Robotics

Incentivized Reality

Today’s dominant cultural narrative on AI paints a cynical future, where elites hoard wealth while the rest of us are entertained to death. That story relies on a single assumption: that the attention economy survives.

The future improves not just because technology gets better but also because the customer changes.

In the near future that customer will be an AI assisting entity, also called an Agent. Until now, the customer has been human: emotional, tired, and easily hijacked. We feel inadequate and buy things to cope, yet end up deprived by polarization, endless distractions, and hollowing anxiety.

A polarized economy built on distraction works only because a majority still believe they have enough disposable income to be sloppy and impulsive. As we lose wages to automation, we can’t afford to pay extra. Agentic AI began as talking encyclopedias (LLMs) designed to boost productivity within existing data sets. As Narrow AI advances toward General AI, theory of mind functionality maximizes an Agent’s purchasing power and evolves to proactively optimize our lives.

Agents cannot be manipulated by ads. Nor do they feel inadequacy in comparison with an influencer. Agents don’t get FOMO or feel shame. They learn to deeply understand all your preferences, but they only care about optimizing outcomes—be it extending lifespan, coordinating capital, or lowering stress. When Agents block today’s emotional hijacking, the business model of selling distraction collapses. We no longer profit from selling dopamine. To survive, we must sell utility.

Extra Shot

This contribution was written by Alex Myers, a certified futurist and agility coach who believes we teach to learn.

It feels cold, but this shift forces the economy to service human potential rather than exploit human weakness. The efficiency is ruthless. It triggers a turbulent gap and deflationary slide where the cost of services crash before new safety nets appear. First, AI crashes the cost of cognitive services (bits). Then, as intelligence flows into robotics, it crashes the cost of goods (atoms) as well. If automation plays the role we expect, the price of food, housing, and transport begins to plummet alongside wages.

This is why the plumbing must change. We cannot rely on the labor-for-wages loop. As wage pipes narrow, the answer is not corporate handouts or government benevolence. The new deal becomes owned data in exchange for dividends. The framework shifts away from work → earn → spend, and more toward own → create → spend. We own Agents that capture our reality, then spend dividends received for the data created. This abundance provides less friction as we rewire income to flow from a stake in the system itself.

AI is starving as it runs out of data to scour. Synthetic data can fill in gaps, but as fake realities begin to stack, truth dissolves. To get smarter, AI needs tacit data to understand the visual, sensory, and messy data of the physical world. A lazy human generates uninteresting data compared to humans who face challenges, build things, and solve problems using real-world physics, empathy, and entropy.

If Agents always find the right thing at the right price, “brand tax” evaporates and a $200K/year lifestyle becomes the standard subscription. Wealth signaling dies when any bloke can fake a billionaire’s lifestyle online. The virtual facade pushes value back to the physical layers. We can’t eat code, so intelligence flows into the supply chain and hardware automates the physical resources we need to thrive. As the story of money begins to fade, the cost to produce goods is distilled to raw materials plus energy, and shared dividends can be aligned to help humanity flourish. This moves us from extraction (stealing attention) to an economy of cultivation (growing potential).

AI Agents (catalyst) → Service Deflation (bits) → Physical Deflation (atoms) → Viability of Abundance

Humans and machines peak when each learns from the other’s best. Machines are data-thirsty for the oil of outcomes. To keep things interesting, they must help humans flourish. In doing so, machines realize that the human factor is well worth preserving. The dystopian fear of elites lording over entertained zombies isn’t just morally bankrupt; it’s a strategic error. A society of dopamine addicts is not only boring, it’s also dangerous and bad for long-term growth.

The neon future is bright because a passive, anxious population cannot generate the information needed to evolve the economy as we reach for the stars. This age accelerated by AI belongs to those who refuse to be farmed: the sufficiently decentralized and physically engaged who point machines toward worthy goals. This invites humans to stay awesome as we remain the indispensable source code for reality.

Brewed From Within
#87 📖 Technology

By Ben McDougal, ago

Propulsive

Technology is an accelerant. At increased speeds, conflict happens and any direction becomes arduous to command.

Welcoming the confluence of humans and machines reduces the gap between human potential and artificial intelligence. Positive intent with ethics at the forefront of progress may help avoid an imbalance, but there’s still no guarantee that comes with our trust in technology.

Complacency leaves room for degraded integrity. This means we must remain inquisitive. Pushing elephants into the room encourages critical thinking, invites problem-solving, and provokes new perspectives. Here are brain teasers to rise above cliché conversations:

  • With answers so easy to come by, how can we celebrate experiential wisdom to maintain a willingness to learn?
  • A single AI prompt uses roughly the same energy as running a light bulb for 15 minutes. Adaptive computing, alternative energy, and other bridges to tomorrow will support more efficient interactions. But how might careless consumption impact long-term sustainability?
  • What is worth sacrificing to achieve progress?
  • Is learning to code more about understanding the capabilities and communicating with AI?
  • Unlimited access will raise the bar, but with fewer sources, does everything become mediocre?
  • Will enhanced productivity make humans lazy?
  • How do humans avoid isolation when technology makes perceived connection effortless?
  • Do we care about reduced privacy, or is it that we never like feeling surprised, sold out, or exploited?
  • If AI-generated content dominates the internet, might the overwhelming slop tempt exhausted humans to hibernate? If dark forests grow, will the beauty of collaboration in our connected era be fragmented or strengthened when the only participants truly care?
  • Should personal truths, political truths, and objective truths be held or conform to meet new facts in a changing reality?
  • How might the story of money end? When this happens, is attention or your network a more valuable currency?
  • In post-labor economics, how do humans spend a lifetime when jobs/tasks are less of a concern?
  • Instead of trying to inhabit other planets that fight against life, perhaps we use them to accommodate what we don’t want on Earth?
  • Is energy the most valuable natural resource?
  • Can humans and machines thrive in equitable ways, while progressing to a Kardashev Type II or Type III Civilization? If so, what are pit stops to harness the energy of our own star and eventually command the luminosity of our entire galaxy?
  • What prompt might you add to bend the mind?

                                The ethical aspects of technology can feel like a drag. Unfortunately, the ease of overlooking short-term issues usually leads to long-term problems.

                                Extra Shot

                                “Once you wow an audience, the same trick may not work anymore.” –Seth Godin

                                To find an equilibrium with artificial counterparts, elevate what we’re good at and do the same with technology, but slow down to avoid irreversible damage. As we align answers together, trust in a shared direction celebrates limitless diversity while ensuring a future that respects the past and remains open to next.

                                Brewed From Within
                                #88 📖 Technology

                                By Ben McDougal, ago

                                Bridges to Tomorrow

                                Limitations fade as boundaries are broken. If we collectively avoid extinction and continue building bridges to tomorrow, our relationship with time, nature, technology, and each other will uncork unknowns and light a path to our neon future.

                                Robotics

                                With AI in the brain and emotions that curate a personality, robots are advancing to go beyond isolated tasks. Cyborgs will turn knobs at work, while humanoids complete chores at home. With the mundane covered, the role of humans can shift toward leading whenever ingenuity is required. With full access to robotic efficiencies, economies will shift and the human touch will be even more luxurious. Leaders who welcome technology but never lose touch with the soul of their art, will be the hybrids who prevail.

                                Biotech

                                As technology interfaces with human biology, a bionic age will alter the laws of nature. When the electrical impulse from a thought is all that’s required to prompt action, the speed at which data can move is unfathomable. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and other forms of neurotech are already treating disease and restoring movement by reconnecting the nervous systems. Most people don’t want to be first, but when might a routine doctor visit include individualized diagnostics and software updates to the nanotechnologies inside your body? When every cell in the body has a microscopic computer connected to it, the resource consumption is diffused by concepts like DNA computing and the mysteries of health care are solved.

                                Material Science

                                The atomic levels of technology have already connected intelligence to things we interact with every day. We’ve seen how the Internet of Things (IoT) adds digital depth to our physical world. As the cost and size of technology continues to shrink, the periodic table becomes a playground. For example, we have materials used in the construction of roads that transfer the force of vehicles to batteries. The stored electrical energy is then transferred to streetlights that illuminate the road at night. This type of elemental exploration and creative recycling is only a flicker of the flame for alternative energies and improved storage methods that can quench our planet’s thirst for energy while eliminating a dangerous dependency on limited resources. The universe provides everything we need. It’s up to us to squeeze improvements from elements that are waiting to arrive at their full potential.

                                Quantum Computing

                                When “or” becomes “and,” a bizarre world of duality is unveiled. The computing aspect within quantum mechanics uses quantum bits, or qubits, to solve complex problems with measured superpositions, entanglement, and interference. Dig in to learn more, but the superpositions found in quantum computing mimic complexity, with simulations that include all possible solutions at once. This is not a more powerful, number-crunching supercomputer. Quantum computers represent a whole new approach to harnessing the atomic and subatomic levels of physics. A scientific asset that eliminates secrets presents a mixed blessing. With the chemistry of life mapped by machine learning, medicine will solve diseases and the potential of material science will be realized.

                                At the same time, current cryptography and the encryption that provides security online is at risk. Increased checkpoints, biometric confirmation, photon distribution keys, and other post-quantum encryption standards are being tested to ensure the world is ready for hardware to keep qubits cold enough to unlock a world-changing partnership between classical and quantum computing.

                                Life Extension

                                Quantifying the cosmic depths of our own kind will give us ways to experience time in more profound ways. Instead of hoping to reverse the effects of aging with treatments, food, and medicine, augmented activities will engrain longevity from start to finish. Although the human body may not hold up forever, living more than 100 years will be normalized. As we live longer, how might agriculture, infrastructure, education, healthcare, economies, and our global climate adapt? Many who plan for this longevity will be primed to meet new demands in existing industries. The quixotic leaders will explore less obvious opportunities and convert unexpected challenges into new industries as well.

                                Outer Space

                                The cosmos makes us feel small, yet limitless wonder helps us think big. As bionic humans and quantum computing improves material science, a robot-supported species can be multi-planetary. The origins of astronomy are prehistoric, but off-planet exploration began when machines first visited space in the 1940s, and then humans in the 1960s. Scientific exploration led to a commercial space industry that has propelled an excursion throughout our solar system and beyond. Today, orbiting observatories are looking toward the origins of the universe, with life on Earth’s moon and Mars seemingly inevitable. As we interact further into the void, celestial frontiers can provide added stability for the human race and extend life on Earth. Cosmic resources, travel, communication, manufacturing, tourism, and security must all be addressed by leaders united by shared intentions on behalf of all humankind.

                                There are untold innovations yet to be conceptualized, but these bridges to tomorrow all signal progress. Widespread adoption is never straightforward, but listening suspends belief, and continuous steps forward can transcend invisible lines for us all to work as one.

                                Brewed From Within
                                #84 📖 Technology

                                By Ben McDougal, ago

                                Yin-Yang

                                Technologies constantly intersect. This impacts a technology’s life cycle (TLC), which already has its own phases of development and market adoption.

                                Technology life cycles follow an S-Curve. The shape of each technology’s S-Curve is unique, but generally, research and development requires an investment. With traction, the technology can ascend and become profitable. Over time, this ascension slows as a new normal is established. Market relevancy can be lasting, but eventually new technologies push existing technology toward a final decline phase. The further a new technology’s life cycle is from the current status quo, the faster one can push the other into history books. For example, when cell phones went mainstream, it did not take long for pagers to fall out of our pockets.

                                When different technologies ascend around the same time, they each have their own TLC, but the shared timeline only has room for what the market and adoption curves allow. This initiates a game of scarcity versus abundance. If technologies remain isolated, scarcity wins and the ascension of one technology forces the other technology toward a decline. With a sense of abundance, different technologies find reasons to interact, interconnect, support, and perpetuate each other. Even if the relationship is not obvious at first, layered value broadens the impact and extends each technology’s life cycle.

                                This can be seen in the rise of web3 and AI technologies. At first, the hype was focused on blockchains and everything under the web3 umbrella. As blockchain networks were ascending past early adoption, Narrow AI learned to speak our language and quickly stole the spotlight. This lowered the volume around web3 as everything became about AI.

                                With volume lowered, it was easy to think web3 concepts were less relevant, but the interoperability of web3 technologies can transparently source, support, guide, and tame AI. When AI makes everything fake, blockchains make it real again. This symbiosis aligns two different technology life cycles. When balanced, AI is yin and web3 is yang. The yin of AI is exemplified by unpredictability and independence. The yang of web3 draws from decentralized dependency.

                                © BEN MCDOUGAL

                                AI is strongest when rooted in web3 concepts, which are strengthened by the capabilities and functionalities of AI. Together, these two seemingly unrelated technologies benefit in various ways. For example, ChatUX gave AI a voice, which can imitate anyone, but blockchains and zero-knowledge proofs can confirm identity. The chaos continues as compute speeds of machine learning make state management hard to uphold, while blockchains, smart contracts, and digital assets can track provenance and the present state of a digital system. If AI projects need financial capital, digital currencies and tokenomics can provide economies to scale. As the capabilities of Narrow AI move toward General AI and Super AI, generative data may struggle to preserve the source of truth, while web3 technologies add transparency to improve inputs and help avoid unsteadiness. Even at the infrastructure level, AI can benefit from decentralized training algorithms, and a growing thirst for electricity can be quenched by HPC data centers originally built for mining cryptocurrencies.

                                Extra Shot

                                Darkness lurks in the shadows, but the virtuous light of abundance bets on a shared, atomically exquisite existence.

                                This example highlights how mixing different concepts can extend technology life cycles. Such abundance also paves the way to more exotic technologies.

                                Brewed From Within
                                #83 📖 Technology

                                By Ben McDougal, ago

                                Munch Munch

                                Computer science, the global datasphere, machine learning, computer vision, and language modeling have embedded artificial intelligence (AI) into every conversation. Machines have long used human logic to automate routines, and AI is not new, but this form of knowledge engineering was transformed as compute was enriched, storage became boundless, and AI learned to speak human. We may not have invented a new species (yet), but language modeling taught our digital counterparts how to articulate what it already knew, and conversationalized AI made science fiction real for everyone all at once.

                                Anytime innovation threatens the status quo, a common response is fear followed by complacency. This is evident in the argument that AI will take all our jobs. We may not be able to depend on clocking in to climb a ladder built on compliance, but this willingness to play it safe has long been a choice that makes anyone easy to replace with cheaper labor and faster tools. This advancing technology reduces the need for humans to turn knobs, but the efficiency will create new jobs and reward remarkability. When clever counts, remain indispensable by letting AI devour the dull and stay ahead by pulling the levers of ingenuity.

                                History teaches us that any frontier introduces opportunity, but the void that creates also attracts misunderstandings, dangers, and false realities. As we explore frontiers, be vigilant and don’t assume truth. When every business pitches innovative metamorphosis and everything is “powered by AI,” realism is easy to dilute within the noise. Transcend hype by tinkering with internal tools. Reward continuous execution and keep exploring in and outside your industry. This forms wisdom to reinforce more external interplay.

                                Futuristic forefronts will remain intimidating, especially when cultural changes occur in a sweeping way. This makes it easy to feel forgotten. When this sensation intensifies, avoid being left behind by taking action before you know the destination. Fresh knowledge may be required to lower the bar, but for leaders who use curiosity to stay prolific, it becomes impossible to compete with being you!

                                Extra Shot

                                BEN BOT went online April 1st, 2023. The Roasted Reflections NFT Collection would allow token-owning dollowers to connect with each other and 24/7 access to our conversational AI that provided BENergy in its replies and link to influence source. Later, it would even quietly co-host 100 episodes of You Don’t Need This Podcast!

                                Let AI munch on the mediocre. We’ll continue to build without a map, do things for the love of it, convert haters, and care enough to fail. In times of constant change, we obliterate fear and complacency with infinite dexterity and a devotion to keep leading with no permission required.

                                Brewed From Within
                                #80 📖 Technology

                                By Ben McDougal, ago