15 Questions to Kickstart Your AI Autobiography
One facet of AI does excite me — utilizing it to record our lives for our own benefit and for posterity
Amidst all the hullabaloo around AI, I have feelings of….cautious uncertainty. Far smarter correspondents than yours truly have opined at biblical lengths about the promises and perils of the dawning new age. (If interested, see here about AI and American power; here on AI and work; more here on AI and work; and here on the AI-directed demise of humanity.)
One facet of AI does excite me — the utilizing it to record our lives for our own benefit and for posterity. We quickly seem to be headed to a place where, with sufficient inputs, AI could dialogue with us about our own lives. Or it could use recorded family members’s voices so we could actually dialogue with them after they’ve passed away. Maybe video enters the picture here too.
I know I am not the only man who wishes I could still ask my father for advice. Or his father, whom I never met. Or my mother’s father, my Granddad, or her mother, my Amama.
Of course, I realize the considerable limitations of such dialogues. The questions I might ask them are colored by a culture and context they didn’t live in and possibly couldn’t even imagine. And yet, such questioning would still be beautiful.
Indeed, even to hear voices I have never heard, or treasured voices who haven’t spoken for years — what a gift! I would dearly love such a gift, and I would love for my daughters to receive such a gift too.
Talk about history coming alive.
AI offers us a truly new chance to leave behind more of ourselves than ever before. Many people will want to do so, and a fine place to start is with an autobiography. I think a lot of people would like to have an autobiography, but they get hung up on the writing part. They want it to “be perfect” — whatever that means — or they simply don’t know how or where to start. Modern audio, video and transcription services lower the bar dramatically for people who do want to have some artifacts of their lives, thoughts, and feelings.
Pick a modern recording device (the voice memo app on your phone, Vienna Scribe, or Descript are great tools). Rather than staring at blank screen, hit record. (Or, if you do want to write, great.)
Some people can simply talk or riff all day. For the rest of us, I’ve created a lit of 100 questions to respond to. The point is not to answer them all in order. And the point is definitely not to answer all of them in one marathon session. Instead, use them to prompt your talking. Reflection is fine, but so it simply speaking off the cuff and hearing where your voice leads. That will surely trigger new and fruitful avenues of sharing your life’s story.
In the coming weeks, I will take us through these (roughly) 100 questions. Today, let’s start with 15 questions to ease us into this AI autobiography journey. These reflect the basics — some of them you may answer in some form every day. The ease of answering, or seeming lack of depth, doesn’t diminish the value of answering them for your later benefit — of that of later generations.
And the invitation here is to tell more — to share the details. In telling more, share the reasons, but also share the feelings.
This is your story. Share your head and your heart.
15 Questions to Kickstart Your AI Autobiography
What is your full name? Were you named after someone? Is there a story behind your name?
What are your parents’s names?
Where and when were you born? In a hospital? In a foreign country? Is there a story to tell about your mother’s pregnancy or your birth?
What are your siblings’s names, if any?
In 5 words, describe your childhood.
In childhood, what were you obsessed with? Sports? Dance? A superhero? A friendship? A place?
What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal, or plaything as a child?
What was your favorite TV show, movie, or book as a child?
Did you move as a child? Homes? Cities? Countries? When? How did you like moving? Did you wish you could have stayed longer in a place? Do you wish you could have moved more often?
What is your favorite memory as a child?
What did you want to be or do as a child? This could include a job or work. It could also include: having a family; being the first member of your family to graduate from college; halting some inter-generational dysfunction; continuing a family enterprise; or traveling somewhere.
What is your favorite book today? TV show? Movie?
Describe your life in 3 words.
Who do you live with today? Where? How long have you lived there?
What’s the most beautiful scene or thing or image you have seen, witnessed, or heard?
Miscellaneous Miscellany
Brian Potter reflects on the 50 things he’s learned while writing Construction Physics. Number 21 puzzles me — maybe the world has simply become a riskier place over time? Number 37 is the knee-jerk shocker on the list, but upon reflection, makes sense.
My friend Aaron sent me this lovely piece about Masters runner-up Justin Rose, saying it reminded him of my series on “Silver Medalists.”
Fun article about Brad Balukjian visiting the players on 1986 baseball cards when he opened a random pack — two decades later. (And Brad’s book.)
A revised and expanded edition of JL Collins’s The Simple Path to Wealth comes out May 20th.
After a little time off, my friend Rachel Lutz is making beautiful ceramics again. Years ago, she gifted me a mug and it is simply gorgeous. I enjoy using it every day as I sip my fancy man tea.
If you’re enjoying the essays and podcast on Solvitur Ambulando, I invite you to Pledge Your Support of this work and vision. Solvitur Ambulando is free to enjoy and I have no intention of turning on paid subscriptions anytime soon. (If that changes, I will give pledgers plenty of notice.) But knowing you savor the fruits of my efforts — to the tune of being willing to put some of your hard-earned ducats toward it — would mean, well, more than you can possibly know. Thank you for considering, and for reading this labor of profound joy in my life.
Really cool idea!