Leaning Towards Utopia

A musing is described as a period of thought or reflection. I spent some time musing about the course of this past one year and was asked to pen something that was light, philosophical and thought provoking, a tall order indeed. I decided to title the final musing for the year as “leaning towards utopia” to address three topics one which would be light, one philosophical and lastly, you guessed it, thought provoking.

Let us start with something light. My younger son has autism and to be honest I used to see it as a disability. It was not his limitations, but rather mine. I was unable to understand that being different is not a disability, it’s a matter of rationalizing the world differently. As I watched him mature this year, I learnt that sometimes we need to loosen our grip on the need for structure and order, and I guess “live a little”. We take a daily walk and he usually takes a slightly longer path, and I finally had to ask him, “why could we not just take the straight path to the shop”, to which the he replied “I like to walk the long way” – and that’s the truth, sometimes we just need to take the scenic route.

On to something philosophical. I think as founders we all want to run a company in as close to a utopian standard as we possibly can. The formulae is simple, keep your staff happy, they keep your clients happy, happy clients pay well and that pays the bills, and if you get the math right, at the end of the day you are left with a profit. Works great in theory, far from it in practice. As 2022 unfolded, the limitations of running a business unsustainably, without care for profits, while paying high wages and not demanding accountability for work, has resulted in companies especially in the tech sector having to aggressively retrench to cut costs and rapidly course correct towards a path to more financial prudence.

Finally, onto something thought provoking. About 3 weeks ago, a quiet launch by the foundation OpenAI of their latest application named ChatGPT took place. In a matter of weeks it had a cult-like following. For those unfamiliar with ChatGPT, think of it as google but for programming, except you do not need an ounce of programming knowledge. You simply just type in what you want and it just churns it out (I kid you not). From composing music to writing creative Tinder profiles, its application is endless, you need just ask it profound questions and it churns out the answers fully ready-to-go. I had ChatGPT write me an analysis of US-China relations in the last 10 years. I could not tell that if it was written by an application or an academic researcher. Its use case is profound, and for workers, possibly terrifying. The lesson here is simple, there are several ways to move forward but just one way to stand still, as individuals we always need to keep learning and keep an open mind.?

I wanted to end with a word on the general economy in 2023. We are wading into what can be described as uncertain economic waters in 2023. The signages are clear, the US Fed has grappled away the punch bowl and the hangover from unfettered monetary expansion is going to hurt companies and individuals alike. Inflation is seeing us live thru a seismic shift in interest rates. What will be worrying is to what extent the curtailment of consumer consumption does to aggregate demand. Beyond that, the drop in aggregate demand will affect the bottom line of companies who will (you guessed it) cut more costs which means more job losses, and this process exacerbates the spiral downwards. I am by nature an optimist, as such I am confident that we will come out on the other side stronger and more resilient than ever before. While I can’t say that I will be striding towards utopia in 2023, I am pretty sure I will be trying to lean towards it as far as I can.

Those wanting to try ChatGPT can visit and sign up for an account at https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt.

It was so convincing that I could have asked ChatGPT to write this musing for me, but of course being responsible I wrote it myself...or did I?? (with an Orwellian chuckle).

Thanks and Happy holidays!