The Last Edge
AGI taking white collar jobs will accelerate intellectuals reaching for "The Last Edge".
The one thing AI cannot outcompete humans on is the level of creativity and unique niche that comes from aligning yourself with the Force that runs the universe.
I think “The Last Edge” will be Intellectuals using one’s intellect to arrive at the optimal next move in life and profession: Inviting this Force into the driving seat. Then Surrendering one’s Smarts to it.
Yeah, right! If that’s so optimal, why does this not happen more often now?
Firstly, few want to surrender their smarts. They achieved so much! Any kind of setback would be traditionally fixed with more hard work and hustle. It takes a certain intelligence to consider another way. The kind you don’t get in school, but through experience, insistent search or a crisis. Instances where no psychologist or coach is able to outdepth your kind of challenges. Possibly, most university educated people didn't have enough such crises yet.
Another reason why Surrendering Your Smarts is unpopular is that severely religious people, often devoid of logic and direction, use God’s will to justify everything including cases of own obvious stupidity.. It all just doesn't vibe with someone who thinks their life is based on (perceived) solid scientific principles.
If someone is indoctrinated from childhood to aim for a stable career and a regular salary as step 1, all of the surrender talk just feels icky. Questions that come up are: “How will I make money? How do I know that the Force is wiser than me and beneficial to me? Let’s wait for the news channels to confirm to me that the “Force” and the right method of interaction with it has been scientifically proven”.
All I can share is what I have come to know through own experience that matches those of certain others.
Surrender is not an abandoning of intelligence, but it's ultimate perfection. It is not letting go of doing, but removing the importance of the doer and his thoughts. Through surrendering your smarts, you end up gaining what you needed.
The process that kicked it off for me was being Insistent on the need to learn about the underlying patterns that drive everything, how it all matches up across domains, how the game of life is really structured.
This was driven by two seemingly unrelated questions:
How to master the mind in trading so performance never falters? ( after learning that there are a few people in the world who have uncommon mind mastery)
Why do animals suffer disproportionately to humans? (a variant on the ever present questions of good and evil)
The answers I got gave me more than I was looking for. But my answers won't work for someone else: their need to know the above is not as strong. People got their own individual burning needs and questions. My suspicion is that given enough time, they all lead to a similar place.
In the process of getting to the truth and what works, one has to suspend what we were taught and immediate need to judge. Subtle anxities that mostly revolve around worries about ‘making it’, the need to be right, being important and admired - they all become less and less relevant. This is a side effect of deeper understanding of the nature of reality.
At some point one can end up at a logically sound decision to interact with the Force, asking it to guide you in a way it sees fit, without conditions. For example: “What am I uniquely suited to dedicate myself to that will give me inspiration and joy till the day I die?” Or: “What lack of understanding is preventing me from achieving my goals in X endeavor?”
Paying attention to the responsive universe
After setting course and asking the thing you really need to ask, you start paying attention to what unfolds over the next months. You ignore your nagging critical brain every time it starts coming up with anxiety and cute ways to avoid the real questions. Paying attention to your curiosity and your emotions when you encounter events/people/new information is key. They contain information as to what you need to be doing.
Tom Morgan from Sapient Capital did this great 20 min video deepdive on the Mystery of Curiosity, how it’s basically your future self signaling to you where to go. He is a master in unpacking the idea of a responsive universe that is quite hard for people to buy in to, but I experience it to be true pretty much every day. I understand people who keep drumming on about it do it, because they can’t imagine how they lived without it.
The better your attention paying skills, surrender and trust - the easier the process. The less judgment, impatience - the better. If you can master sprinkling any minor sign, hint, synchronicity with gratitude and acknowledgement of the sign that is given - you get more of it. Regular journaling through this whole process helps because the mind is fickle and often will glance over outright miracles.
Will anyone care?
Who would be mad enough to take this seriously out of a conventional career in finance, law, academia, politics? Very few. What about when conventional careers don’t sit so cushy anymore? When the worry of losing income and one's performance niche becomes a reality? Many more will start exploring beyond and digging into things like quantum science to find a “rational” explanation for something that their conditioning has been taught to reject.
I have a suspicion that the push will be AGI in the next 5-10 years as highly intellectual people who think they ‘know’ are the hardest to grasp the power of surrender & the idea of a responsive universe.
Someone might only care only if this process has made me a hundred million or if I can be considered a “success”.
Look, I consider myself no better or worse than anyone, the only difference with most is that I am at peace with where I am and all the places I could be going.. Why? Because I have seen this stuff work. Reality is responsive to the things that go on in my mind, the emotions I allow to wallow in and the vibes I choose to emit. If something is not going smoothly for any meaningful time, it is because the mind is not sufficiently leashed and I allowed myself to get out of sync.
The breakthrough comes when you see through the falseness of commonly held beliefs like “that’s just life”, “life has to be a struggle and contain problems”, “hard work and worry is part of being a responsible adult” etc.
But it is so not about hard work for the sake of toil.. When I see people running around developing AI-driven future job and earnings anxiety, I smile and see how all the drama from the increase of complexity is actually designed to push the gradual raising of people’s level of consiousness.
So what is The Last Edge that AI can’t replace?
“Letting it show you” your optimal path and the things that are blocking you through Surrendering your Smarts.
Trusting that “It” is infinitely smarter than your mind.
Asking clear questions through a journal or other means.
Attention and noticing of the subtle signs and nudges.
Endless ever present Gratitude…
Thank you for reading.
Anna
Some rabbit holes for the curious:
Interview with Dr Rupert Sheldake biologist who developed the hypothesis of morphic resonance. An ‘apostate of scientism’ talking about its origin and damage.
The Mystery of Curiosity - 20 min video on the mystery of curiosity summarising 10 years of wisdom from Tom Morgan
“Science Ideated - The fall of matter and the contours of the next mainstream scientific worldview” by Bernardo Kastrup. ‘Leading-edge empirical observations are increasingly difficult to reconcile with 'scientific' materialism.’
The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness by Dr Stan Grof