On Sunday I was overjoyed to spend the afternoon drawing with Oscar-winning author & filmmaker, Charlie Mackesy OBE.
He gently regaled us with the writing and making of his short film, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse in the beautiful setting of Thorington Theatre, just minutes from his Suffolk home.
Sat amongst the trees in the open air, with no mobile reception or running water, we couldn't have been further from the sterile, sleek world of AI.
Outside of this brief respite, the promise and hype of generative AI seems to be everywhere from fitness to finance.
I welcome it's capacity to free us up to concentrate on deeper, more meaningful work.
But it really made me wonder - What are we willing to outsource to an algorithm?
What is uniquely human? What will remain a valued part of our human experience?
The Market Correction is Coming
As AI's ice-cold efficiency progressively whistles through our daily lives, I'm increasingly saddened that the warmth of human connection is getting frozen out.
With the likes of chatbots, automated check-outs and video calls, we can sometimes go a whole day without sinking our teeth into the juiciness of a real conversation.
On their own, these changes seem insignificant but when you add them up, it's like death by a thousand cuts for us as a species.
We miss small signals like a twinkle in the eye - a tiny burst of warmth and charm that can light up a whole conversation and ignite a new connection.
Connection is our life source.
As social creatures, we need it.
We thrive off it, at home and at work.
I'm not talking about some synthetic, robotic, replica via a screen.
Nor the performative kind on social media.
We want the heart-racing, tear-jerking, sweaty-palmed, nail-biting, heart-warming, smile-inducing, hand-shaking, high-fiving, deep-breaths, breath-taking, hair swooshing, double-taking variety!
The kind of connection that makes you feel alive and affirms you're leading a life worth living.
Are you with me?!
Because, this, I believe, is the major counter trend of our time; comforting connection.
The feeling that we're not alone, that we're part of something bigger than ourselves, where we can look each other straight in the eyes and know that we've reached that point where we've built up enough trust to settle in and open up.
The Power of Comforting Connection
Charlie Mackesy's going to help us with this next part.
He shared a story with us in the woods that day which exemplifies the power type of comforting connection.
Every day he’d say the same thing to the 150 animators he worked with in bringing, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, to life on screen;
“You have to remember why we’re doing this.
Not to make a film, not to win anything.
We just want to make something to make someone feel a bit better.
Make someone, somewhere feel a little more comfortable in their own skin.
Make someone somewhere feel less alone. Make someone somewhere feel like they could carry on.
Give someone, somewhere the courage to say, “help” when things are difficult.”
That’s what we wanted to create; a comfort.”
He concluded, “We’re all trying to be shiny and impressive to ultimately be liked, but that’s not how connection works.
Real connection comes through vulnerability.”
The Competitive Edge
So lets bring it home. What's the business value of investing time and money in connection?
AI might be making things more efficient but it's useless for original thoughts.
It doesn't bring new perspectives - that's uniquely human.
And it's when humans feel all warm, fuzzy and safe that they're able to access their left anterior hippocampus - the brain's creativity generator. 🧠
So here's the deal - you bring the connection, your humans will bring the innovation.
And I think we can all agree that we could all do with a little more creative problem-solving and a competitive edge right now.
This Week's Painting🖼️
This week I've painted an abstracted blend of the cool blues of technology and the beautifully warm pink-orange tones of our humanness.