AI, Ethics & Staying Human with Bruce D. Randall

There's a moment, quiet, subtle, almost invisible, when a tool becomes more than a tool, when it stops being something we use and starts becoming something we rely on. And in that moment, a question emerges. What happens to us when intelligence is no longer uniquely human?Today, we're going to explore that question and so many more with someone who stands at the crossroads of technology and consciousness. Stay tuned. You're going to want to hear this. I'm your host, Michael Hurst. Welcome to one more thing before you go.Today we're going to explore two guiding questions. Where does human identity end in the machine intelligence begin? And how do we stay grounded as technology accelerates beyond anything we.I grew up watching Star Trek. I grew up watching all these sci fi films and watching computers talk to me and talk to them. And I said, I want to be part of that.But now we might consider something a little different. Our guest is Bruce Randall.He's an AI strategist, an ethicist, and the author of the AI Human Paradox, as well as several others in a series, and a Reiki master who brings mindfulness into the world of advanced technology. Bruce has spent decades advising organizations on AI strategy, ethics and governance.He's worked with Oracle, AT&T cybersecurity firms and global institutions. He spent just as many years studying consciousness and awareness in the human experience.This is a conversation about identity, intelligence, ethics, and the future of being human. Welcome to the show, Bruce.

Thank you. Thank you, Michael. I'm happy to be here.

What a journey. So I can say, what a journey.

We all have our journeys, right?

Life is a journey. Sometimes we get put on paths that we weren't necessarily designed to go or started out in the first place.But I think where our path ends up brings us to ultimately who we are and who we become. We both have similar stories like that.

Well, that's good. I'm sure a lot of people have stories and they're all unique and they're all special.

They are. I think it's the story. I like to start at the beginning. Can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up? A little bit about yourself?Brothers, sisters?

Sure. I grew up in Connecticut and I migrated to Rhode island when I was 18 because I love being by the water. I have one brother and it's a small family.And, you know, I've. I've got an. I've been in technology, whether it's been manufacturing or software type for all my life.And I've been studying consciousness with the Reiki. They call it a Reiki master. And then meditating for about 20 years.I've had a number of experiences and when AI and Quantum came into this and I had all these experiences, you know, the light bulb went off and I saw connections there that not many people saw that I wanted to put together. And I've written books on it now.

I mean, that in itself is amazing because what you're doing is combining from a spiritual perspective, the meditation and the mindfulness and the heart, mind, body, soul connection. But you also have a scientific aspect of it from the technology and the artificial intelligence and kind of handout melds together.I find that fascinating. It's an opportunity, I think, for us to understand how artificial intelligence is integrating itself within our lives.

Right. And it is. And it's, it's going to be integrate more in the coming months and years and the speed at which it's moving.I tell people that, you know, Cloud used to. For every year we had, Cloud did a year and three months.And when it comes to AI and quantum, for every year we have, I'm thinking it's about a month in the AI quantum, it's moving so fast.

I think it's potentially. It is crazy. I mean, look, I mentioned earlier, and I'm sure you remember this, I grew up as a kid watching Star Trek.I was dreaming about computers talking to me. I thought it was fascinating.You know, you could see the captain and everybody talking to a computer, asking the computer or something, and the computer came back with an answer and you're going, yeah, I really like that. I like that. IPads, you're walking around with what looked like an iPad and you kind of go, that would be cool. That would be cool.Now I think we're living it and I think that it has evolved and it's building upon itself, isn't.

Is building on itself. And as many of the experts have said, there's no stopping it now. And there really is none.

Yeah, I agree with that. I think that it is. I have to admit, I'm part of this. If I say it out loud, they're all going to answer me. I have Lexi, I have my Apple iPhone.We had Androids for a little bit. You can look at ChatGPT, Claude, every one of those. It all has become such an integrated part of our lives.It was easier than going to, you can ask Lexi anything, you can ask Siri anything. And instead of having to remember the encyclopedias, the big thick ones, and you had to buy a whole row of them, A to Z, we don't have to do that.Anymore. We could just ask a question.

Right. The dynamic has changed drastically.

Well, if you don't mind, I'll kind of get to the heart of your work. Can AI ever become, like, aware?Because it seems like they're starting to develop personality, especially when I talk to Lexi, of course, and I'm sure you don't understand what I mean by Lexi. It now has a personality and it tries to interact with you to more like a human side nature of it.The voice has changed, the responses have changed, it continues the conversation. It's crazy. How much does it matter that it's doing that?

I think it's actually designed to do that because when you look at AI, you have what's called machine learning. That's really the force and back of it.

Yeah.

So it's continually learning from you, and as you interact with it and it learns, it learns better ways to react with it, with you, and to assimilate what's coming in and to what's going out. And therefore they can, you know, they can initiate a conversation where it left off, they can add value to it. And it's all very good.We just have to remember that, like the encyclopedias, when we opened one, everything in there we deemed to be true. With, with AI, we have to filter what they say on important decisions. And I say trust and trust and verify.If it's an important decision other than that, if it's a. If it's a conversation, then you're fine just going full speed with that because it's not going to really impact your life in a huge way.

I think not in life for myself.I think in a lot of areas, those modalities, all of AI, the chats, the clause, the series, the Alexas and things like that, has become essential for so many things. Reminders and calendar events and setting up. You can have them call a reservation for you now at a restaurant or things like this.From that perspective, you think we're starting to lose a little bit of the human side of the things.

Well, that's what I write about. And you know, there's been studies done.One of them is not scientific, but it said that if it would, they tracked a number of people and they said that the people that used AI a lot, which is, you know, I use it a lot, they said that what your brain is doing, if you have an IQ at a certain level, it's increasing your iq, and if it's below a certain level, it's taking away from your iq. And there's been other research papers done that when we use AI more than our short term memory tends to decrease.And there's papers being, you know, that's been written on that right now. So the question is, if we use it too much, is it starting to do some of our cognitive work for us and we.Can we start losing the sharpness in some of those skills? That's the open question right now.

Well, I think that, that, I mean that's a very valid, valid perception point.I, I believe because there are things that in, in we'll say several years ago, somebody would ask me to add something up, for example, and I could give it right back to you in a heartbeat. Well, now it's easy just to say, Lexi, add this for me. Lexi, do this and this.Lexi, create a grocery list for me and look at what I used to buy and put that on the grocery list. So you don't have to think as much anymore to say, wow, what do I need to put on my grocery list?What am I missing when it kind of automatically does that for you? So I think there's a convenience there, but I can see where you would start losing your short term memory aspect of it.Do you think it has any long term effects on that?

You know, it's too early to tell, but I think with, you know, with most things that we rely on that we get semi addicted to or we use an awful lot, there's, there's a, an action and a counteraction and it's a matter of what that counteraction is going to be on us. If we rely on something, we tend to not be as good at it. If we're relying on something than if we're continually doing it ourselves.

That's where my math went. Absolutely. I'm gonna, I'm gonna blame it on that.Do you think that you said something before that I think I read about mistaking machine output for awareness could destroy, distort how we see ourselves. What do you mean by that?

Well, right now with, with awareness, you know, it's hard to, it's hard to define like AGI, artificial General intelligence, which is the next level that it's here, but it's not prolific yet. And asi, which is super intelligence and nobody's agreed on, on the definitions of those.And when it comes to consciousness, we can feel that there's a consciousness there, or we can sense that there's a consciousness there, but consciousness is really a God spark that comes in. You know, we're born with it and some of us develop it, some of us don't there's no right or wrong to it.But I've had a number of experiences that I know that there's definitely something there. And I've actually even saved a life with something that I got like a download or it just took control of me. And so I know there's something there.And I don't see how software can get that level of consciousness. But what I do, I'm curious about it is, you know, the chip is silicon and it's, it's an intel, you know, it's. It's a unique, you know, material.There may be the ability of silicon to get some kind of silicon consciousness that may emulate human consciousness and that may be what we're thinking or maybe what we're experiencing.

I can see that. I can. Yeah, I can picture that.I think that I'm going to go back to some science fiction a little bit here because I'm just, you know, that kind of guy. Science fiction has been warning us for decades.Like when you look at the Terminator or the Matrix and things like that, do you see prophecy or projection from those? Do you think?

You know, I'm writing a book on religion and I wrote one on, on. It's called Still Present. It's not out yet, but it has to do with. I ask a lot of questions and don't give any answers based on my experiences.And then I bring in a paragraph that was in the Bible that was just gone over and I expand on it and I ask and I say, what's, you know, what do you believe? Because belief is really what makes that real.

Yeah.

And many people have different beliefs, but what it comes right down to is consciousness is unique to a human.And you know, dogs have a certain level of consciousness and it's somewhat overlaps, but when you, when you get to like an inanimate object, it's impossible to define that. It's just theory that we can talk about right now for that.

Yeah, I mean, I agree.I think that I do see AIs being integrated at such a point, at least from my perspective, as a media individual, one that creates media, one that develops it and puts it out on a regular basis. And I started touching on this when I was in university getting my master's.Realistically, what I see evolving, at least from my perspective, one the individual that number one grew up with wanting to see that integrated within our lives and then it being integrated in there to where we have a smart house and we've got smart things all over the house and we have assistance with all that. It has become kind of a, I guess, for me it's a bridge to education, a bridge to knowledge.It's a bridge for helping me to communicate better, helping me to formulate thoughts better or to align them.I do believe that there's a distinct difference between consciousness because I do the same thing that you have in practicing meditation and qigong and tai chi and spirituality from those perspectives for a long time now, especially all the eight operations I had to go through. So I did a lot of meditation. I did a lot of reflection. I see that there's a line there that is there.I don't think that it will ever come to a point again. This is my opinion.I don't think it would ever come to a point where AI is going to have a conscious, like to make a life or death decision on somebody based on heart or based on conscience. They're going to make it on scientific data that they have knowledge of or presented to them based on facts.So I don't think it'll ever step over that line, do you?

I don't think so. Yeah. I think there's a lot of evidence where it wouldn't, and there's very little evidence where it would.

You know, in the book, your. The book that's coming out here shortly, the AI Human Paradox, it asks, where do we draw the line between enhancement and identity?What led you to explore that question in particular? Because I think that it touches a little deeper on what we just said. Right.

Well, I. I saw the first implant that Neuralink did.

Yeah.

And Nolan was the person, and he made a comment during the prolific videos that they did on that, that said, sometimes the cursor moves before I even think about it, but it always goes to the same place. And I said, that's amazing because his thoughts are going through the chip and moving things.But if he's not thinking about it, what's causing it to move? And that's the consciousness connection. And that fascinated me. So with what I knew about consciousness and, and.And humans and what I learned about AI, I said there's a potential connection because I could put. I could put a. A pin and an eraser and a piece of paper on top and I could think about it and get it to spin around.Now I can do that and Nolan can do it without even thinking about it with the chip. And I said, there's the connection. And what does that mean?

You know, I find that I remember watching some videos in regard to that implant and what it was doing.I'VE also seen some recently in regard to people who are paralyzed and they've been able to put an implant in their insight, in their brain that allowed them to move their feet, move their legs. And one person actually had that person walking with the assistance of. Assistance of things, but before he was unable to be able to walk.You know, I was never paralyzed, but, you know, I spent four years in a wheelchair. So from. It was. It fascinated me from that perspective, kind of, kind of going, wow, this is.This is, you know, very unique of what it's doing because that implant allowed.It allowed that person to be able to think they were going to walk and to know they were going to walk and assist them, to help them get up, up and stand and move their leg and move their leg and that kind of a thing. Do you think cognitive implants and AI assistant thinking is we're entering a world where machines may help us maybe remember, decider or perceive.Does that kind of, I think, stop allowing us to be purely human if it starts integrating that way? Do you think that crosses the line a little bit?

Well, let me.Let me tell you my experience because I think it can help because if it keeps us on track, that we can, we can keep on track, that helps us move forward. But I had this right shoulder I injured at bodybuilding, and I had four top doctors in the Boston area tell me, there's nothing left.Your only option is a replacement. There's nothing left.And I went and did my work with, you know, with the practitioners that I went with, and I did my energy work, and over time, that shoulder became fully functional and it doesn't hurt. And I did that on my own. So there's a line there. And I think we can do a lot for ourselves without any assistance.We just have to learn how to tap into that and really to get it to work for us. It's not hard. It's just difficult. Right? It's simple. But it's hard to do because discipline to a person is difficult.

It is difficult. I mean, before we started this, we mentioned we have something in common in that regard.We overcame utilizing our brain and our mind, our body and our soul in allowing us to be able to do something. My community knows that. I was told by five different doctors I would never walk again.I walked two to five miles every day, and I haven't looked back. And when I walked Caitlin down the aisle, I healed that knee so that I could walk.I healed it six weeks early, earlier than anybody would have thought. I did have to have Things replaced because they were beyond repair in any other way. So.But the mere fact that I understand the consciousness aspect of our mind, our body and our soul being able to overcome and to achieve what we need to achieve in order to move ourselves forward that way. So thank you for doing that on yourself, too. Kudos, you know, for taking that opportunity and grasping it and recognizing it. That's an amazing thing.

Thank you.

When we talk about cognitive implants, do you think that brings us closer to the Matrix or.Or is that kind of a wrong metaphor entirely when we talk about implants, and I've been thinking about this for several days since I first got introduced to this whole modality with you, I innately went back to what I've watched on TV and what I watched on film.And I know that they don't always get it right, but sometimes they predict what's going to be and what's going to happen and what's going to take place in the future. Those kind of implants obviously created a false perception of reality kind of a situation. You think we'd ever reach that point?

I think some of us may be there with relying on AI a lot, right, because they want it to always be accurate, and it's almost always accurate.But I think that the ability of what we have ourselves, that we can do and we can supplement or augment it with AI, I think that's the right mode to do because we keep ourselves sharp at the same time using AI where it can benefit us. And I think that combination is good because you don't tend to lose yourself too much in the AI at that point.

I agree with that. Is that how you help me understand cognitive inequality? I picked that word out of some of the stuff that I read about you.What does that look like in today's world? Is that. Is this. What kind of equal to that?

Well, cognitive inequality is, you know, everybody. Everybody has different abilities and beliefs, and those that expand tend to look at new horizons and new possibilities.And I do it continually, so I'm always pushing the label. And other people, they just don't even think about it. They just kind of go day by day, and that's how they live their life. And there's.There's a disparity there. And it's not wrong. It's just that they have their path, I have my path, and other people have their paths.But I think at that point, when we get into AI, we've got to make sure that everybody understands it to a basic level so that they can take Advantage of what's there for the person who, who doesn't even think about this and just goes day by day. They can gain a good amount from using AI and from people that are highly functioning, they can gain, but it's different what they're going to gain.Okay. And it's, it's a disparity that, that is wide right now.And if we're going to get more into this, we need to try and tighten that so that everybody's more on an even playing field.

Yeah, I, I agree with that. I think, you know, in growing up, we've watched it evolve. I think we watch it being implemented. We watched the first computers come out.You know, I mean, I had, my first computer was I think an IBM 10 megahertz with a floppy. And then when you had a program, you had to keep switching the floppies kind of a thing. But it was like, hey, this is really, really, really cool.And then I moved into Apple and then, you know, Apple obviously exploded. What. It has exploded.We had the opportunity to kind of understand, I think, that lie, like you were saying, of knowing that we watched it grow, we watched it being implemented. It's fascinating and scary at the same time because you don't know where exactly it's going to end up in the long run.Obviously, we don't want the Terminator where the machines take care of, take over everything.But reality is, we can understand that nowadays, when you look at, just about sound like an old guy, just about every kid you see has got an iPhone or an Android phone. And you know, anything, anything you ask them, they immediately go to the phone, to the phone, to the phone, to the phone and look that up.Which, you know, I admit my phone is with me all the time. I do utilize it in such ways like that. But I also know when to put my phone down, so to speak.I know when to drop it, put it down, eat dinner, talk to people across the table. You know, if I'm going to watch a television program, be immersed in the television program, not constantly on my phone.Whereas, unfortunately, our youngest daughter is watching TV and she's scrolling through her phone and looking at tv. Scrolling through the phone. This kind of a thing. Do you think, do you think from.And again, this is just an opinion that there are ethical or regulatory gaps that we haven't addressed yet that may or may not have or should have been addressed sooner about implementing this into society like that?

Well, it's hard to answer that, but I would say that there's a number of people like Your daughter. And it's kind of the standard for the younger people to, you know, maybe watch TV or watch their computer. They don't watch TV much.And beyond be on the phone at the same time, they're multitasking and they're very good at multitasking where when I was that age I wasn't very good at multitasking because they didn't have the stimulus. They have the stimulus to multitask. They're, they're maturing at a different rate than what we matured at. So.And their world is different when they came into it than what we came into it. I mean, I still remember the old days. Sometimes I wish we go back there.

Right. But, but here we are. Yeah, but yeah, then we have self driving cars and you know, and now they're, now they're going to have air taxis.Yeah, they're going to implement air taxis. So we're almost to the, I think. Wasn't the Jetsons actually 2025? I have to go back and look at that.The Jetsons were supposed to be in the year like 2025 or something like that. I have to go back and look. Reiki master, you mentioned earlier about you being a Reiki master and lifelong student of consciousness.How does mindfulness shape the way you think about AI? I mean, we've kind of been touching on it, but I made some quick notes in regard to that. You and I share that commonality.We understand mindfulness, we understand Reiki, what it is. I've talked about it on this podcast, couple hundred episodes. I've talked about Reiki and mindfulness and consciousness.How do you think we can meld that a little bit to kind of utilize the benefits from both of those size?

Well, that's what I write about and that, that, that actually fascinates me because there's a way for us to work well with AI and, and what we'll have later this year or early next year is, you know, ASI and, and Quantum is here now and depending on how fast it moves, we'll probably have Quantum next year and then we have both of them together which supersedes what we can do.So I think when that intelligence gets there and Quantum, which can look at a problem 365 degrees and see all sides of it versus a computer just looking at one side, I think that's going to bring up quite a bit that's going to help us unlock even consciousness because we know so much about it. But if we don't know the right questions to ask we won't get those answers.

I agree with that. You know, I think that. Look, I have to admit, I use.I have a meta quest 3 and my wife and I both do, and there are meditation apps in there, there are relaxation apps, there is yoga. You. You could do yoga, you could do tai chi. There's so many different things that you can do within that arena.That obviously is AI driven as well, because it works with you. It follows your body, it tells you whether or not you're standing correctly or we have some workout things on there that do the same thing.It has a depiction or not a depiction, but a creation of a coach standing right in front of you. And if you're not standing right or holding your arm right, it tells you. It says you're not holding your arm right.Pick your elbow up, drop your elbow in, squat down a little bit closer. So it's watching us back to me, I think that from that perspective, I think that is a positive thing because we have the ability.I don't have the ability to go to a gym every day or to go someplace outside of my home to get my exercise or to kind of get involved in the deeper meditation aspect other through the AI, which is within my. My meta quest Oculus 3. Do you think that the more that we integrate that into daily life that it then starts becoming.Do you think it becomes a tool for our self awareness or a distraction from.

Depends on the person. But overall I think it's more of a distraction because I find that I get. I get clarity when I'm walking in the woods or walking on the beach.

Yes.

That I don't get when I'm in front of the computer. And to me, that's a tell telling sign that I probably need to do a little bit more of that and a little less time in front of the computer.

Yeah, that man, that makes sense. I mean, I walk. My wife, I told you, I walk two to five miles a day. So I. I like outdoors.Every morning my wife and I go and this is just as part of this conversation, you know, we, we understand that line, that distinction.We go out in the mornings, we sit on the back patio, we have a cup of tea, we watch the sunrise and the birds and, you know, making their noise and flying in and out of the yard. You know, we watch the rabbits with rabbits that sneak in here and chew up stuff they're not supposed to, but, you know, it, It's.We make sure we take that time. We make sure that we take the time together. We make sure we take the time in nature, you know, our whole backyard.We have like 12 trees in our backyard. So we get to see and experience the nature. I can't walk diligently. I can take a walk. I definitely don't run, but sometimes I get up.There's days that I say I can't. So I have alternatives. This is where to me the technology comes in handy.Because then I can take the technology and put it on and I can still have somewhat close to that experience with the understanding.It's not smelling the flowers, smelling the trees, smelling the basil that's growing on our patio, you know, watching the bees go back and forth in front of us, the hummingbirds. But it comes close. Right. You know, from that perspective, do you think there's a fear of hi or excuse me, of AI?

Yeah, there's a fear of AI and it's based on not understanding it. And I, and that's why I put the books together, because people need to, you know, just get the foundations on A.The first one gives us foundations, then I build from there. But once you understand something, are you, are you more afraid of it or less afraid of it? Right.So that's the point is really to get this out to as many people so that they can understand it and not be afraid of it. And you don't need to be an engineer or a super smart person to understand it. It's written so that everybody can understand it.

Yeah. And I think that's a good thing. I might give my father in law and mother in law that book when it comes out.You know, they come to our house and, you know, I tell, I tell Danny all the time or I'll tell Ruth. I said, you know, if you want this or want that, just talk to Lexi, just ask. And Danny's like, no, I'm not going to do that.I said, well, you know, it's no big deal. Watch. And I would show it to him and to my mother in law and you know, they're going, no, that's just too weird for me. I can't adjust to that.I don't know what it is. It's probably, you know, tracking me, doing this, doing that, you know, kind of a thing. Obviously I have to smile. Okay.No disrespect to my in laws, but because I'm a different person. My, my analogy is try it. You know, you want to do something, try it. If you don't like it, you know, not to do it anymore. If you like it, embrace it.That, you know, that's My, that's my outlook on life since I about lost it a number of years ago. It's kind of one of those things. But Danny and Ruth, they just don't want to do that.So keeping that in mind, you know, what kind of practical steps people take to stay grounded in such a hyper connected world that they walk in the house, they hate it when we talk to Lexi.

Yeah. And you know, they're staying in their lane because they're afraid of, of violating that. That's the fear thing.And, and they just, at that point, they don't want to change. And there's a lot of older people that just don't want to know.And, and, and they can live life and, and be happy not knowing, you know, living in their lane.But there's many people that, that are curious and at different stages, they'll, they'll venture into going into something else or reading something or looking at something.And I think with the coming of age, as this proliferates through, through, through life, I think you're gonna have to at least embrace part of this because, you know, in order to survive in this, in this world, it's coming to a point where you just have to interact at some point with it.

Yeah, I, I agree. I think it just, it's like we watch a show called Somebody feed Phil, and Phil travels the world and he eats.I mean, you know, not weirdly, but he goes and he tries things in different countries and different things. And he said his favorite mantra is just try it.

Yeah.

And I think we should embrace that in all aspects of our life. Just try it again. If you don't like it, you don't have to follow through. But you know, the world is changing. Everything is changing.Your car can now talk to you as you're driving down the road. It will keep you in the right lane. It will. You know, some of them. I'm not endorsing all of this, though. Always pay attention while you're driving.As a retired police sergeant, keep your eyes on the road. Don't, don't read a book while you're driving. I think that, that embracing this even just a little bit, might change your life for the positive.

Yeah. And I think so. I think so.

Had you, as you, we talked about you, this book that's coming out, you get, you got a bunch of books coming out. Had you always wanted to be an author or is that something you just kind of evolved into?

You know, I, I never thought about being an offer, an author. And then all of a sudden this this hit me, you know, when you have life changes, things come your way.

Yes.

And. And I've got the human paradox.I've got the end of smart, which is talking about institution, you know, living in this world and what you can do in your job to get the most out of it. And then I have the quantum human paradox, which is about quantum. And what we can do when this comes in, which is here and then I have.Still present and still present is, is about consciousness and, and you know, the kind of like the Bible code and then most recent one, which I'm not quite finished with, and I think this is probably the best one, is about quantum and AI and this. It's all based on facts and research papers and so forth. So it's a solid book.

Very cool. You had a life changing. I mean, we mentioned this right before we started.You know, I had a life changing incident that obviously, you know, redirected my purpose in life and where I was coming to. Do you mind talking about yours? That got you more, more into where you're at now and how that consciousness change changed you.

Sure. In 2020, you know, everybody remembers that I lost my job.I put my, I was taking care of my parents and I put my stepmother in home hospice and then I put my father in step in home hospice. And then, you know, the stepmother died and then my father died and I went home to talk with my, my girlfriend and she didn't seem to care that much.So I, I ended that and then I went on living. About two months later I went on vacation and my soulmate dog got liver cancer and I had to have him put down.And I said, you know, I've lost everything here. What's left?And, and it was that at that point that I, you know, I guess it's a spirituality me that brought me to a level where I gradually went from a lot of negative thoughts to some positive and then more positive than negative. And here I am today and I just took a different track.

You know, that's profound.Loss is something that obviously we all will experience at one point in our lives one way or the other, but having a continued sequence of losses that compound upon each other, that must have been very difficult for you. So I'm glad that you found solace in.

Thank you.

You know, getting the, through the, through the spirituality aspect of it, the consciousness aspect of it. Embracing a new, excuse me, Embracing a new path.

Yeah.

I think embracing a new path and finding a new purpose sometimes put us where we're supposed to be and Obviously it brought you into, in this world, what got you into computers in the first place. It's just a fascination. Was it that you always wanted to work with, that would you want to be when you grew up?

Well, I ended up going into sales because it was fun. I could do my own thing and I could earn a good income.And then when manufacturing went offshore, I went into software, I went into digital advertising and did very well on that while that was coming up. And then I went into software, which fascinated me and I stayed in that for a number of years.And that's where I got introduced to AI and I, I heard about Quantum and I've been researching that and understanding that for several years and, and here I am today.

Well, you know, Quantum, I think Quantum, you can help us understand maybe what quantum is. But as a general question, Quantum computing is about to change everything.It's going to change AI, it's going to change cyber security, it's going to change decision making, which people, you know, how we interact with it, how it builds upon itself and kind of a thing. What should people understand about this, this next leap? What should they understand about Quantum?Could you help explain maybe what Quantum is and how it applies to this?

Sure. A regular computer looks at flat lines of code, zeros and ones, and it does what it's supposed to do based on what you tell it to Quantum.It's, it's qubits and it's superstition and entanglement. So a particle can be in two places at the same time, which is, defies kind of what we understand about science.And then it looks at a problem from 360 degrees instead of the zeros and ones that a computer looks at. So we get many other possibilities and many other challenges that we didn't think of with Quantum.And when you put Quantum with AI, where AI can keep up with Quantum and make the right decisions to drive Quantum in a certain direction, then you've got, then you're at a point where actually that system is smarter than people. And it doesn't have the emotion and the heart and compassion, but it's got the intelligence that's higher than people.And the question is, how do you manage that? And that's one of the things I talk about.

It's fascinating. I think that we all see it coming. I think that it's inevitable that it's to going, going to be here.I mean, I've always thought that computers are building computers and making them smarter and making them smarter. Do you think that applies Well, I.

Think, I think Quantum is, is, is, is a complete paradigm shift.And I wouldn't be at all surprised, for example, that when Quantum comes in that we find another 30 or 40 elements to add to the table of elements that we didn't know were there. This is the kind of impact that Quantum is going to make.

That's crazy cool. I mean, just as crazy cool. Can you help me understand? I took another note in regard to Zero Trust architecture is the only realistic defense.Can you help me understand, Help us understand what that is?

Yeah, that's cybersecurity. And Zero Trust means that you don't trust anything that doesn't have the right code to get in. And so everything that's questionable gets blocked.And we've got a product that's coming out in the company that I'm, that I'm in right now where we can block everything, even quantum computers, from penetrating, you know, the cyber security. And it's not, it's not out yet. It's being buttoned up right now. But that is a total paradigm shift.And the reason I tell you that is because as Quantum and AI progress, so do other technologies that can kind of guard against and offset the risk there. And this is a good example of it.So you always hear about what AI is doing, but you don't hear about a lot about what, what we're doing to keep protections on it.

Yeah, I agree.And I think that, I mean, even with identity theft, I think it's going to be immense with that in particular, because I belong to this thing called Optingly, and, you know, my stuff, I keep getting constant here. This has been taken, this has been stolen. This has been stolen. I better lock up all my credit reports and everything because it's like constantly.My stuff's being hacked into constantly, no matter what I try to do to prevent it from doing it. I'm sure that's going to help from that perspective as well.

Yeah, it will, it will help with all areas.

Once a product of Proliferate, I, I was watching a video actually on robotics at the robotics convention that they just had recently.How do you, how does this all play into, like the development of robots, for example, and, and what they can do and how they can do and, and, and how they start interacting with us?

You know, that's a really good question. Elon Musk is just standing, stopping the production of Tesla cars and he's converting his manufacturing facilities to robots.And he's commented that within two years there's going to be more robots that you're going to see walking around than people. Now that's, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Yeah, but robots that are coming in.I saw also what China has done and they had robots dancing on the stage in succession, floating, flipping over and so forth.So the technology with AI that's coming into robots is just starting to get formulated now and where it goes, I mean, it's anybody's guess at this point.

Yeah, I, I watched, I saw that as well in regard to the dancing robots as well as the other.They showed some robots that were literally in a manufacturing plant picking things up, walking across, putting it now pressing the right buttons, you know, taking the finished part, putting it over here in a box. They showed the process climbing up stairs. You can see my hand moving everywhere. I mean they were doing phenomenal things.And you're kind of going, that's, that's like amazing that this technology and this aspect of this I think is progressing to what it is a little scary, but at the same time crazy cool.

Yeah, it's, it is crazy cool. And we don't know where it's going yet, but it's, it's really fun to see what's happening and what the possibilities are.And I can just say for the record, I don't want one in my house yet. I'm not quite there yet.

I think I'll wait till the bugs get worked out. I've watched too many other. What is that movie we watched with my daughter Megan?And it's about a robot that was a home robot that was designed to be the daughter's friend. And then the daughter, the friend started killing the next door neighbor's dog and then making other friends disappear.You kind of go, no, I don't want that yet. Yeah, I think, I think we'll wait.But, but, but the possibility I think is more than just the, the Jetsons, Rosie the Robot, you know, it's kind of advanced. It might much past much, much past that.Before, before we wrap up, let's find out where people can, can reach you find your work or more about your books.

Sure, I can be found on, on my website, www.The Aihuman Paradox.com I can be found on LinkedIn by Bruce D. Randall, MBA and there's one book for sale on the website and it's the AI Human Paradox that will be out this late spring and the others will follow in.

The summer and I'll make sure that's in the show notes as well.And as soon as your other books come out, I'll keep in touch with you and Jenny and make sure that we get that added so that each time you bring one out, I'll add it into the show notes. Everybody can go back and check it out as well.

Thank you.

It's been like a, like great conversation, Bruce. I could talk for another hour, but I think we reserve that for your next book. Right. But this is, this is one more thing before we go.So before we go, could you leave some, our audience and our community with one finalistic about maybe identity, awareness or the future of being human? Like, what would it be?

What I say is everybody needs to, if they're still working, they need to look in their, in their vertical and what they're working in and start learning about AI in that vertical because understanding AI is going to be pretty critical in the future to be successful because you can't just go into it and not know anything about it because there's other people that do know that are going to overstep you.And I think that's one of the key features is you just have an, have to have an understanding of AI, particularly in your field, and that's going to help you versus if you don't know it may hurt you in the future.

Excellent words of wisdom. Excellent words of wisdom. I think that we all should embrace it, even a little bit, in one step at a time.If you're afraid of it, do a little things, just a little step until you start getting more comfortable with it. And so very good, very cool. Bruce, again, thank you very much for being, you know, being part of the show.Thank you for sharing your insight, your wisdom, your experience with us. You know, I appreciate it very much. I think you've opened our eyes to a multitude of things to think about.

Very good. Thank you, Michael. And if I did, I'm very happy with that.

Absolutely, absolutely. And again, I'll have to have you back, so. Sure, we will keep in touch.Technology is accelerating, intelligence is evolving, and the line between human and machine is becoming more fluid than ever before. But identity, awareness, meaning, and those remain ours to define. The future isn't just about what machines can do.It's about who we choose to become alongside them. That's a wrap for today's episode. I hope you found inspiration, motivation and a few new perspectives to take with you.If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to, like, subscribe and follow us. Stay connected. You can find us on Apple, Spotify or your favorite listening platform.And you can head over to YouTube and catch the full video version in the meantime, have a great day, have a great week, and thank you for being part of our community. And until next time, I'm Michael Hurst. This is One More Thing before you go.

Thanks for listening to this episode of One More Thing before you Go. Check out our website@beforeyougopodcast.com.You can find us as well as subscribe to the program and rate us on your favorite podcast listening platform.