Grannie Jan where were you when they turned me into a robot? Welcome back to Now What? Hosted by JR So glad you have joined us today! Now What? is rooted in kindness, encouragement, and a deep commitment to humanity. We visualize a future where we are all able to live in a kind, equitable, just, inclusive, accessible, better world and no one is left behind. We would love for you to join our community! Subscribe to become a Community Builder https://jrnowwhat.substack.com Before we begin let’s take a moment to just sit quietly with our eyes closed. * Take a deep breath in and WHOOSH it all out! This question has been swirling around in my head. Where were you when they turned me into a robot? I mean it in the way a child might ask us one day. * A grandchild * A great-grandchild. * A young person standing in a future we helped create, looking back at us and wondering Did you notice what was happening? Did you pause long enough to ask what kind of humans we were becoming? Did you say anything? Did you do anything? This question has stayed with me. “Granny Jan, where were you when they turned me into a robot?” If you have been around here for a while, you know I believe deeply in agency. I believe we are not powerless. I believe the future is not just something that happens to us. It is shaped, little by little, by what we normalize. * By what we ignore * By what we protect * By what we practice By how we treat one another when the world starts moving faster than our nervous systems know how to process. Now, I want to be very clear about something. I am not against AI. I am genuinely excited by what it can make possible. I believe it can help us work differently, create more freely, solve harder problems and free up time for the things that matter most. At its best, AI can give us more room to lean into our humanity. More room for connection for care and more room for the kind of work only a human being can do. But, that is not automatic. That is the part I keep coming back to. AI will not automatically make us more human. Technology will not automatically make us wiser. Speed will not automatically make us better. Convenience will not automatically make us kinder. And if we are not paying attention, we may use these powerful tools in ways that slowly drains the very capacities we most need. * To think * To wonder * To wait * To listen Sit with discomfort, be curious, create something original Disagree without dehumanizing. Care about someone beyond their usefulness. To remember that every person in front of us is not a profile, not a data point, not an obstacle, not an opinion we dislike, but a human being. That is why the question matters. Where were you when they turned me into a robot? We talk a lot here about how mindset is contagious. We talk about connection being the currency of the future. We talk about how what we think and feel ripples outward and creates an emotional climate around us. Think about a stone thrown into a pond It does not just sink to the bottom. It creates ripples…….. Those ripples move outward. And you do not always see where the last ripple lands. That is how we live. That is how influence works. That is how hope moves. That is how fear moves too. Every conversation, reaction, small act of kindness. Every time we pause instead of snap, choose curiosity instead of contempt. Every time we refuse to let the pace of the world steal our humanity. It ripples…… And right now, the emotional climate around us feels breathless. Everything feels urgent, like it needed to be done yesterday. People are frantically trying to learn new tools. Companies are scrambling. Schools are trying to catch up. Parents are overwhelmed. Workers are afraid of being replaced. Leaders are trying to make decisions before they fully understand what they are deciding. And ordinary people are sitting at kitchen tables wondering: * What does this mean for me? * What does this mean for my children? * What does this mean for the future? And this is where I want us to come back to the question at the heart of this whole podcast: Now what? * Not as panic * Not as despair * Not as hype But as * A pause * A breath * A moment of agency Now what? What kind of future are we building? What kind of humans are we becoming? What are we rushing toward? And what might we be leaving behind without realizing it? We have to be very careful that we do not outsource the parts of us that make us human. * Our critical thinking * Our creativity * Our imagination Our discernment, moral responsibility. The ability to sit with a question before grabbing an answer. Our ability to form our own understanding of the world. Because thinking matters It matters today more than ever. Not just fast thinking, efficient thinking. Not just prompting something and accepting the first thing that comes back. But, deep thinking. Human thinking. The kind of thinking that asks: * Is this true? * Is this wise? * Is this kind? Ask * Who benefits? * Who is harmed? * What kind of world does this create if we all keep doing it? I recently heard someone talking about how essay writing helps broaden our thinking and creativity, and that stuck with me. Because writing is not just about producing words. Writing teaches us to follow a thought, stay with an idea, notice where we are unclear and to wrestle with what we actually believe. And yes, AI can help with writing. Of course it can. But if we skip the thinking entirely, if we skip the wrestling, if we skip the inner formation then something important gets lost. Because the point is not simply to produce more. The point is to become more fully human while we create. Now, I know some people may hear this and think: “That sounds nice, but we do not always have the luxury of pondering everything.” And I understand that. People are building systems. Solving problems. Managing teams. Trying to keep up. I am not talking about slowing everything to a halt. I am talking about remembering the human being inside the speed. I am talking about protecting the parts of life that do not have a productivity metrics. Go outside. Making time for friends. Let your mind wander. Try something you are not instantly good at. Sit with someone you love without checking your phone. These things are not distractions from being useful. They are part of how human beings stay alive inside. They nurture creativity, restore perspective. They loosen the grip of constant urgency and remind our brains that life is more than output. And we need that reminder Because so much of modern life is training us in the opposite direction. Scroll faster. React faster. Decide faster. Consume faster. Keep up. Do not fall behind. Do not miss the trend. Do not miss the warning. Do not miss the outrage. And we know what this is doing to us. Shortened attention spans. Apps designed for engagement, not wisdom. Information systems that shape how we understand the world before we even realize we are being shaped. If we are not conscious, we can drift. And drifting does not feel dramatic at first. It just feels normal. One more scroll. One more shortcut. One more reaction. One more moment where we let the machine decide what deserves our attention. And then one day, we may wake up and wonder: * What happened to my ability to focus? * What happened to my patience? * What happened to my creativity? * What happened to being kind? What happened to my ability to sit across from someone who thinks differently and still see a human being? And more importantly What is happening to our children? If they grow up believing technology exists only to make everything faster and easier, what happens to the parts of development that require slowness? * What happens to boredom? * What happens to imagination? * What happens to learning how to struggle through a hard thought? * What happens to empathy? What happens to the deep inner knowing that says * I am not a machine * I am not only useful when I produce * I am not only valuable when I perform. I am a human being That is the piece I do not want us to lose. The piece that teaches us to think. To be kind. To value human connection. To ask better questions. To stay curious. To develop creativity and innovation from the inside out. Not just because the world needs better ideas. But because the world needs fuller human beings. So yes, the question feels very relevant: Where were you when they turned me into a robot? Because we do not want a world full of people trained to be exactly the same. Thinking the same. Reacting the same. Consuming the same. Repeating the same opinions. Performing the same outrage. Afraid * Of difference * Of silence * Of complexity * Of being wrong In some ways, that is part of why the world feels so fractured right now. People have become polarized, reactive. Quick to divide everyone into good and bad, right and wrong, us and them. Imagine having a conversation with someone who sees the world differently from you. Imagine listening without preparing your response. Imagine disagreeing without contempt. Imagine pausing long enough to remember: This person is a human being too That should not feel radical. But in 2026, maybe it is. Maybe common sense has become uncommon because we have been trained to react before we reflect. And this is what I want to speak into. Each one of you matters exactly where you are. No matter your profession. No matter your platform. No matter your background. No matter your age or ethnicity or beliefs or income or education or life experience. Each and every one of us is a human being. And I believe that if we can lean into that, practice that, protect that, then we can still help create a future worth living in. Not a perfect future. Not a painless future. But a more human one. A future where technology serves life rather than replacing it. A future where speed does not erase wisdom. A future where children are not simply prepared to compete with machines, but are formed
