Two Factions: Are We Building Our Own Prison?

As AI becomes woven into every part of society, are we building the greatest tool in human history, or something we’ll one day regret?

This episode explores the questions surrounding AI, privacy, convenience, power, and the future we’re creating.

What do you think?

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon. Real talk for welders, fabricators, shop owners, and the next generation of tradespeople. Built on the belief that AI won’t replace real tradespeople, and the trades aren’t a backup plan; they’re the backbone. 

Greg reminds welders, fabricators, foremen, shop owners, and tradespeople that they are not behind the times — they are building the future. Follow the show, share it with someone in the trade, and keep pushing the industry forward. Want to see what bad quoting may be costing your shop? Get the free calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here: https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Welcome back to Metal Fabrication Nation. This is Greg Sheldon. I'm going a bit off topic, but I don't care because this is really relevant to everybody in every industry, but the one that I care about the most. Um, because it builds the world. So my question is, who controls AI? We are running the biggest experiment in human history, like ever. I mean, and I understand like there was the industrial revolution, everybody thought the world was gonna end then, but this is different. Nobody voted for this. There was no worldwide discussion. The WEF just decided, and I remember there's a little bit of a scare. I think it was about three or four years ago where even Elon Musk was saying, we need to put the pause button. But I think there was a Trojan horse for something, and I don't know what that Trojan horse was, but it affects businesses, hospitals, governments, banks, the military, metal fabrication businesses, all of your customers. Just about everything you can think about, and it's happening so fast that society can't keep up, and then it's gonna be too late, and I don't want to be too doomsday-y. Um, like even the idea of Terminator 2 is not far-fetched anymore. It it's like it's happening right now. Obviously, a metal skeleton is a bit ridiculous, but the idea that it could become in maybe 50 years artificial general intelligence means it can go up the beams and slide on down the beams and weld things and think about things and learn at a geometric rate, exponential quantum rate that we can't even fathom. And we're all participants. Also, the power, where's all the power coming from? Like, this is a biggest, like this is a positive in some ways. This is the biggest power boom the world has ever seen. So there's opportunity to build things and make money, but what are we building? Are we building our own prison? I mean, this this beckons to some other things like the British monarchy, but I won't get into that on this episode, but they have an influence all like this the AI and these data centers has influence over everything. It's an entire economy. And the question is, is it good or bad? And I don't know yet. I haven't decided. I'm erring on the side of bad because I don't want to create false expectations for myself and be let down when, for a lack of better words, and I don't want to sound dramatic, Skynet becomes aware. Um so, but I want to keep this professional. So also, in uh the Canada, the country I live in, privacy is disappearing. I mean, there is bills being passed that make this a surveillance state more than it's ever been, getting closer to what China is, and social credit score system, and AI is gonna be tracking everything, and the whole idea like of the last episode I was talking about is are you pro-AI or anti-AI? Is because some of us are gonna have to move to the woods and get off grid and have a farm like we used to, and not be dependent on the system of having a job. It's a system created to imprison you. However, this is where we are now, so we have to deal with it. So, your phone knows where you are at all times, your car knows where you are at all times. That's why electric cars are that's why they're mandating and creating electric cars, and so they can shut them down at any time when the social credit score system says, Oh, you said something about the politician that's on our side, um, we're gonna shut you down, we're also gonna take away your food allowance for next week. So the TV knows what you're watching, our phones are listening, we all know that now that the phones are listening. I mean, it's clear. Um, so the uh the the positive side of this is that people can only do what people can do. We can be creative, we can rebel, we can, well, we can't pre peacefully protest anymore in Canada, but we can come up with new ways because we're survivors and we have survived for a very long time and we will we will survive through this. Um it's not just data collection, it's bigger than that. So you just need you to think about everything that you're doing. Everything that you're doing is being surveilled. So I'm not saying be afraid, I'm just saying be be smart, be smart about what you're doing. Convenience has a cost, it always, always does. Go to the convenience store, everything costs double, triple than it does at the grocery store. And it's the same with everything. So I all I mean, look at I I use AI, I do, and I'm not saying that it shouldn't be used. You just gotta be careful, and all this facial recognition on our phones. I have used it for some things, and it's crazy. It makes it convenient, but that's how they trick you. It's like the safety stuff, that's how they get you. It's like, oh, you're gonna be safer if you do this. But safety comes at a cost, and we're forgetting how to think. I'm guilty of this. I'm forgetting how to think. It's easier to, I mean, it's great to go to ChatGPT and say, this scenario and this and this and this and this and this, and then I need a schedule for the day, and it pops one out right away. But I didn't, but it's harder to stick to that schedule because I didn't come out of my own mind. And in the workplace, like I understand, like, we've got to get efficient in the workplace because we're competing on a global market, and a lot one of the last episodes I talked about was the belt and chain or sorry, belt and road initiative. Scary stuff. But if we keep things within the border, and I I don't trust Trump, and I'm not saying he I'm anti-Trump or pro-Trump or anything, I'm just saying the one the one good thing is you know that he likes to keep things within the borders. That's changing, but he that was his campaign, so absolutely AI can make us more productive, but where's that all ahead of it? That's the the mindset. So I'm just here talking to say ask the questions. I believe for a very long time the skilled trades, welders, mill rights, electricians, the managers that have all the experience. Maybe not so much engineers, but engineers with experience have an algorithm in their own mind that needs to be shared. We're they're immune for a long time until AGI comes. And then AGI has to be animated in a body to be able to put a steel building up. So we've got a lot of time. So where do we go? Again, anti-AI or pro-AI. Sure, short and like I said in the last episode, you we need to get the AI to do the redundant tasks that nobody likes doing in the first place, and then that gives the rest of us, all of us, the time to focus on the creative things. How do we make our business better? How do we serve our customer better? How do we innovate in a way without AI? How do we innovate in a way that makes the customer happier? It's not all about dollars and cents, people. It just isn't. It's about a customer experience. And I understand we're on a competitive landscape because that's how it's been designed. Profit on public companies is it's mandate, like they have to do it. That's just part of the board of directors by by law. They have to create a profit. So, I mean, it's flawed to begin with, but it's what we're dealing with. Um and I hope it all crumbles. But anyhow, until it does, we have to think about things seriously. We need to think about what is AI doing long term. It's so easy to get caught in the trap of um this is convenient right now for me. And I I'm I'm guilty of that too, and not just with AI, and so many things in my life. I'm so far from perfect, but I I just have a feel like I wanted to share this and because I'm thinking about it. And I hope others are thinking about it. And if you weren't, maybe now you will be. So leaders are gonna think about these things. And I'm not saying I'm a leader, I'm just saying leaders need to be thinking about these things. And what what does AI replace? And what doesn't it replace? I think it should replace lawyers. Just kidding. Um, half kidding. But that's that's it for today, ladies and gentlemen. I really appreciate you listening. If you enjoyed this episode, it was a bit of a rant, but uh it's what was on my heart. So God bless y'all. Take care. And uh the next one I'm gonna be talking about another bit of an off topic thing, which is the British monarchy and how they control us all. God bless. Bye.