Failure to Launch

My latest readings have had the same difficult theme.  Mother's coming to a tarot reading, not to talk about themselves,  but to talk about their anxieties for their young adult children.  Kids either not going to college,  just out of college and not looking for jobs,  or looking furiously for jobs,  but not finding them as their degrees start to get stale. 

It's a crazy market out there right now.  I've talked to people about finding jobs and career paths for over 30 years and this is one of the stickiest, worst markets I've seen.  The combination of AI,  world events and post Covid anxiety,  means that many young adults are failing to launch.  And their worried parents come from such a different vantage point,  that most of their advice is no help at all. 

So we talk about executive skills,  we talk about finding work mentors.  We talk about the unspoken reality that a parents contacts can be one of the biggest levers a new graduate can access.  It's really,  really hard to get a job from the internet.  At the very least,  they need some sort of contact within the company or the field.  And luck.  It's not enough to have a degree right now.  They also need some random luck to get them in the door.  And we all know that luck is fickle and unreliable. 

I will warn them that most advice is outdated right now,  because AI is changing things as we speak,  and anyone who says they are an expert on the job market,  well they may have been an expert last week,  but this week conditions have changed.

I tell people to get their resumes looked at by a specialist,  who can put the right keywords in it.  I will also tell them to get their kids into as many networking events as possible (I know, it's effortless for some people and a horror show for others.)  And I tell the adults to look to their own network,  to see if they can get some help there. 

But just knowing that the difficulties are real,  their young adults are not exaggerating,  it's really weird out there, that can help.  I don't have a quick and easy answer,  but it is a numbers game and you have to keep slogging through,  till you get the response you want.  Also,  the first job may not be a perfect one,  but it's better than no job,  and it gets you into the world of work and from there,  you can keep looking.  

And we look for the Ace of Pentacles,  a yes to work and money,  and hope that it appears!

So one of my clients reached out after I published and recommended this book.  I haven't read it, but she rates it highly - Failure to Launch by Mark McConville   I'm always happy to take recommendations.  I hope this one helps! 

Chat GPT

I have had so many discussions about Chat GPT or AI generally lately,  it's astonishing.  Very much in the zeitgeist.   And while I have used AI generated images (my post for Pan Narrans was only AI plays on paintings)  I've never used it for writing or editing my blog pieces.  

I find there's something bland or featureless about the AI summaries.  If I read the AI summary for all the product reviews,  it just feels like mush.  I still don't get a sense of why the product is good or not (Most people liked using X,  a few commented that it didn't work as well after a few months,  but most people didn't have that problem. - meaningless!) I love reading the quirky reviews which sound like a friend has written it - OMG,  I used this knife on a picnic and I will use no other ever again.. - comments like that,  vivid, personal often funny but even serious ones that give you a sense of why someone did something and how - that AI can't capture - yet. 

I would caution against too much AI in important documents - for example some people are writing cover letters for job interviews entirely by AI and I think they sound both bland and insincere.  Of course,  the first read through is by AI - so it has to have all the key words the computer wants,  but when the final 5 or so get to a human - then it has to have something that would catch a human's eye.  By no means a simple feat! 

Just a warning - just as you can sense that something has been written by AI,  so someone can sense something you have presented is also AI.  While it's still in its teething stage, make sure you cast a stern eye over anything you ask it to write! 

Better than human?

I had time to spare (better than time to kill) and randomly watched a TV show that I had no knowledge of - Dark Net,  episode one,  Crush.  It was about the influence of the internet on relationships, something that interests me greatly.

I was so struck by the one about Rinko,  the Japanese girl on Love Plus,  a dating game. It's a really basic AI, no where nearly as good as the one depicted on the movie Her.  But what happens is the same - the lonely man forms a relationship with the game that is far more important to him than any relationship he has IRL (in real life)  and starts to prevent him forming any potential relationship with a real life woman.  Why? Well, because humans are complex and difficult and require compromise. They aren't always available or receptive or interested.  Rinko is always there,  you have complete control in the relationship - switch it on, there she is, interested and pleased to see you,  switch it off and there she goes,  no complaints or needs of her own.  

It saddened me to see this boy chide his mother for delicately saying she hopes he meets a real girl sometime.  "Don't talk like that,  Rinko doesn't like it."  Of course games are easier than humans,  but these men are finding games more rewarding than humans - better to be in the fantasy world of Rinko's love than in the frustrating world of dating. 

I think humans are tricky - with opinions and actions that you don't always expect or like. The other story in the episode had a terrible tale of revenge porn that was genuinely frightening.  But still,  this stepping back into a fantasy world with a programmed AI did not feel like a solution,  but like another kind of problem. Intimacy takes work and risk,  but connection is part of our humanity and needs to be fostered.