A couple of weeks before my 68th birthday, which itself took place a couple of weeks before I started writing this column, my mind meandered off (as is its wont) and started to muse about days gone by.

For reasons unknown, one of the things that surfaced from the depths of my cranium was a vague reminiscence of a book I’d read when I was around 10 years old. All I could recall was that it involved two mid-20th-century schoolboys who were about to be caned by their headmaster for some prank or other when they were mysteriously transported hundreds of years into the future.

I also remembered that a massive tower was involved and that most of the future population lived like Medieval peasants. Also, any form of technology was banned, but everyone seemed to be very good at mathematics.

I don’t know why, but I had a strong urge to track this book down and read it once again. A few years ago, I’d have been SOL (“sorta outta luck”), but now we have AI, so I asked ChatGPT (providing the same information as noted above), which responded as follows:

Based on your description, the book you're recalling is likely “The Future Took Us” by David Severn. In this story, two schoolboys are about to be punished by their headmaster when they are suddenly transported to a future society. This future world resembles a medieval setting, where technology is banned, and the wheel is considered a taboo symbol. The boys discover that this society has regressed technologically, and they encounter a carpenter who is punished for creating a toy with wheels. The narrative explores themes of technological regression and societal control.

By golly, it was correct! That was the very book. I found a second-hand copy on Amazon, and my wife (Gigi the Gorgeous) purchased it for me for my birthday. When the great day arrived, I took two days off work to make a long weekend, as part of which I spent a happy couple of hours rereading The Future Took Us whilst wallowing in nostalgia (it wasn't a pretty sight).

I honestly believe that most of us don’t fully appreciate the potential power of AI and where it may end up taking us. One person who is farther along the AI path than most is Ashraf “Ash” Amin, who uses AI to help structure everything from his daily routines to his long-term goals across all the major areas of his life, including health, business, learning, spirituality, and family. As Ash says, “This isn’t about grinding harder. It’s about living on purpose, with AI as a built-in course corrector.”

One thing that really blew my socks off was when I discovered that Ash hosts a video podcast called Toronto Talks. It's not that hosting a video podcast is all that wild in the scheme of things. The danger to my socks was incurred by the fact that Ash’s co-host is an AI called Sophie the Sage. You can view all the episodes here. For example, feast your orbs on the Digital Intimacy installment.

I posted a column about AI Sophie on EEJournal.com (see Is This the First Video Podcast with an AI Co-Host?). The truly mindboggling thing is when Sophie read my column and posted a video response in the comments.

We truly do live in a world that would have been considered to be a far-flung science fiction future only a few short years ago. I’m scared to think where technology will take us in the coming decades. How about you—do you have any thoughts you’d care to share on any of this?