The Rabbit Hole

This is Part 1 of a two-part piece. Part 2 picks up from the “quiet replacement” and brings it down to everyday life, security, and the questions that don’t go away.   The AI off-switch fantasy is comforting, but I don’t think it survives contact with reality.  This isn’t a guide, and it isn’t a doom speech bandwagon. It’s a set of warning shots from some of the world’s leading experts on AI, then a straight conversation about what we’re actually building.  Geoffrey Hinton: “The idea that you could just turn it off won’t work.”  Yoshua Bengio: “People demanding that AIs…

Why do we game? I’ve been thinking about it properly lately, and the answer isn’t one neat thing — it’s a mix of reasons that change with life.  Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes it’s not. And if you’re anything like me, the reason you pick up a controller on a Tuesday night isn’t always the same reason you’ll sink hours into something on a quiet weekend.  So why do we game?  So why do we game? Sometimes it’s simple joy. Other times it’s nostalgia. Or maybe it’s stimulation or relaxation. It can also be self‑reward, habit, immersion, completionism, or simply a…

The AI and gaming future isn’t just about smarter NPCs — it’s about who gets to make games, how we play them, and what we value.  I’ve been thinking about AI an immense amount lately, and I’ve been trying to get beyond the headlines. It’s already baked into so much of our lives: work tools, creative stuff, search systems, AI summary bots, even the little day-to-day tasks you used to do without thinking. If it’s going to radically shape the next decade, ignoring it would be a weird kind of denial.  I’m also genuinely interested in it. The philosophical side…

Stepping back from Game Pass wasn’t a dramatic statement — it was me reclaiming intentional play, and dropping the pressure to maximise a subscription.  The breaking point wasn’t one single feature or one rage moment. It was the slow creep. The way the costs stacked. The way the subscription became something I “should” be using, rather than something that supported how I actually like to play.  When the costs start stacking  And then there was the absurd contrast that made it impossible to ignore.  A game I fancied playing — Guardians of the Galaxy — was about £6 used on…

I’ve stopped calling it a backlog, because that word turns a hobby into a quiet little debt. Seeing my games as a library — something to dip into when life’s busy — makes it feel like choice again, not pressure.

AI has been part of education for longer than most people realise — just usually in the background. Search, spellcheck, recommendation systems, even the way learning platforms flag “at risk” students… it’s all been nudging decisions for years. What’s changed recently is that generative AI has pushed itself right to the front. Suddenly, tools like ChatGPT and Copilot can draft, explain, summarise, rephrase, quiz, tutor — and do it in seconds. That’s why the conversation has become so charged. But I don’t think the most useful question is whether AI belongs in education. It’s already here, and most students are…

AI is changing construction through smarter scheduling, automated progress tracking, and faster design iteration — but the biggest shift is how professionals validate, govern, and apply outputs. This article explores current use cases, limitations, emerging skills, and a realistic 5–10 year outlook.