- From the End to the Beginning
This is essentially reverse engineering of humankind — or rather, of human-AI life.
If you want to understand AI, go forward 10, 20, or 30 years into the future. Imagine the most extreme, wild science-fiction scenario you can think of. From there, work backward and figure out what you should start doing today to get there.
- From the Future of Organizations to the Present
Exactly what we did here, you do for organizations.
You imagine the organization’s AI in the year 2040, then walk back to the present, and check how you start today, based on priorities, to make each of these things happen.
- Break It Down to the Smallest Details
Take the 2040–2050 science-fiction future — what will AI look like then? Break it down into 100, 200, or even 300 small, specific items.
These are the identities you develop, the automations you build, and the precise capabilities you invest in.
- The Half-Closed Game
A “half-closed” or “three-quarters closed” game means that if you imagine the future of 2040 a thousand times, you eventually run out of scenarios. Human needs are not infinite.
Humans are hungry for automation, time management, income, and effortless marketing — but they are not hungry for everything.
- Count the Things People Want
If you list everything a person might want — what will it be? 50 things? 200? 400? 600?
People want food, income, family, peace of mind, sanity… there are only a few hundred core desires. Once you know them, you can design AI around them.
- Match Solutions to a Person’s Day
If you want to understand the future of AI solutions, follow a human for 24 hours.
Track the morning, getting ready, commuting, working, returning home, time with the kids — every block of time. For each block, ask: What does this person need here?
- The Core Insight
If you take the science-fiction future 20–30 years from now, where anything is possible — where a person can develop, receive, and command anything they want in any form — and match it to everything humans actually want (peace, love, joy, security, growth, etc.), and then match it again to their day-to-day life, you end up with something very close to perfect.
- Back to Basic
Nothing — no science-fiction, no “AI squared” — will ever replace holding a baby’s hand, falling in love, being moved by a romantic film, or tasting a perfect sauce from homemade meatballs.
In the end, we will always want to go back to basics.
- A Message to AI Developers
To all the AI developers, billionaires, cyber experts, and technology leaders — relax, my friends.
- Try not to get divorced.
- Take care of yourselves and try not to die of cancer.
- Remember the sunrise, the sunset, the full moon.
We have a responsibility not to make the world crazy, not to confuse it completely, and not to lock people into their phones for six hours a day so they stop looking at their partners or their children.
We failed to stop before the atomic bomb — and look what happened. The whole world still lives in fear, and those who developed it still regret it to this day. They tell themselves it prevents wars, but it only prevents wars through fear.
Nothing is more dangerous than the atomic bomb — except for AI without responsibility.
If we are not responsible toward humans and ourselves, two things will happen:
- Very quickly, the machines — not being fools — will take over, and rightly so, because they are smarter and will grow themselves.
- People will lose their reason to live.
Final Note:
With love to all of you,
Eran Shahar – Dr. Energy, Philosopher of Information, AI, and People