Lately, even before some recent events changed parts of my life, I’ve found myself increasingly in awe of people.
Not humanity in the abstract. Actual people. (And yes, this isn’t entirely far from the post I wrote a few days ago. But there you have it, these are some of the things in my mind these days.)
How every person carries an entire invisible world inside them: fears, memories, humour, insecurities, love, grief, private battles, perspectives shaped by a whole life that nobody else fully sees.
I felt this again watching a recent film with Sally Field (Remarkably Bright Creatures). She’s 80 years old now and still carries an incredible presence. Small, fragile almost, but clearly immensely strong at the same time. You feel it immediately.
(Remarkably Bright Creatures: Sally Field as Tova, an elderly widow working night shifts at a local aquarium.)
The movie itself is quiet, simple, a bit magical even. The kind of film that reminds me of my old days reviewing cinema as a journalist. Not huge blockbuster films, but movies made with care, personality, and something deeply human inside them. It also reminded me a bit of films like Bridge to Terabithia. Quiet stories with imagination and sadness inside them that somehow understand people better than many big “important” films do.
And it reminded me of something Ethan Hawke once said about the arts: when humans feel things deeply, whether joy, grief, loneliness, confusion, love, or fear, we naturally turn toward culture. A song, a poem, a film, a novel, a book, a painting, even just a few words from another person (could be a philosopher, guru or a friend). We look for something that helps us make sense of ourselves and reminds us we’re not alone.
That feels important to remember right now.
Because in the middle of all the AI acceleration, business pressure, productivity obsession, and endless conversations about efficiency, it’s easy to forget what all of this is actually for.
Humans are still the point.
Technology matters because humans matter. Society evolves because humans want better lives, connection, meaning, friendship, love, safety, curiosity, hope.
AI is extraordinary. I genuinely love using it. And honestly, the developments over the last few months, especially in late 2025 and early 2026, have been astonishing to watch in real time. The pace of progress, the capabilities now emerging, and the way these systems are starting to interact with knowledge, creativity, software, research, and communication would have felt almost science fiction not long ago. I genuinely think this technology is one of the most impressive things humanity has ever built.
But the more powerful these systems become, the more I find myself thinking about philosophy, anthropology, emotions, relationships, culture, and what kind of society we actually want to build together.
Those questions feel more important than ever.
Maybe that’s why lately I’ve been increasingly fascinated not by artificial intelligence, but by human beings themselves.
