Notes from the second week of 2023... I'm officially dropping Used Car Bubble from the list citing a major correction in used car prices.  Also I'm conveniently ignoring inflation because no matter how much you talk about it, what matters is how it feels.

Looking at my year end finances, here's my unscientific Personal CPI  

  

A couple situational, household budget related: 

 

All things considered, around 13% overall cost increase since same time last year.  

  

Bottom line, it doesn't matter what the Fed numbers say, people will feel and experience inflation in their own home (or rent).  Regardless of wage growth, in the end you always come out on the short end as buying power erodes.   

 

Inflation at this rate and we can all roll around in our life savings like Scrooge McDuck, too bad they're all singles. As an adult I have so many questions about the feasibility of the Money Bin.

  

There's a lot to be concerned about, particularly the new AI tech that makes the T1000 entirely possible 

  

 

Worse, we're now creating AI algorithms to detect AI generated content. The ever escalating war game of generation vs. detection will create entirely new industries. The time for ethics debates have passed and it will imminently be weaponized by state and non-state actors, defensive capabilities of the cyber security industry is only getting started.

Besides, it might solve that nasty demographic problem we’re facing. When was the last time you spent less than 20 minutes on hold or dined a fully staffed restaurant? Lower wage staff are in short supply because there are so many more higher wage opportunities. Immigration can help some, but other "do it by hand" jobs will go away, never to return.

I dive into this a little deeper in AI: KEY TO WORKER PRODUCTIVITY and I'm planning to write up a few more summarize with my AI experience with everything from automated code completion to content generation.

But first, I think I'll query ChatGPT about the conceptual physics of Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin... you know for science.

OMG... why are you so serious all of the time!?! Also did you read the above passage in the voice of Neil deGrasse Tyson? And this is how the world ends, not by humans using AI to cure cancer or solve poverty.  We all want to know why Gummi Bears bounce and how the George Jetson's car folds up in to a suitcase.