All this talk about AI and machines and robots and yet what we really crave is the human spirit working at the height of its powers.
Two of the best tennis players in world just battled for over 4.5 hours in a thrilling match that ended at 3:34 AM.
Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz went back and fourth and back and fourth for five sets and a tiebreak.
It was utterly captivating.
Shelton and Alcaraz played an all-time match with care and guts and courage.
No AI, machine, or robot can replace what we saw on center court because no AI, machine, or robot can care deeply or feel deeply in the way that Shelton and Alcaraz did.
We are hardwired for the feeling that accompanies giving our all to something we care about it. We feel it ourselves and we feel it when we observe excellence in others.
This is what I mean when I talk about excellence.
It is an exhilarating process, the pursuit of which is available to anyone.
It is ultra-human.
You should do everything you can to cherish it and build a life around it.
You can see it on the face of Alcaraz, even after losing. He is content because he gave it his freaking all—the best feeling there is.
In other incredible quarter final match, Frances Tiafoe came back from being down two sets, three games to five, 15 points to 40 to defeat Alex Michelsen.
It was a historic comeback.
Otherworldly.
Immediately after winning the match, Tiafoe was about to launch into a celebration worthy of such a comeback.
But then he saw his opponent, Alex Michelsen, at the net.
Tiafoe ran up to the net and embraced Michelsen, who cried in his arms for a full 24 seconds. It was riveting. You felt the joy of Tiafoe and the gut-wrenching agony of Michelsen all at once.
Tiafoe was asked about the embrace; here’s what he said:
“Man I know. I’ve been there ... I know how much that hurts.”
It was pure humanity. It was awesome.
These feelings are increasingly under assault. Tech overlords are happy to try and automate every corner of our lives.
Resist.
Nobody gives a sh*t if two robots hit that tennis ball back and forth for nearly five hours.
It’s special because it’s human. Our humanness is everything.
Isn't it interesting how we lack precise language for this feeling, despite its universality. "human spirit working at the height of its powers" is accurate, but you could argue still falls short of the match we just witnessed, or other similar feats (I always think of Alex Honnold's free solo of El Capitan). In many ways I find it comforting that you still come up short for how to describe your broader project despite all the excellent writing you've done about it, and motivating that there is still more to explore. Thanks Brad!
When AI really started moving quicker it made me realize, maybe AI is just a wake up call to remember for us all to appreciate being human. Being human is pretty bad ass. It's taking a lot of very "smart" people a lot of effort to get AI anywhere near and it will, IMO, never replicate anything close to what you write about here Brad.