Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

A robot car got attacked in San Francisco the other day.

Set on fire by an angry mob.

(With fireworks as the incendiary device.)

Each day, AI coders write code that, if successful, will render their jobs obsolete.

(The AI will eventually write its own code.)

Not to mention, media companies are hemmorhaging jobs like nobody’s business.

Day after day, journalists are getting the pink slip; waking up to the reality that there are no longer enough jobs to support the existing pool of applicants.

Much as the fine art photographers realized, in the last five or six years, that there were no longer enough people buying prints to support the gallery industry.

(In an ironic twist, the demographic that used to buy art photography now makes its own art photographs and hangs them on the wall.)

I felt the wrath of both trends, the cutting of artists and journalists, and as I was actually covering our industry, I read the tea leaves sooner than others.

And had to find another career.

You know this, if you’ve been reading Sunshine and Olly since its inception, nearly a year ago.

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Few things are harder on a man than not being able make a decent living anymore.

Times may change, but that feeling is ALWAYS super-awful.

I imagine it extends to all other gender incarnations too, but as I’m only supposed to speak to my own experience in 2024, (lol,) I hesitate to speculate.

Rather, I’ll stick to my own script, and tell you that I intentionally picked a job that AI couldn’t do.

Now that I’m training trauma survivors, and older people, in MMA for healing and health, it’s a skill set no robot can do.

Martial Arts, with its grounding in the mind, body, and spirit, allows me to teach and connect with my students on the deepest levels possible.

To change lives, dramatically.

And I have!

But it also means I exercise all the time now, and have a dark dance with protein.

I can never get enough, and it’s super-expensive, but also, you have to be very careful what you put in your gut these days.

Our gut is a second brain, all the current science says, and given how hard BJJ is, you really can’t do it with unhappy innards.

Other guys I train with are in construction.

Electricians.

Because it seems we’re returning to the old days, where men are expected to make a living with our bodies again.

I get to use my mind and spirit too, thankfully, but the demands of the muscles are real.

(Which is why all the top people have saunas/cold tubs.)

Not sure today’s musings have a clear landing point, beyond the fact that change is a-plenty here in 2024.

So we best pay attention to the seismic trends.

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