Seth Godin describes three major innovations as “The Three Impossibilities“; when what was once incomprehensible became normal.
- Radio and television
- The Internet
- AI
His point, however, is not about the innovation or the thinking. It is in the part we actually deal with ourselves: living with it.
Before radio and tv, we didn’t spend hours every day with it. Or the internet. Then we did—and still do.
The third impossibility is here and we’re opening ourselves to hours of daily life with it. From image manipulation to workflow automations, most of us are at least spending minutes every day with it. This will increase exponentially as more of our social interactions will be with AI.
With the first two, the doomsayers understand the gravity but not the why or the how. Apologists understand the scope and only the positive value.
We always frame innovation at the simplest layer: Should we do this? Is this good?
Then, when the impossible becomes inevitable, we think that cat is out of the bag and there’s no getting it back in. But unless the location of the cat in the bag is the only thing that matters, chances are we’re focusing on the wrong question.
The better question: Can we live like this? If the answer is no, then the follow-up comes in: What now needs to change?
While everyone focuses on whether AI is good or else how best to make use of the AI-fueled present, we need more of us focusing on what life in the third impossibility is like. And what happens to humanity when we allow our neighbors to think humans are replaceable.