AI, Family, and What I've Learned
Macro + Micro healing and the roles we play
This week, in the midst of work and a big house move, my good friend shared a Yung Pueblo essay that resonated with me. The message spoke to the idea about giving yourself permission to start things without the expectation of perfection.
To embrace ambiguity and the drive to unleash creativity. To push through all the fear, excuses, and distractions that hold us back. The words resonated and the message arrived at just the right time, a synchronicity. I’ve been struggling for months to begin my Substack, but I’m now ready to take a leap of faith.
Public commitments are a powerful way to motivate you into accomplishing a goal. This practice has made a profound impact on my life, fueled my discipline, and led to unexpected transformations. Today, I’m making a commitment to write and publish once a week on Substack.
It’s a forcing function for me to:
Practice writing; a skillset that I have a natural affinity to and one that brings me joy and satisfaction
Structure my thoughts
Reflect on my experiences, the learnings I glean from them, and memorialize them so I don’t forget
Share knowledge and perspective
Connect with people
Create opportunities for thought partnership, collaboration, co-creation, and abundance
Before I jump in, I want to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Jeremy. I’m a father, technologist, entrepreneur, and startup coach/advisor. Most importantly, I’m an insatiably curious and inquisitive person that likes to tackle big problems with creative solutions.
My areas of specialty include AI, Blockchain, Decentralization, Social Good, Leadership, Relationships, and Community Building.
My purpose in life is to:
spread love, compassion, gratitude, and joy
serve this beautiful planet and our global community
improve the state of the world through creative, innovative, and pragmatic solutions
This Substack is a meditation into philosophy, technology, economics, sociology, psychology, and family. To lean into the humanness of life and to understand this world and reality by appreciating the interconnectedness of all of these things.
Each weekend, I’ll share a post reflecting on my week and aim to tie it together with some of my areas of expertise. Along the way, I hope to have a dialogue with all of you to laugh, reflect, and learn new things together. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Let’s do this!
AI, Family, and What I’ve Learned
AI
This week has brought both professional and personal developments that leave me feeling awestruck. At the macro level, capitalism continues its relentless march towards birthing Artificial General Intelligence. With each passing day, new AI tools flood into existence. And the recent advent of AutoGPT is giving us a taste of what AGI is going to look and feel like. It’s difficult to see this play out and not have an overwhelming sense of wonder and dread… simultaneously.
My current employer, Redesign Health, remains acutely attuned to the transformative potential of machine learning. I feel a growing urgency to get in front of this opportunity/challenge; to make sure we steer the development of this world-changing technology toward something that benefits all life on earth. The consequences of us not getting this right are too dire to ruminate on for long.
It’s fascinating to experience the amount of convergence in the work that I do and the people that I’m meeting in the space. AI’s influence will soon touch every aspect of our lives: from labor and education to creativity and health; from entertainment to social systems and economies. It’s simply a function of time.
More and more people are waking up to this reality, and I find it inspiring and relieving that others share my passion for finding solutions. This year will be very interesting to observe where my path leads me, and the kind of good work I’ll be able to do in this space.
Family
This week, I began a new chapter in my life. My father came out to help me with my move to a new home, and I saw it as an opportunity to reconnect. To show him my gratitude, respect, love, and care that often goes unspoken. Through the physical labor of unpacking and cleaning, I discovered that emotional processing was the most intense and healing aspect of the experience.
My father is an amazing human being. Hardworking, selfless, compassionate, transparent, honorable, giving, discerning, patient, and adaptable. Paradoxically, his magnificence was borne out of a life of immense suffering. He grew up in extreme poverty in the Philippines, along with 5 other siblings. Forced into hard labor at a very young age, his childhood was marred with extreme physical/verbal abuse and neglect.
His early environment was authoritarian and strict, where the norm was obedience and sacrifice for the well-being of others. This pattern persisted into his adult life and in his relationship with my mother. Their partnership was beautiful in its own right but contrasted with themes of jealousy, lack of appreciation, and continued abuse.
My father’s life is tragic yet full of abundance and hope. To witness him today, a kid from the slums who migrated to the US and rose to the top, is a marvel. Step by step and through sheer will and discipline, he built a noble career, raised a thriving family, and cultivated a loving community.
Yet it pains me to see how deeply his accumulated trauma sits in his body and soul. I cannot imagine what 70 years of that much struggle feels like. His story is heartbreaking, and it often brings me to tears thinking about the depth of his suffering. But it also brings me happiness to know he’s taking the time to rest, relax, and flow in his life now.
I also understand that his journey is what forged him into the man I see today. Someone wise, strong, capable, resilient, and forgiving. Who has lived through hell, time and time again, and somehow came out the other side a more loving and kind person. It’s simultaneously puzzling and inspiring to behold.
I would not want to take any of that away from him because pain is a powerful teacher. My dad is able to carry himself with acceptance for what he’s overcome and accomplished, and with pride that he chose the higher road to get to where he is today. I aspire to be even a fraction of the man he is and the father he has been to me.
I know that it was healing for him to share his stories with me. The struggles through childhood, family, marriage, parenting, and the trials of caretaking my mother during the final years of her life. Holding space for someone you love and feeling the emotional torment is a lot to handle, but it’s what we both needed.
It was startling to see how much my own life mirrored his. To empathize with his pain through my own suffering, to see the different choices I made and how our respective life paths have branched out. He is, without question, my ultimate hero, and I am so thankful to have had someone so incredible to model my life after.
What I Learned
I learned that simply talking to my father and openly discussing our struggles and fears is what I needed to do in order to heal my own traumas.
To recognize how much of an echo I am of him, and to clearly see the same themes play out in my own life.
To understand that I’ve been able to make different choices in my life and break the cycle.
To accept the role that I play now, which is to give him understanding, acceptance, ease, comfort, safety, abundance, and freedom to enjoy his retirement.
To let him know that things are going to be handled and that he can share the load.
It’s what my dad deserves, many times over. I’m happy to be the one who can give it to him, even just a portion of what he needs. To see the tension ease on his face and his smile beam forth is a blessing that I am thankful for. And I intend to create a whole lot more of that. My lessons in life have enabled me to give him the love and compassion that he so clearly deserves.
I hope that parents are able to receive recognition and appreciation from their children, it is precious. As a father to two young daughters, I learn each day how much of a responsibility parenting can be and the sacrifice it requires. And through that, I experience the blissful reward of seeing my children smile and thrive.
I’m thankful to have had many difficult experiences in my life because it allows me to radiate compassion and grace towards others -- as my father taught me.
What I’m Doing This Week
Gratitude: I’m grateful for late nights talking with my father at the dinner table; for him taking time out of his schedule to visit me, share stories about his life, bestow his wisdom and perspective, and for all of his efforts to imbue my home with organization, beauty, love, laughter, and family. I see them all and I thank you, Dad. I love you.
Listening to: *Max Tegmark & Lex Friedman:* On concerns and solutions for AI development
Watching: Troll on Netflix: I needed a fun monster movie to escape into after such a long week. Not as epic as Godzilla vs. Kong, but the movie was heartfelt, funny, and well shot.
Reading: *The Big 5;* for introspection and reflection with fellow soul mates
Self-care: Solitude, meditation, hot baths, and cold showers
Self reflection is already a big part of the journey, but publicly sharing reflections welcomes a whole lot more energy to affirm and challenge your thoughts. Love to see your Substack begin!
Powerful words - and a powerful commitment. I am happy to hold you accountable and get inspired by your weekly digest :) You are a hero!