Decker,
my Dad, your Grandpa, wanted me to be a lawyer. In subtle ways it was communicated to me. I felt like it was engrained in me from a young age. Maybe, when I was young I went through a “I want to be just like my Daddy” phase and that was the start. Maybe he seized hold of that and sunk his teeth in. Maybe I’m just imagining the whole thing and I was never actually steered into law. Maybe I took myself here without an ounce of prodding. Maybe. I don’t think so, but maybe.
Whatever the case may be, I said I’d never push my kids into anything, if let them find their way completely independently. And, in the end, I only want you to be happy, as my Dad wanted for me. Whatever you do, I hope you will be happy. I hope you will contribute positively to your own life, the lives of those closest to you, and the lives of those you come in contact with. I want only that for you and your baby brother growing inside your mom.
All that said, I can’t help myself. I have to give you career advice – to tell you what to do. Learn to make a machine do what you want it to do. Learn to program. humans and machines are literally in the process of merging into one. It’s absolutely nuts! Machines are all around us in big and small ways. Knowing how to make them work will probably never leave you hungry. Probably. Of course, it’s possible that machines will tell themselves what to do.
Chances are, in your lifetime, coding machines will be a crucial skill.
Another crucial skill will be learning how to break away from the machine. The machine that’s becoming one with you should not own your soul. Know the feeling of breathing real, cold air on a snowy, piney morning in Colorado. Hold a newborn baby, completely helpless in your arms. Listen to soul lifting music. Look out the window at 37,000 feet and realize how small you are. Let the machine help you, but don’t let it convince you that it is the key to loving the world. Only you can do that directly.
i love you. so so so much.
Dad
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