Embracing Technology

By Richard A Balch, CFP

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The talk of recent times now seems to be artificial intelligence or AI.? I hear about it a lot in the investment world as the investment wholesalers come and discuss the latest technological developments that are occurring on the horizon.? It is exciting and scary at the same time due to the unknown implications that occur.? What brought this to my mind recently was a trip to Phoenix Arizona about two weeks ago.

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During the trip, I saw these funny looking white cars driving around with little whirly sensors on the car body.? I saw people in the back seat – but no driver!? These cars, I discovered later, were called Way Mo cars.? At the time of this writing, Way Mo cars are now prevalent in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Santa Monica, CA.? One uses an app to retrieve these vehicles and be driven accordingly.? My co-worker decided to take one from the hotel to the airport.? For $10, he was safely driven without experiencing a distracted emotional cab driver (which I did earlier in my trip) and did not need to tip the driver.? The co-worker felt a little nervous when the vehicle came to a busy intersection – but it proceeded with no incident.? The only complaint my co-worker had was when he got dropped off a distance from the airport – so he had to walk far.? He did not understand why the vehicle did not drop him off at the airport’s passenger check-in doors.

I observed on TV, this same period, protests in CA about Way Mo cars.? Apparently, they are taking quite a few jobs away from the cab drivers and the self-employed car drivers.? I felt sorry for these people but perhaps this was similar when the stagecoaches and horse drawn wagons were replaced with gas powered vehicles.

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This also made me remember a time when I was a young ensign in the navy getting qualified to eventually be an Officer-Of-The Deck or OOD underway. ?The OOD has full responsibility for the safe conduct of the ship since the Captain cannot be always on the bridge.? It is a very rigorous qualification process where one must know the intricacies of ship maneuvering, combat systems equipment, engineering protocols, radio communications, and navigation.? As an OOD candidate, I carried a book with hundreds of tasks I needed to demonstrate some level of proficiency to get signed off.? One of the proficiencies was to plot a fix from celestial navigation.? I did take a course in celestial navigation in Navy ROTC.? The process involves identifying certain celestial objects you want to shoot a bearing to with a sextant and then transcribing the numbers onto a strip chart form where various adjustments and trigonometric calculations occur.? The calculation for each object can take five to ten minutes if you do not do that frequently.? Celestial navigation requires shooting fixes on at least three objects.? By the time you are done with the calculation, you may be miles from the fix.

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As I was busy trying to remember adding or subtracting a certain adjustment – I asked the First-Class Quartermaster on the ship’s bridge on what I needed to do.? The Quartermaster naval rating requires a thorough understanding of navigation.? The Quartermaster looked at me and said – “Sir – I don’t know – I just look at the GPS!”? I said, “What would happen if there was no GPS?”? The Quartermaster stared at me and then replied: “I guess we’d be ____ out of luck!”

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This is not reassuring that technology inherently makes people forget how to do the basics.? You see this with the kids today that do not know how to do quick arithmetic as they focus on having a calculator do it for them.? Some common sense seems to get lost.? I am reminded of a YouTube video of two people going up an escalator and when it stopped – they stood on its stationary state yelling for help for someone to get the escalator going again.? Despite the time savings you get by cutting out some education on a basic concept – that can have adverse effects later. ?Never underestimate these details.

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In my professional field there is much discussion on clients working with a Robo-Advisor.? The Robo Advisor collects some information on your situation and immediately tells you what to do afterwards.? A cookie cutter solution.? People blindly accept what the machine says.? I think it is important to have mankind be critical of what technology does and not blindly accept everything it provides.? Perhaps the Way Mo cars will proliferate to many more cities and the aging population can experience being driven around with having to be a hazard themselves by driving.? I still believe that a teenager or young adult should still learn how to drive in order to appreciate the intricacies of all the decisions and judgments that must be made in the process.? If our world suddenly experienced a huge electromagnetic pulse or EMP that fried the circuits of the infrastructure – we must still be able to function without Way Mo cars.? Otherwise, we’ll be like what that Quartermaster advised me that early morning on the ship’s bridge after hypothetically suggesting losing GPS.

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Richard A Balch, CFP, CLU, RICP

Woodmen Financial Resources

1234 S Ridge Road

Green Bay, WI? 54304

1-920-499-8833 Ext 110

[email protected]

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