"Artificial Intelligence vs. Individualism"

 Title of the photo: “Man In Casual Dress Who Is Ignorant of AI”

 

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The refusal of allies like Germany, Japan and Australia to aid in the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz reminds me of the American fable, “The Little Red Hen.” Once it is re-opened, and it will be re-opened, I am sure they will want to be included in the safe passage of oil and gas. And it is my guess that President Trump will be more forgiving than the Little Red Hen.

 

At a time when partisanship runs high, I was pleased that Democrats David Boies, Mark Penn and Andrew Stein wrote two op-eds for The Wall Street Journal over the past few days, each calling out the danger and risk of extreme partisanship on the part of politicians and the media at a time when the U.S. is at war with Iran: “Partisanship on Iran is Dangerous” by Boies on March 13, and “On Iran, Is Only Bad News Fit to Print?” by Penn and Stein on March 17. It is healthy to criticize politicians and their policies, but Trump Derangement Syndrome has rendered criticism of the President by those politicians and reporters who manifest its symptoms unintelligible and harmful to our national interests.

 

I support the decision to attack Iran. When a fanatical leader who promised ‘Death to America’ and who leads a regime that pursued nuclear weapons with missiles capable of carrying them thousands of miles, pre-emption is preferred to retaliation.

 

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As for AI, I may be Panglossian about its threats. like it or not it is here to stay. No one can forecast the future. This is but one man’s opinion.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Artificial Intelligence vs. Individualism”

March 18, 2026

 

“Metacognitive skills will be very important – flexibility, adaptability, experimentation, thinking

critically, being able to challenge things...For that, a traditional liberal arts education is really important.”

                                                                                Jaime Teevan

                                                                                Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow, Microsoft

                                                                                As quoted in The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2026

                                                                                “What AI Bosses Advise Their Kids About Jobs,” Lauren Weber

 

If the adjective ‘metacognitive’ is for you as unfamiliar, as it was for me, here is the definition provided by Google for the noun Metacognition: “Often described as ‘thinking about your thinking.’ It involves understanding your own thought processes and using that awareness to direct your learning.” It sounds to me that if one has ‘metacognitive skills’ they have basically mastered the art of critical thinking.

 

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No one can tell you what the specific consequences of AI will be on employment and on lives. What can be said is that there will be ramifications. Some – perhaps many – will be negative for the employment of large numbers of people. What also can be said is that this is not the first time mankind has faced revolutionary changes. Consider those wrought by the Industrial Revolution, which saw the shift from hand/home-based production and small shops to machines and large factories – factories initially powered by coal and steam and now by natural gas, nuclear and renewables. It was a revolution that began in England in the late 18^th Century and has persisted through the current day. People adapted. Thus, we should take comfort as we look to this next stage. Despite the displacement of millions of jobs, employment and living standards increased over the last two hundred and fifty years. According to ScienceDirect.com, between 80% and 90% of the world’s population lived in “extreme poverty” in the late 18^th Century. Today the World Bank puts that number at less than ten percent.

 

That is not to say we should be blithely unconcerned about the changes that will be wrought as artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous. We need to know its cost, the effects on existing businesses, and the opportunities it will create.

 

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Charles Darwin argued persuasively in The Descent of Man and On the Origin of Species that we have common ancestry with apes, and that all living creatures evolved from a single-celled organism. However, somewhere along the line, man became differentiated from other animals – in his capacity to think critically, to reason abstractly, in his sense of morality and ability to empathize, in his ability to plan for the future, to conceptualize, to be curious and creative. Whether that was natural selection or divine intervention, I leave to others. AI is a creation of the curious and creative. But will a machine ever have those qualities attributed to men and women? I don’t think so.

 

Lauren Weber interviewed five individuals for the Journal article quoted in the epigraph above. They all recognized that rote/routine jobs are at risk; so they emphasized the importance of critical thinking and the need for humanities, both provided by a liberal arts education – now “more than ever,” according to Ethan Mollick, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Similarly, in the March 9, 2026 issue of The Spectator, Eamonn Butler, the British economist and co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute, wrote: “...AI augments (emphasis mine) human capabilities, creates demand for new skills in oversight, ethics and creative applications, and drives productivity gains that fuel economic expansion.” In 2025, most of our GDP growth came from productivity gains. It was not technological change that concerned Adam Smith, it was mercantilism and the protectionism it fosters. “Why,” Mr. Mr. Butler wrote, “try to make wine in rainy Scotland, when you can buy it for a thirtieth of the price from sunny France?” What would concern Adam Smith today is the scale of government: “To him, the core functions of government were defense, the administration of justice, and the provisions [that] limited the number of public goods, mostly for infrastructure, which made trade and commerce and thus wealth creation easier.” With total U.S. government spending approaching 38% of GDP in 2025, Adam Smith would be aghast.  

 

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Change is a constant. In the past, technological change eliminated many jobs but created millions more. Will AI replace many current jobs? Certainly. But think of the past. It helps one see the future. Steamships replaced sailing vessels; trains, autos, airplanes revolutionized travel; lap-top and desk-top computers did away with typewriters. When was the last time you saw a switchboard operator or an elevator man? In this time of AI’s infancy we know jobs will be lost. What we don’t know is what new industries and jobs will be created.

 

My biggest worry about AI is how it will be used by scammers. And I worry that government, in regulating it, might impose limits on individual rights. Skepticism is warranted. But I do not fear AI. Of course I am not twenty-five, just starting a job. If I were, I would try to understand how it might be utilized to improve my life. Nevertheless, it is here and will become more complex over time. Embrace it. If it becomes frightening, turn off its power source or remove its battery.[1] I have always thought Peter Drucker (1909-2005) a wise man. A quote attributed to him sums up his philosophy: “To get at the new and better, you have to throw out the old, outworn and obsolete...” He would embrace AI.

 

According to the Worldometer there are 8.3 billion people on Earth. Each has distinct, individual traits, along with strengths and weaknesses. Among them are scientists and artists, musicians and carpenters, lawyers and plumbers, farmers and bankers. They are athletes, poets, actresses and actors. Scattered among them are a few who are evil, but more who are good. Can AI replace them and their dreams? No. So long as our rights, embedded in our Constitution, are honored, the individual will survive and thrive.

 

 

 

 

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[1] As solar-paneled-fueled data centers get placed in space (think SpaceX, Project Suncatcher and Stoke Space), with full access to net-worked computers on Earth, that may not be possible.

Review - "The War for Middle Earth," Joseph Loconte, PhD

 While familiarity with J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis will add to your appreciation of this book, that is not necessary to realize the pertinence of this story to today’s world where evil still exists in the China, Russia, North Korea and Iran axis.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Burrowing into Books

The War for Middle Earth, Joseph Loconte

March 14, 2026

 

“Societies cannot thrive under conditions of disorder, disorientation and degeneration. The human soul craves

meaning and purpose. The new political religions of the twentieth century promised to deliver the goods.”

                                                                                The War for Middle Earth, 2025, Joseph Loconte, PhD

                                                                                                                                

Following World War I, Europe searched for answers amidst devastation. Civilization suffered and so did religion. Why, people asked, would God permit such suffering? Dictatorships, in Russia, Italy and Germany, rose to meet the challenge, becoming the “new political religions” that Mr. Loconte refers to in the epigraph. Following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, Lenin became the leader of Communist Soviet Russia. The Fascist Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel in 1922; eleven years later the Nazi Party leader Adolph Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. All three men used violence in their accession to and maintenance of power. The people of those three countries, devastated by four years of war, were willing to accept totalitarian leadership.

 

It was in that environment – the end of innocence and the end of faith – that two friends, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, both Oxford professors of English literature and both veterans of the Great War, decided a new path was necessary: a path based on the virtues embedded in their Country’s Judeo-Christian heritage and in the individual liberalism inherent to Western civilization, a path that followed ancient tales and myths of heroes and villains, of fights won against great odds. As the Second World War commenced, Loconte writes “There was a savage war of aggression devouring the European continent and threatening the survival of Great Britain. Yet there was also an ideological war: the widespread assault on the classical and Christian ideals that had nourished Western civilization for centuries.” This is the story Joseph Loconte tells.

 

He follows Tolkien and Lewis, and how the rise of tyranny influenced their careers. “They began writing their epic stories (The Lord of the Ring and The Chronicles of Narnia.) when the darkest shadow of modern history was cast over the West and, for a crucial part of that time, over England in particular.”

 

In 1939, the Allies were unprepared: “The failure to imagine the likelihood of this act of aggression (Pearl Harbor), given Japan’s brutal war in China – indeed the reluctance to believe in the capacity for human wickedness on a vast scale – remains one of the enigmas of the Second World War.”

 

By September 1945, the Fascists in Italy, Nazis in Germany and the Japanese Imperialists had been defeated. Forty-five years later the Soviet Union collapsed. Western civilization, which Tolkien and Lewis did so much to preserve during those middle years, prevailed. 

 

His tale is pertinent today. The world is not static. We must ever be mindful that there will always be those whose desire for power threatens the West – our governments, history, culture and lives. While they assume different forms, the world will never be rid of a Sauron or a White Witch. But there will always be individuals, like Frodo and the Pevensie siblings, willing to sacrifice their comforts, and there will always be a Gandolf or Aslan to guide us. This is both a compelling and pertinent read.

"Marriage"

All marriages are spirited but not as dynamic as the world in which we live. Thank God. It is necessary from time to time to retreat from the day’s news and to reflect on what has brought happiness, and to let humor and lightness have their play. In my case, what has brought happiness (and smiles) has been the family Caroline and I raised, and the families being raised by our three children. 

 

The photo was taken after our wedding ceremony and on the way to the reception.

 

...and, by the way, don’t forget that Daylight Savings starts tomorrow. Get to bed early!

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“Marriage”

March 7, 2026

 

“A woman’s life is not perfect or whole till she has added herself to a husband.

Nor is a man’s life perfect or whole till he has added to himself a wife.”

                                                                                                                                Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)

                                                                                                                                Miss MacKenzie, 1865

 

On April 11 Caroline and I will celebrate our 62^nd wedding anniversary. We have been married longer than either of our parents or grandparents. 

 

The concept of marriage dates back four or five thousand years, but for most of that time it was a contract for managing property. Marriage for love only gained traction in the late 18^th and early 19^th Centuries. Over time, attitudes changed. The courtships described by Jane Austen show partners standing in opposing lines. In 1828 Noah Webster wrote that marriage “was instituted by God himself.” In 1906 in The Devil’s Dictionary the satirist Ambrose Bierce defined the word marriage: “The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.” Our 1964 wedding vows were to last until death do us part. Marriage has always been considered the most stable environment in which to raise children. 

 

However, marriage is not a case of “one size fits all.” First, it is not for everyone, and second, not all marriages work. “Marriage,” the humorist Will Rogers once wrote, “is a habit. Divorce is a necessity.” It is impossible that two people can know all about one another after a few months or even after a couple of years. So luck plays a role. Nevertheless, when a marriage works angels sing.

 

Tens of thousands of books have been written, offering advice for a successful marriage – prioritizing your spouse, practicing forgiveness, maintaining a sense of humor, and committing to navigating both good and bad times together. While those words sound substantive, they sport an institutional tone; they could have been spit out by a ‘bot.’ When asked of lessons learned from our marriage, I demur. But love comes first.

 

“Vive La Différence,” sang Maurice Chevalier. And certainly Caroline and I are different. I am sensitive; she is empathetic. I am short-tempered, especially when interrupted while writing; Caroline is patient. However, like magnets we were attracted. P. G. Wodehouse had a sixty-one-year marriage to Ethyl Wayman. In 1932, eighteen years after he was married, he wrote Doctor Sally. The book includes humorous marital advice: “Chumps make the best husbands. When you marry, Sally, grab a chump. Tap his head first and if it rings solid, don’t hesitate. All unhappy marriages come from husbands having brains.”

 

While I don’t think I am a chump – there, my sensitivity is showing! – Caroline and I have had a good marriage. Besides being lovers, we are good friends. There is no one with whom I would rather take a trip or share a meal. But the glue has been the children we produced, and the children they, with their chosen spouses, have produced. There is something magical in knowing that the genes we inherited from our forefathers and foremothers will live on in generations yet to come. While the future is unknowable, we pray that their lives will be happy ones. And all this because of a young woman my sister introduced me to at a small ski area in New Hampshire more than sixty-four years ago. Fortune has smiled upon us.