As a new empty nester, I’m in the personal growth era of my life. So I’m trying to be less of a technophobe and more open to AI tools. 

However, I am still hesitant. The dystopian scifi writer in me comes to the surface and demands attention from time to time, like an angry, caffeinated, self-involved prophet from a possible dark future. 

Case in point. Google just came out with their Gemini-powered “Ask Maps” feature. Now, I have a history with Gemini. We go way back (to last month, but still). And I’m notoriously bad with directions and navigation. So it would make sense that “Ask Maps” would be something I’d want to integrate into my AI adventures. 

But here’s the thing. It wants access to my microphone. You can use the text version of Gemini without activating the microphone, but I’m not good at texting while driving. The voice version would be a handy tool.

I’ve almost done it several times. My finger hovers over the permission button as the war wages in my mind. And…I just…can’t do it.

Guess I’m still somewhat of a technophobe.

Here are some other things I’m thinking about this week…

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Something New:

• Revolutionary brain implant. Brain computer interfaces that turn thoughts into text are not new, but most depend on cursor control to select letters. A new study published in Nature Neuroscience features a “BCI keyboard” that is the first to use ten-finger typing movements. How? The paralyzed person imagines the physical movement of pressing the keys, and the BCI decodes the imagined keystrokes. The result? Much faster typing than other BCIs, and more privacy in the output. A win for neurotech research.

Something Old:

• Long attention span. According to the American Psychological Association, the average attention span is now only 47 seconds, a drastic decrease from just two decades ago. I would agree with this. I have to work really hard to pay attention to something. I just finished The Hobbit and started Lord of the Rings, and while the story is very compelling, I’m tempted to put it down every few pages to check my phone for that instant dopamine hit. Which begs the question… is my phone like the Ring of Power? My precious…

Something Inspiring:

• AI helps treat dying dog’s cancer. So apparently in Australia a tech entrepreneur with no biology experience used AI to create a cancer vaccine for his dying rescue dog, and it worked. Here’s how he did it. Paul Conyngham used ChatGPT to brainstorm possible cures, then switched over to AlphaFold AI to analyze his dog’s genetic data, which eventually led to the creation of a blueprint for an mRNA vaccine–which then shrunk the dog’s tumor. His methodology is already being studied for personalized mRNA cancer vaccines for humans. Bring it on.

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Okay, that’s it for now. Join me here next week for more.