lives despite their wealth. Family bonds are week and almost disappearing. Friendships are sacrificed over their individualistic goals.

I slowly started to realize a simple fact. Probably, the comparison of an advanced country and a developing country is not a matter of which one is better. Instead, all we can say is that they are just different. None is more advanced nor lags behind. Each has its own pros and cons.

We can apply this way of thinking to another field, life. Some people are very smart and others are not. Some graduate from the best universities and others lack even basic education. Are university graduates are making more money than others? Maybe. Then are university graduates happier than others? This is a tricky question. I have no clear-cut answer to this.

After all, life is not something that you can grasp easily and get bored with quickly. Life are full of wonder and it stems from life's inherent self-contradictory nature. Life is an intriguing multidimensional object.

New Fourties

I was born in 1970. I am 41 years old. I am becoming 42 next June.

You are always new to your age. You are 20 years old, 30 years old or 40 years old for the first time and only once in life. You always feel vulnerable each year your birthday adds one to your age.

We need role models more than we would expect. We are almost slaves of role models. We need them because we feel nervous. The established idea tells us what we should do depending on how old you are. If you are off the track, you will invariably feel insecure.

There are a plenty of role models for young people. Most novels, movies and dramas feature young characters. Once you have reached 40, however, you will see a dramatic decrease of such lliterary role models that you can refer to.

Here is a reason. Young people are in search for many paths in life. By the age of 40, people accept fixed social roles and feel perfectly accustomed to monotone life styles. They are too boring to be drama characters. That is why we have few mediocre stereo types for people over 40.

The time is changing. Material production is no longer a big problem(especially for those who live in advanced countries). Instead, knowledge produces more value in the economy. People are now forced to learn throughout life and to adapt to new social changes.

For most people, the first role models are their parents. My father was an ordinary salaried man. He was a middle-level manager at a factory. He worked very hard, but his life style lacked variety. Once he would finish work and go home, he would turn on and watched TV purposelessly. I didn't like his life style at all and this experience grew my general disgust for life styles of salaried men.

I don't want to be like my father. I have no role models. I have no external guide on how to lead my fourties. As Steve Jobs said before, I have to listen to and follow my inner voice. I have to create my own life style by myself.