Manufacturing plays an incredibly critical role in shaping the future success of nations around the world. Here in the USA, we are poised to change what that future might look like.
Nearly 30 years ago, I was inspired by computer games. Games by Id Software and Blizzard captured my attention for days, weeks, months on end. The silver lining was early on (e.g. the Doom days). You really had to learn some technical skills to play networked and online (Doom over dial up, woohoo!). Just about every aspect of it in the early days was technical. When you built machines, optimizing the games to run, you actually had to wear that ground strap when installing sensitive cache chips, among other things. It was not user friendly. Little did I know, for me, this was IT career basic training.
As things scaled up, tweaking the hardware and building the best PCs (with the latest Matrox and eventually this company called “Nvidia” graphics cards) was imperative.
From that deep history, Id Software’s successor to Doom, “Quake” was originally planned as an RGP-like game with a hammer wielding warrior named Quake in a fantasy setting. It morphed into a first person shooter and was a monster hit inspiring an entirely new level of gaming with the proliferation of broadband internet. Today, I received an email from Nvidia (I still run their video cards!) and it included an image of a Doom game that looked Fantasy RPG. I instantly wondered what the Id guys must be thinking. Are they going to play it?
Recently, my mind has often gravitated to these “early inspiration” moments in this age of extreme technological innovation mostly driven by AI. I envision kids and young people (and old school gamers!) building games and playing them with their friends, making adjustments on the fly. Dropping fresh modules into the environment in real-time to make it more enjoyable and rich. I see our first break-out millionaire (billionaire, Mr. Powers?) under ten years old, who creates something truly viral and sells it on Steam. I see a grandmother sitting on the couch making something that, by dictating to an AI, will be fun to share with her grandkids. Standing nearby is her Tesla Optimus Robot monitoring her health and providing a helping hand when she needs it. The one her children rented for her, so she could be safe when they aren’t around.
I get really pumped and filled with hope about this future and what it can bring to so many people. That billionaire kid could live anywhere, his parents could work for a few dollars a day. Those kids sharing the games could be my grandkids, and there could be more of them if we reach a tipping point where people do not have to spend as much time each day working to afford to “live”. That grandmother could be my wife or one of my sisters, if they outlive me like women often do!
Right now, we all get the chance to reimagine the future. It’s time for all of us to be inspired and plan for the best possible outcomes. It gets easier each week with the latest tools or improvements dropping. Is there a role on your shop floor a basic humanoid robot with an AI brain could do well? Maybe your lights out operations aren’t monitored, could a simple robot monitor detect and even fix some small problems? The limits of our creativity are going to be tested, so now is the time to polish that idea muscle.
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