Humanlike Beings

I rewatched the video demo of the Figure robot the other day that prompted a thought. The question that arose was less about robots but rather the person interacting with them. Go to the very end of the video and you see an interaction where the conversation isn’t quite finished, but the person interacting with the robot begins to walk away. In any normal interaction, this would be considered a bit rude. Not so to a robot who does not consider things in that way.

The question with any technology is not only “How does this change our world?”, but also “How does interacting with something in this way change us?” What normalizing that type of behavior will do to our other, non-automaton relationships. Whatever we want our more meaningful interactions to look like should inform our lower level interactions.

As AI and robotics gain ground, everyone should do the work to consider what it means to interact with humanlike beings on use.

Good Counsel

“For Lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” -Proverbs 11:14

I wrote something a few weeks ago and at the end asked anyone who read it who they had around them. The thing I’ve found over time is that wise counsel critical in managing towards better outcomes. If you don’t have this you’re no only increasing your risk, you’re decreasing your chance of good outcomes.

Anyone else find this true?

Assets – Private, Public, and Otherwise

Let’s talk about private equity for a minute. Full disclosure, i’m not an accredited investor. Still, through a myriad of circumstances I’ve been able to hold private assets with other parties as a Limited Partner. There are some times that being an LP or telling someone you’re an LP sounds good. Reality wise, it’s not all that nice most times. It’s an investment vehicle and that’s all it should be considered.

Someone was asking me about one of these related to a robotics venture and if they should invest. There is a lot of nuance to that question and for this person I discouraged it. Not because I think it was bad for me, but more because the experience of an LP is distinct in your inability to control outcomes. Even when I was working IN the actual business where I was also listed as an LP I didn’t have access to many of the levers that would deliver better outcomes to me as a shareholder.

General Partners have a much better viewpoint, but also have the privilege of personal liability against the asset. So i’m not saying their situation is any better. It’s simply different.

What do I do then?

Well for the person I was speaking with about the robot stuff, I told them the S&P 500 has a better feel. For them that was equally true because of their runway. For me, I have a longer timeline so i’m ok. But in general many (social media, news, advertising) will try to convince you that being an LP in something is SUPER great with a pot of gold at the end. It CAN be true, but it is NOT necessarily true. Also, private assets are harder to remove your position in where public assets are simple. As a litmus test to this, think about selling a stock on your fidelity account vs selling your house. See what I mean?

So i’m not giving advice on how you invest. We’re all adults here with our own versions of what we need and why we do things. That said, I do believe you should be aware of what you’re getting into and if you have the opportunity to own a private asset it’s worth careful consideration and wisdom from some trusted folks around you. That’s the point, don’t buy the line that there are riches at the end of this rainbow. There’s a safety net in a multitude of perspectives and experience

Who are your people that you trust to give you wisdom in these decisions?