The problem with coaches, GMs, and players is that analytics provide a space to hide. If you decide against the numbers and lean towards gut/feel, you will be scrutinized when it doesn’t work out and asked, “Why did you ignore the numbers?” When you go with the numbers, and it doesn’t work out, you can say, “Hey, the math says this…” My buddy and I joke about when the Suns signed Tyson Chandler, saying he was “coming off his best statistical season.” But at that point, he was washed. The fact is, numbers tell a story. And if you wanted a robot to decide for us, the robot would make the best decision based on probability. But what makes humans great is that we make decisions despite the numbers. Context matters. Applying the data matters. Otherwise, what are coaches for?
My prediction: we will see again with AI what we saw with the quiet quitting movement with COVID. When we had to face the reality that our job mainly was bull shit and yet the demand was to return to work—we realized that we didn’t need to go back but it can be done in less than 40 hours per week. I think that conflict will pop up again.
When disparity became too much for peasants during Feudalism, there was pushback.
And when factories demanded too much from wage workers, there was pushback.
There comes a point when those in power feel the pushback of the masses.
The steam engine was invented and could have alleviated the use of enslaved people. But it didn’t until legislation stepped in. AI could enable the masses toward freedom, but it might not be used that way.
What’s the intent? And will there be pushback?
Culture says it’s appropriate to light fireworks on the 4th of July, but not so much on the 5th. The moment passes on what is relevant and what is not, so much so that the community can shame us, lower our status, and enforce behavior through laws to ensure compliance. How compliant we are, says so much about our status in the community.
Routines can ground us and settle us down. They’re a reliable, proven method for producing more reliable outcomes. But routines can also make us complacent. And if you want something that’s not routine, you might need to break it, at least once in a while.
In the same way, digital technology killed CDs, cassettes, and records.
One aspect of technology we don’t think about is how destructive (even violent) new technology can be.
No one cried for the scribe the printing press killed. What will be our response when AI takes the next leap?
“I love learning about the mistakes I make.” — Nathan Fielder
It’s an interesting statement. If we were only this eager to learn, regardless of what label we put on it, we wouldn’t have a problem. Humans have a hard time not qualifying something.
The insidious part of stories we tell is this:
That dogma can become a moral justification for violence.
And once you see it, it is difficult to unsee it.
When a problem becomes apparent, it can be challenging to solve. It is also really difficult to make predictions about what could happen. Often, we don’t imagine the in-between; we only think about the highs and the lows.
Doesn’t happen on our timeline. It belongs to the system. And when we are surrounded by convenience and everything instant, it can put a real strain on our patience. It took decades to put in fossil fuel systems in place to where it is ubiquitous. It’ll take decades to replace it again.
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