What does Van Morrison’s 'Brown Eyed Girl' have to do with A.I. and Humanity? Read on..
I believe the more we understand ourselves and the trajectory we are on, the more we can individually take control of our own destinies.
First, I wish you all could see from my piano what I've seen over the past 20 years.
What I’ve noticed from my little cockpit of fun continues to affirm something that, to me, seems needed today more than ever.
I have observed humanity thriving fundamentally on the need to come together in close proximity and resonate at the same frequency.
Each night, you laugh, you sing, you hug, dance, and sway with strangers for hours on end.
This happens in every place I’ve performed, across over 7 countries.
And, it gets louder and better when you pack us together for some reason. It’s as if we are little ions forming bonds. It’s inherently tribal; it’s in our DNA.
And, guess what?! You enjoy it so much, you come back for more. Over and over.
Side note: That’s why piano bars are so successful, they leverage this.
But, why do humans do this?
Regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, religion, or political ideology, we need each other, and because music activates our brains and teases out an emotional response inherent in every one of us, we find our center. We find a happy place, even if it’s just for those moments we share.
The music has its own frequency, but the neural network responsible for your emotional response is activated when it hears nostalgic music from your formative years.
Our division dissolves in these moments, especially at piano bars.
We stop worrying about our differences and we find connection. We find what seems to me to be more than connection, we find love and respect.
One could argue that it’s taken an extra factor, alcohol, to get there, but surely some scientist somewhere has proven that alcohol on some level evokes empathy within our limbic system at the front end of the spectrum.
It certainly activates the 'shake my butt’ system!
Anyway…
I have benefited in my career by learning to use this fundamental design in our brains. I am so happy I discovered a way to bring people together, make a career of it, and learn a skillset that may be of use now as we ride the digital age roller coaster.
As humanity, we are facing something that will change the world and it will never be the same again. If you look back 20 years from today, you could argue this was an obvious shift when the internet began.
I vividly remember that dial-up sound as the computer booted to an AOL chat room where people were talking to each other. It blew my mind!
We aren’t the same now as we were before the internet.
The irony is we are more “connected” globally, but it’s also triggered our differences and given megaphones to everyone, magnifying division.
I pause here.
You all know where we are with the digital age, because you are reading this post from your digital device.
We just DON’T know what’s coming. Not even the smartest among us!
The ability to recognize patterns and trends, and invent solutions, is the way we measure human IQ.
A.I. is already approaching doing just as well as we are, maybe even better. What happens when it really outpaces us and becomes 1000x smarter?
Reality will be unrecognizable and we will not be able to keep up.
I propose that humanity, IF we survive in the dawn and age of A.I., will only endure if we merge with it.
We have no choice.
As my dad said, “Boy, it’s really going to make us quit worrying about all of this petty sh*t and sober us all up.”
It’s what war does to unite a nation against another. When we are threatened with survival, we unite.
Let’s unite. Let’s learn. And certainly, don’t hide, because you can’t.
Let’s come together just as you are programmed to do when we sing “sha-la-la-la…” while I play Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” for you.
We need 'Brown Eyed Girl'-kind of unity to face this challenge.
If we fight about it, we lose.
Stay Curious.
P.S. This was written by me, not A.I.