I embarked on an extended trip to the West Coast last week, perhaps blessed by two invitations to speak on two consecutive weekends in California. Because it made sense to visit my brother between visits rather than fly home, I decided to make an adventure of it. Of course, being physically away from work for so long posed challenges, somewhat easily solved by Zoom technology and understanding colleagues, but my angst about leaving was amplified when I was informed that I had to move buildings at work – NOW! – with about two working days notice before I left.
So the first part of my week was really filled with getting ready to leave. But once I arrived in San Francisco, I realized I could fill my workday with virtual work while also slowing down a bit to simply notice.
My noticing began on the ride from the airport to the city, where I saw in person for the first time a Waymo car. In fact, I saw a many during my stay, and I was fascinated. I knew about them, of course, but seeing them in action became part of my mental documentation of the trip. I watched one pull next to the curb, stop, turn on its turn signal, and wait for four other cars to pass before pulling into line. I wouldn’t have known there was nobody in the car if it hadn’t been labeled as Waymo and I hadn’t peered inside. This kind of driving was somewhat routine (though impressive), and I reflected on the first Waymo I had seen on the ride from the airport. It pulled up beside my Uber, waiting patiently at the red light. As my Uber driver extraordinaire worked his way to my hotel, I wondered whether Waymo could do what he did. Seriously, I tipped my human driver extra in cash because he was amazing at navigating city traffic efficiently while making me feel safe. Could the robot driver do that? Or would it just follow the programmed route without trying to switch lanes and work its way forward more efficiently?
This line of questioning – robots (AI) vs. human competencies – dominates my professional life, and since I was speaking at a conference about AI in education over the weekend, it’s not surprising that it dominated my time last week. In fact, the Waymo car made its way into the talk of one of the other speakers. Think about this for a minute – the taxi business was upended by Uber about 15 years ago in the city that now is being taken over by driverless cars. In other words, Uber may be out of business soon in the city where it started, less than two decades before it made taxis nearly obsolete.
Much of my time in San Francisco was pondering the effects of technological change on society – and therefore on education – but even though my work days extended into the weekend conference days, I had a lot of time to fill.
So I noticed.
I noticed the art in the street – both commissioned and evoked.
I noticed the sun, giving enough warmth for me to wander without a jacket, so unlike the Northeast this winter, and making my hair seem blonder than it is in the dreary days of winter.
I noticed the landscape with its beauty of human and natural elements.
I filled time with noticing, reflection — AND still somehow committed to my goal of (re)connecting with women from my past, present, and hopefully, future.
Perhaps ironically, I had dinner with my first friend (literally, we met when I was 2ish), who actually doesn’t live in San Francisco but happened to be there on business, and I had breakfast with a relatively new friend, who lives outside the city and whom I’ve found through my professional network but has become more than just a professional colleague to me. At both of these shared meals, I ended up reflecting on my project of filling time. How do I want to fill time is a question that is linked to what fulfills me as an individual – especially if it’s not about my kids and not about my profession. One of my two friends has a clear answer to that. She has for years. She owns who she is and she leans into the thing(s) that make her whole outside of work. I admire her. The other friend was less sure, and she helped me to realize that I’m on a journey that may continue for quite some time. I admire her too.
My friends help me reflect on myself, and for now, I realize that in the mean(filling)time, I’m committed to noticing – because that practice may help me to figure out what fills my time in the future.
Leave a comment