Month: August 2025

As a mother and grandparent, I’ve always believed that my most important responsibility is to instill in my children (and by extension my grandchildren) a sense of personal responsibility for their lives. I learned from my mother that nothing worth having is given to us without struggle; the most worthwhile things must be earned with skills, hard work, and determination. I’m forever grateful that despite societal obstacles and numerous family shortcomings, she instilled in me a strong sense of agency and a belief that I could be successful if I was diligent and realistic about my capabilities. She pointed the way, not only with her encouraging words, but by example. She taught me great moral values.

I passed along these values to my children like faith in God, listening to their gut, generosity, getting an education, loyalty, integrity, hard work, asking questions, persistence, and standing up for themselves. Blaming others for their failures or lack of opportunities was never anything to dwell on because there will always be people trying to block our way or drag us down. Sometimes those people were other black folks. It was okay to be disheartened and even angry about it, but it was never okay to give up because of other people. Our job was to get up, dust ourselves off, and start searching for another door or the open window. It’s no wonder that my son’s first big word was, “persevere”. I’m thankful that he learned early that perseverance is such an important character trait.

Today, I am glad to say that my children are all college-educated, married, own homes, and are living what many would call the “American dream”. They live in affluent neighborhoods and continue to pursue their best lives. I’m thankful that they followed the same footsteps my mother laid out for me and that they got the same results. Of course, there were obstacles to maneuver every step of the way (there always is). There were temptations to overcome and sacrifices to make. The path was never straightforward, nor was it easy. Tough lessons were learned when bad choices were made. However, there were a few foundational keys to our progress.

The first was faith in God and the power of prayer. I continue to believe that He would never leave us nor forsake us. I lived by the belief that God would ultimately repay my enemies on my behalf so that I didn’t need to waste my time nor my precious energy on revenge. I was quick to forgive and modeled that for my children. Hate and the desire for retribution only hinders our ability to move forward. Asking for forgiveness and being quick to forgive is a foundational principle I learned and taught my children. It has kept our family and friendship relationships strong, building a loving and dependable support system.

Another foundational key was generosity and kindness. Giving to others in need out of compassion and empathy was something I saw modeled by my mother and confirmed in the Gospels. I adopted this for myself and taught it to my children. Being welcoming of the stranger and keeping company with the lonely is my practice and I’ve seen that behavior in my children. Over the years, I took in foster children, I continue with volunteer work, and I give generously to the needy. It’s great to watch my children do the same in their own ways. My mother used to quote the scripture that says, “To whom much is given, much is required”.

Yet another foundational key is doing your best work and being thorough. Cream rises to the top and I’ve taught my children that they only need to combine their best effort with the necessary time needed to complete the job and they will succeed. Of course, natural talent helps, but consistently hard work will outshine innate talent alone. When you combine natural talent with hard work, you’re going to rise. To avoid bragging, I’ll just say that this is a formula that has worked repeatedly in our experience.

And finally, the last foundational key is financial literacy. I follow the proverb that says, “Only a fool spends everything he makes”. I have been a saver since childhood and investing has multiplied my income to the point of financial independence. My greatest expenditures were in support of the education and wellbeing of myself and my family. For me that meant purchasing a home in a safe neighborhood with excellent schools and paying healthcare and for extracurricular activities. I took the financial advice of Susy Orman early on and passed on her wisdom to my children. I’m thankful that because of those lessons, I don’t have to worry about money, and I have the freedom to do and purchase what I want. I’ve cared more about investing in myself and my children and watching my savings grow than developing a taste for extravagant things. I made my own coffee and carried my own lunches until I retired. I didn’t buy designer clothes or shoes, but I was always dressed for success.

A big part of financial literacy is to be diligent about maintenance of my body and my things. I don’t need a shiny new car every few years. I start by purchasing a reliable car over a fancy car and follow the maintenance schedule. I keep my cell phone until a new one is absolutely necessary and by then it is free. I brush and floss twice a day and get my teeth cleaned every 6 months. I get all my medical check-ups. I keep my house clean and organized. I exercise my body and my brain to retain my independence as long as possible. I grow most of our produce and cook 95% of the time. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

The fewer the bills, the better, because a penny saved is truly a penny invested. I’m glad to have an inheritance to pass on to my children because I contributed to my 403b (like a 401k but for non-profits) and I also invested monthly in a good index fund since my 20s. I didn’t try to time the market and that consistent investment paid off. I’ve always kept a good emergency fund and avoided credit card debt, opting instead to collect the rewards.

I share these pieces of my life because I realize there are those among us who are scapegoating immigrants and others for their lack of progress. Immigrants aren’t taking your jobs. Immigrants aren’t taking your housing. If you don’t have a job or adequate housing, look in the mirror. What choices are you making that to prevent you from getting the job training or education you need to get a decent paying job? What personal traits keep you from being consistently employed? The safety nets have been in place, and the doors of opportunity were opened, but did you walk through them? I’ve met some lazy folks and some folks with attitude problems that answer that question. So, unless you are physically or mentally unwell, you should only point a finger at yourself for your lack of progress.

It has not mattered to me personally whether the Democrats or the Republicans were in power until now. And that’s only because white nationalists have overtaken the Republican Party and they have an agenda to end the social safety net, to deport immigrants of color, and to close the doors of opportunity to women and people of color. They want to make America white again and to re-establish a racial hierarchy with white people on top. Stop listening to anyone who tells you that someone else is holding you down or stealing what is yours. Those people covet your support for their ethnic cleansing. Believe me, you will not be better off when the immigrants are gone because you are still you and they will see to it that you can’t get ahead of them.

Blaming others is a fool’s errand and doesn’t lead to anything but heartache and pain for everyone involved, both the scapegoater and the scapegoated. It’s time to take personal responsibility for ourselves and our progress. In this country, if we are physically and mentally healthy, we can make lifestyle choices that will lead to our personal prosperity. It’s time more people take personal responsibility for themselves and stop jumping on the scapegoat wagon.

I’ve spent nearly my entire life living among and working with immigrants and foreign nationals. Even though we lived in a black neighborhood, my pre-school and early elementary years through 3rd grade were spent at a primarily Latino school near my mother’s work. There were five black kids at the school: me, my two older brothers, and Tommy and Sheila. I loved being there. I loved the food, the language, the culture, the teachers, and my many friends. School was easy and fun for me. We moved and I spent 4th – 6th grade among the children of Asian immigrants, primarily Japanese and Korean. There too, I had a great time, and it was there that I developed an appreciation for academic rigor and Asian foods. I saw how differently Asian households were run and developed an appreciation for the emphasis placed on organization and learning. Once again, there were only a few black kids at the school, but it didn’t matter; I was having a great time with my new Asian friends.

I spent my first year of middle school with those Asian friends among huge numbers of Jewish students. The academic rigor remained high along with high expectations and I liked it. And then we moved again. I spent the rest of middle school with kids who looked like me, black. That was by choice. For once, I wanted to know what it was like to not be the minority in a school setting. What I learned was that black school culture was fun-loving, creative, athletic, often disorderly, but also not very academically inclined. I could sense the low expectations. Consequently, I was so far ahead academically that they placed me in honors courses with the only white students in the school and several other highly motivated black students.

I excelled among my peers, and it was at that school that I was tested and accepted into the “gifted” program along with two of my black classmates. That official designation actually helped shape my high school career at a school where I was once again one of only a few blacks, but this time among a sea of white students. I was only allowed to enroll in honors and AP courses because I was a state identified “gifted” student, a fact my mother had to point out to them. None of my black friends were in any of my classes. Still, I had a great time at the school and excelled socially, athletically, and academically. Upon graduation I was voted “Best Personality” and “Most Outgoing” along with being the valedictorian. I often say that I am an introvert, but I am not shy. I easily welcome people from a variety of cultural backgrounds because I grew up in such diverse settings. I’ve learned that “people” are “people”, some worthy of friendship and some not. But my assessment of friendship status is never dependent on skin color nor nationality. Character matters most. The proximity to immigrant communities helped me view all people as human beings deserving of dignity and respect, not threats nor enemies unless their individual character proved otherwise. This grace has never been extended to black people.

I know the U.S. has given black skin a bad reputation and I have had to overcome that reputation many times. I’m still doing it. I like to think that my presence among immigrants and people from other ethnic groups forces them to question their prejudice against black people. During my academic education, I would learn about Allport’s Intergroup Contact Theory as an effective way to reduce prejudice. And I ran with it!

My curiosity about other people and cultures only grew throughout the years. I studied abroad twice. I traveled extensively to other countries. I was determined to break down prejudices by promoting cross-cultural interactions among people, particularly students who would one day run the world. I earned a master’s degree and then a doctorate in education because I loved bringing domestic students together with students from all over the world for learning, collaborations, leadership training, and mutual understanding. I worked in International Admissions, Study Abroad, Multicultural Programs, as an adjunct professor, as Chief Diversity Officer and director of International Student Services for the final years of my career. It was purposeful and fulfilling work.

It was through my career working with U.S. immigration and foreign nationals (both documented and undocumented) that I learned first-hand how broken and contradictory our immigration system really is. For many years, the system has been rigged to provide employers with cheap, exploitable labor to keep consumer prices low. By design, our country has allowed many more than the inadequate number of legal migrants to enter the country undocumented to fill the unskilled, labor-intense jobs that employers need filled. I’ve found it ridiculous how U.S. Consulars issue visas only to students whom they believe will return to their home country after graduation, but then our government offers ways to keep them here to take advantage of their family wealth or the knowledge and expertise they gained in our universities, forging a predictable path from degree to citizenship. I’ve had rich students pay their way to citizenship while others take the post-graduation work visa path. Many of my former international students are now U.S. citizens raising their own families here in the U.S. Every now and then, I’ve felt pangs of guilt for the wealth and brain drain we’ve inflicted on developing nations by keeping them here. Some of the richest, smartest and most talented students could have contributed much to the development of their home countries if we didn’t entice them to remain here.

Of course, the U.S. would not be the economic and innovative powerhouse it has become had it not been for the wealth, brains, innovation, work ethic, and contributions of immigrants. Generally speaking, they work hard, certainly harder than U.S. workers and immigrant students are more likely to major in the STEM fields that U.S. students shy away from. They pay taxes. They commit fewer crimes than Americans. And they are profoundly motivated to get ahead. They are eager to expand our cultural appreciation of different foods, traditions, and mindsets. This country was built by and is enriched by immigrants. So, I refuse to scapegoat them as responsible for people being unemployed, homeless, or high community crime rates. It was a lie that Haitians were eating the cats and dogs. It was a lie that countries were sending rapists and murderers and releasing insane folks into our communities. It was a lie that immigrants are taking away our jobs. Anyone who buys into Trump’s scapegoating of immigrants hasn’t spent much time with them.

The agenda of this current administration is to make America whiter and to promote white male dominance in all aspects of society even if they lack the competence, compassion, and the common sense to improve things. We are literally watching the destruction of science, history, social norms, and the Constitution itself. The dumbing down of America is here.

To accomplish the white “Christian” nationalist agenda, they are reversing the brain drain, encouraging smart, innovative and hard-working immigrants of color to leave the country or be deported. They are pushing our leading-edge scientists and scholars into the arms of other nations. They have made it excessively difficult, if not impossible for foreign students and scholars from India, China, Japan, Latin and Africa countries to come here. There is basically an immigration sign at our border that reads: Whites only. It’s no surprise that nearly 70,000 white South Africans have applied to enter the U.S. as “refugees” based on Trump’s invitation to alleviate a non-existent persecution problem. However, the whites they hope to attract in large numbers from European countries aren’t coming, even as tourists. They see the absurdity of white supremacy, female oppression, LGBTQ persecution, and anti-science platforms plaguing the U.S. and want no part of it. The U.S. is becoming the laughingstock of the developed world. Anyone who doubts this is in denial.

To be clear, without the positive energy, brain power, and work ethic immigrants provide, I predict a swift and certain decline in the position of the U.S. in the world. It’s already happening. We will be viewed as no different from North Korea because of our mad leader and possession of nukes, and no different from Afghanistan because of our repressive religious laws and oppression of women and LGBTQ people. And we will be just as isolated and considered just as backward and undeserving of respect as both of those countries.

At this moment in time, in these United States, I am glad that I only have grandsons. I am concerned that they are men of color, but at least their hopes, dreams, and ambitions are not in immediate danger of being snuffed out simply because they are female. I recognize that some envision a future that also diminishes my grandson’s access to opportunities based on their skin color. And a few evil white men even dream of a future that imprisons, enslaves, or deports men and women of color. But today, young females, of all colors, are under threat.

The public rhetoric of some influential men fuels the sexism that had been held at bay by the rise of feminism. Since gaining the right to vote in 1920 to the ability to make birth control decisions and to open our own checking accounts in the 1970s, women have proven that our mental and emotional acuity as well as our personal ambitions often rival that of men. Our obvious biological differences manifested in less physical strength and our ability to give birth had become secondary considerations because it doesn’t take brute strength to become a doctor, lawyer, scientist, businesswoman, journalist, astronaut, professor, or politician. Once the doors opened to us beyond that of lower paid secretary, teacher and nurse, many of us gladly stepped through those doors.

At first, newly “liberated” women like me flooded the universities in search of an academic degree and a “Mrs.” We didn’t realize it, but we were forging new pathways for our daughters that included big dreams, independence and sometimes a struggle with fertility issues. Our careers featured sporadic employment, motherhood guilt, double duty, divided attention and often divorce. Our daughters witnessed our struggle, and they didn’t graduate from college with future husbands, but with future careers. It made perfect sense to them to delay marriage and especially motherhood. However, no one told them that the female reproductive biology didn’t get the memo about the consequences of delaying motherhood, and so the fertility industry gained a new level of prominence. I’m proud that this generation of women boldly pushes new boundaries, entering the remaining male-dominated careers. It’s no longer shocking to see a female airline pilot, although some still feel a bit of unease. I don’t.

Not surprisingly, there were always more physical and more left-brained females among us. We labeled them “Tom Boys”. But now they have the opportunity to pursue careers in sports, engineering, construction, policing, and the military. It’s true that they continue to fight for equity in pay and promotion. Unlike the women who preceded them, they were fed a steady narrative of competence and empowerment, a completely different narrative from the sexism I grew up with.

I grew up hearing sexism from the pulpit, but not my mother. There is a theology that preaches the superiority of men and their God-given authority over women. A God-fearing woman will submit to her husband. She will keep her opinions to herself if different from her husband’s. She won’t exercise her will above that of the men in her life. That teaching coupled with the noticeable lack of women working as high powered, high paying professionals and the palpable fear of becoming a spinster at age 26 was the reality I grew up with. This was a particular brand of sexism that diminished the ambitions and downplayed the intelligence of women, and I wasn’t having it. I was smart and ambitious and didn’t want to dim my light and feign inferiority for the rest of my life. At age 15, I confided in my eldest brother that if this was what was expected, I wasn’t going to get married. Not realizing he was a feminist, having also been raised by my mother, I listened when he told me that not all men needed to dominate women. And he was right. Thankfully, I didn’t marry sexist men, but feminist men who believed in equality and partnership.

But society in those days worked hard to solidify limited female roles in the minds of girls and boys through television shows like, “Father Knows Best”, “Leave it to Beaver”, “I love Lucy”, and “The Brady Bunch”. The masses were groomed to accept that women were servants to their husbands, less intelligent, and devoted mothers to their children. But Hollywood slowly broke the old mold when new television role models like Mary Tyler Moore, Julia, and Murphy Brown hit the television screen. These were educated single career women. Mary Tyler Moore was a “spinster”, Julia was a black single mother, and Murphy Brown had the audacity to get pregnant and choose to raise the baby on her own. Women were making progress.

So much progress that we almost elected a female president. Twice. We finally had a female vice president and that worked out well. Both female presidential candidates were clearly smarter, more experienced, and more articulate than Donald Trump. However, both the 2016 and the 2024 elections proved too much for some very insecure men (and women). They chose the less qualified male. However, many question whether Kamala Harris really lost. I don’t know. Some, including the current president, say that the election was rigged in favor of the white male, despite his criminality, incompetence, and many moral failings. I will say that the sexist religious right had an agenda, and they had the tech bros on their side. So maybe the 2024 election was rigged.

In the wake of their “win”, emboldened sexist men have become increasingly vocal about their desire to roll back the independence and progress of women. The new vice president, JD Vance, has made a number of remarks that fuel the fire of a re-emerging sexism that is more sinister than ever because despite recognizing the intelligence, ambitions, and actual potential of women to lead, they want to hinder us. They see young men falling behind and they fear increasing male impotence, loneliness, and lost ambition. These are real issues that must be addressed. It’s not helpful that AI will replace human labor, leaving undereducated men behind. There is a real fear that women might supplant men as the dominate gender. So, they are taking decisive actions to suppress and oppress women.

Beyond the rhetoric, they started by taking away the reproductive rights of young women because women tied to motherhood have less time to devote to a job or seeking power and influence in the public sphere. Not only are they trying their hardest to end abortion rights, but the right to contraception as well. They ended DEI programs that expanded education and career opportunities for women. They want those doors closed especially since women are now more highly educated than men. There is a movement among the religious right to lower the age of consent, to make young girls vulnerable to sexual assault and forced marriage. And worse, they are trying to end “no fault” divorce to trap women in unhappy marriages.

The reality is that the religious right is effectively trying to imprison women in homes with husbands standing guard. They are working to erase the accomplishments of women from the history books and the public sphere. They know that girls can’t aspire to become what they can’t see as a possibility. And now there is a movement to prevent women from voting. It is no surprise that they are elevating the voices of traditional wives to say that being a submissive wife and mother is the way things should be.

All these things are happening in real time. The religious right is no different than the Taliban in their thinking when it comes to the role of women on the earth. They see us as second-class citizens, underserving of anything more than a basic education and completely dependent on men for our welfare. They know we aren’t stupid, nor incapable, but they need us to pretend to be to feed their egos and advance their ambitions without competition from us. They are willing to use brute force and their political power to co-opt the ambition of our daughters and granddaughters. They will utilize coercion, persuasion, public ridicule, and legislation if necessary.

However, we can’t allow them to do this. Harming women to help men is not the answer. We should know by now that cutting off half the brain power in a society doesn’t encourage innovation and slows down problem solving, stifling human progress. We must recognize their misguided agenda and reject it while we can by voting for pro-female equity candidates.

On an individual level, I would advise young women to keep their passports updated. I would advise marriage to a true feminist. And if getting married, I’d advise against changing her last name. I’d advise young women to secure both a trade and an education before having children. I’d advise against waiting until 35 to have children. And finally, I would advise young women against setting up residence in a red state. The blue states are safer with regards to protecting the health and civil liberties of young women.

I don’t believe it’s possible to take this entire generation of young women back to the 1950s. The human spirit is far too strong to remain oppressed for extended periods of time. So, even if they briefly intimidate or brainwash young women into submission with their oppressive laws and actions, women will eventually rise up demanding liberation again.

On Friday, my best friend’s husband died at the age of 82 after 54 years of marriage. He had been hospitalized multiple times, was bedridden, was in excruciating pain and riddled with a persistent infection after a sixth back surgery went wrong. He was not on good terms with my friend nor his sons because he refused to stop spending his days and thousands of dollars on for-pay online chat rooms, most likely powered by AI. The day of his death, bedridden and on pain killers, he had spent hours chatting online. His son described his father as “lonely” to the police and coroner who came to take his body from the home.

I sat with my friend for a while afterwards just to be there with her. Understandably, her emotions were all over the place. She was relieved that his suffering was over, regretful that he had alienated his family and friends with his online chats, secure in the devoted care she had provided him, but also guilty that she remained angry by his emotional and financial betrayal over the last three years. He had in fact stopped communicating with old friends as well as his own family, opting instead to spend his time with his online chat companions. Even my husband was disappointed with his failure to return calls.

Not surprisingly, my friend’s hurt runs deep and I hope she finds a way to forgive him for falling prey to a false connection with AI generated companions specifically programmed to entrap him for financial profit. I don’t believe he ever intended to abandon her, his sons, nor the other people in his life. But he did. That online chat was very effective at meeting an important aspect of his need for connection. He defended his time online by saying that the young women (bots) understood him and really cared about him. Even worse, every attempt to reason with him and even canceling his credit cards to stop the financial bleeding eventually failed. She and her sons were rightfully offended by his obstinance. However, on the occasions when he wanted to connect with my friend and his sons, they were too pissed off to talk to him. It became a sad cycle of mutual rejection that they could not escape. In fact, the day he died, his son had refused to commit to taking him to a car show they had enjoyed together each October.

Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists all agree that humans are social beings. At our core, we need to feel connected to others. When we lack connection to others, we feel lonely. And loneliness has been connected to poor mental and physical health. Whether an introvert (like me) or an extrovert (like my eldest daughter), the frequency and kind of connection required may differ. For example, I value solitude for most of the day every day. My husband and I enjoy a few joint projects, conversations, and eating together, but we mostly do our own things. I’m grateful for his companionship. I’m fulfilled by the steady flow of texts, phone calls, FaceTime, and occasional visits with my children and grandchildren. I enjoy talking to my aunts on the phone on occasion as well. Each day, I need a few minutes to connect with others. I enjoy going to the senior center every Monday for 90 minutes to crochet or knit in a small group. I enjoy two hours of Bocce Ball on Friday mornings with other seniors. I enjoy going to lunch on rotation with five different friends throughout the month. And I enjoy the short greetings with my fellow early morning walkers in the neighborhood. I think I usually spend about 20 out of 24 hours in solitude and I’m satisfied. Any more than that and I can’t wait to be alone with my thoughts and my own pursuits.

My daughter on the other hand, is almost always connected with people whether on the phone, in Zoom meetings, or in person. She loves being with others and can’t imagine spending a holiday without family and friends. Being with people energizes her. She processes ideas by talking to others. Thankfully, she has a husband who listens. She has more associates and lunch dates than anyone I know, but very few really close friends. And she’s okay with that until no one is around and then she feels lonely. Thankfully, she has developed the interpersonal skills to ensure that there is always someone to connect with. She the kind of person who connects with the restaurant server, the grocery store clerk, the doorman, and the random person standing in line with her.

But so many people either lack those interpersonal skills or the means to use them. My friend’s husband was once the life of the party when he was mobile. He had great work relationships. We enjoyed his company. He golfed with my husband and many others, restored cars with his sons and friends and went to car shows. He was personable and had a good relationship with his family. It wasn’t until his mobility was compromised by an accident, the passing of close friends, and then his back surgeries that he turned to the computer to pass time and soon found the chat rooms. He was lured in and became obsessed. My friend admits that he had grown tired of her nagging him to do his physical therapy exercises to improve his mobility. The online chatrooms had become a place of refuge.

In my opinion, these for-profit AI generated companions in online chatrooms are not a good development for human relationships. I recognize that they may be a last resort for the truly alone individual. But what about those who are only temporarily vulnerable to feeling alone? It may seem like these chatrooms are fulfilling a need for connection, but are they really mitigating actual loneliness? I’m not sure they are if they are become a substitute for actual human interactions. Her husband was certainly fooled into believing they were a great substitute. The companions he found there were easygoing: always affirming, and never critical. They stroked his ego and made him feel valued in a way others fail to do. But it’s only an illusion, an AI agent programmed to say what is needed to consume your time and money.

My fear is that too many vulnerable people, both young and old, are falling prey to the programs designed to steal them away from developing and maintaining actual human connections. My friend’s story should be a wake-up call to all of us to pay attention to what we and our children and young people are doing online. We should be pushing our youth out the door in favor of human interactions at school, at work, on the playground, at parties, in sports, with family, and in other social groups. It takes practice to develop interpersonal skills, but it is well worth it. Whether an introvert like me or an extrovert or someplace in-between, there is no good substitute for actual human connection if we want to enjoy good mental, physical, and financial health. An AI program is not the answer to loneliness for most people. I used to tell my children that to have a friend, you must first be a friend. Be the one to reach out to others and you will never lack connection. Human connection begins with a smile and a “hello, my name is….”.

We should be aware that AI generated social interaction programs are seeking those who lack the ability, the will, or the courage to forge actual human connection. Be aware that these programs are powerful and that they are designed to suck people in. If engaged, they will manipulate our egos to rob us of our time and money and they will replace our real-life relationships if we are not careful.

Personally, I’ll just steer clear of them and encourage my family and friends to do the same. But perhaps the best thing I can do to help prevent its expansion is to phone a friend.

I get an annual mammogram. For the past two appointments, I forked over an extra $40 to have my mammogram read by an AI agent in addition to the radiologist. All indications are that the AI can spot problems earlier and more accurately than a human. At my physical exam, my doctor asked me why I paid for the AI enhancement when a radiologist was already assigned to read my mammogram. I responded that I wanted an extra pair of eyes for something so consequential. He seemed concerned that AI might one day replace a human being. And so was I. But I’m also aware that the AI is less fallible than the human reading my mammogram. The AI has accumulated much more knowledge than the radiologist and isn’t subject to fatigue, distractions or even bias that could cause it to miss something. I think that was the right decision on my part even if AI eventually eliminates the job of human radiologists who read mammograms. My objective is to get the best possible healthcare that I can afford.

But many other jobs are also in danger because of AI. My son is seeing AI take over jobs in his field of medical recruiting because AI can read resumes and schedule interviews. AI is capable of providing more effective personalized education for children. My husband enjoys listening to AI generated stories on YouTube almost every day. I’ve heard AI generated songs using the voices of famous singers. My son and my daughter use AI at work to write emails, develop reports, create training manuals, and to make presentations and videos. My kids have even created AI generated coloring books, children’s videos, and one daughter had AI illustrate a children’s story she wrote. Just this week, my son used AI to help him write the toast he delivered at his friend’s wedding. Admittedly, I was impressed.

But as we discovered when the Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFJ, Jr. provided a consequential medical report written by AI, it was riddled with completely fabricated references to studies that had never been done and experts who either didn’t exist or didn’t conduct studies that AI attributed to them. The creators of AI call this kind of problem which plagues the industry “hallucinations”, and they have yet to figure out how to correct the problem because they don’t quite understand how AI actually works.

Another problem was revealed when AI companions, designed to be affirming, endorsed suicide to some of its human companions. That’s a problem that also needs immediate fixing. If any other product had these disturbing and possibly fatal flaws, it would be taken off the market without hesitation, but not AI. There is simply too much money and too much power at stake.

For example, AI can write software in minutes, saving individuals, businesses and nations-states millions of dollars and the months it takes for humans to produce the same outcome. Of course, this is why so many software coders and engineers have lost their jobs or are in danger of losing them. AI even makes computer games. And I wonder how many people like me play backgammon against AI on a regular basis. Others enjoy playing chest against AI. AI has beat the best human chest players and won at Jeopardy with ease. And AI is now playing the role of companion and giving life advice to many.

We already use AI on a daily basis without even realizing it. I ask Siri questions all day long and have her set timers, make calls, and turn off applications for me. AI answers the calls for most businesses and provides basic information. AI helps airline pilots fly and land planes. It provides us with driving navigation and other assistance if we don’t yet trust it to do the actual driving, which it is capable of. For years, we have seen AI at work with robots and drones and the automation in factories that displaced so many workers. The military employs robots in combat, logistics, and reconnaissance operations. So, none of us should be surprised that Elon Musk is creating an army of robots. The application of AI is now on steroids.

Some are predicting the end of work and the need for universal basic income to keep the economy running. The optimistic say this will free us to better enjoy our lives. Others say it will leave us devoid of purpose and miserable. The truly skeptical, including the grandfather of AI himself, Geoffrey Hinton, are sounding the alarm about the dark side of AI and its capacity to do harm if not regulated and programed against hurting humans.

War under AI is different and no one has taken the steps needed to prevent it from one day declaring war on us. Already, we see drones being used, not only for surveillance, but to attack people and to drop bombs. These kinds of attacks can be used anywhere and on anyone. Individuals have reported being followed by drones. Others have their privacy invaded on a regular basis by drones flying over their backyards or looking through their windows. What if a drone was charged with assassination? Or worse, what if AI one day decided that humans should be eliminated? Because they reason and draw conclusions and now build software, we have given them the means to end lives, and they might find their own motive. We literally lack the means to shut them down. Think of Hal in the movie, “2001 Space Odyssey”.

And of course, the problem of deep fakes is upon us. AI can mimic the voice and image of anyone and place them in a location and make them say or do anything. On the positive side, my daughter instructed AI to use her likeness and voice to create an orientation video for her new employees. While that was a great tool to save time and money in a business, it is also scary when it comes to our criminal justice system or the political sphere. Eventually, we won’t be able to tell whether a video is real or fake. Imagine how difficult it will be to prosecute a person for a crime or to prove one’s innocence. Or imagine how difficult it will be for political candidates to establish their own platforms when others can easily contradict their claims using a deep fake video.

Already, the scams using the voice and image of family members or celebrities are everywhere. Real people are losing their life savings to these scams. My husband and I no longer respond to text messages or phone calls without verifying them with a call to the actual person or company supposedly behind the text message or email. The people behind these deep fake scams know the people and the companies we interact with and are getting better and better at imitating them.

Some are saying that the 2024 election was stolen using software designed by Elon Musk. I don’t know whether or not it is true. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised. And I do know that Trump claimed on several occasions before the election that he already had enough votes to win and afterwards he claimed that the election was rigged in his favor and that in coming elections we won’t even need to vote. I notice that no media outlet is commenting on his statements nor acknowledging the inconsistencies in voting at certain locations and they are outright ignoring the whistleblowers trying to speak out.

Whatever the final outcome with regard to the 2024 election, the time is now to seriously think about AI and its positive uses and possible dangers. We will need regulations to put up specific guardrails to protect humanity. However, AI lobbyists are pushing Republican lawmakers to prevent states from passing AI regulations for 10 years. That’s not just shortsighted, but dangerous. Yes, we are in a race with China, but we must also consider safety.

So, as a citizen, let’s push for regulations. We should also start thinking about the kinds of jobs that will remain after AI sucks up all the manufacturing, driving, and information driven jobs. I’ve heard people say that we will still need plumbers for some time to come. I suppose that we’ll still need athletes, coaches, pastors, cooks, theater actors, hairstylists, live concert performers, doctors and nurses, bartenders, and manicurists. Being social beings, we’ll continue to crave the human interactions that is currently satisfied at work, church, clubs, and school. Perhaps any job where human warmth and touch are preferable to robots might be safe. And I suppose any of the creative arts will become much more valuable when they are produced by actual humans and labeled as such.

I hear there are people considering lives devoid of technology as a lifestyle choice. Some are moving to places to live “off the grid”. Others might start whole communities, much like the Amish, leaving the newest technology behind. It is clear that the future is upon us, and that each of us needs to consider how we will thrive if not simply survive in it.