Intelligence at a Turning Point — A Santa Clarita Perspective
Intelligence at a Turning Point — A Santa Clarita Perspective
By Connor MacIvor — “Connor with Honor”
We are talking about intelligence. Not a new app, not a trend, but something our species has never built before: a system that thinks, learns, and—if allowed—evolves on its own terms. That’s the subject of the short talk this post is based on, and it’s the reason I started SantaClaritaArtificialIntelligence.com and the community at SantaClaritaAI.com: to give our neighborhood a place to learn, argue, plan, and prepare together.
Below I expand on what I said in the recording: why this moment matters, what the practical risks and opportunities look like for families and workers here in the Santa Clarita Valley, and some concrete steps we can take now to stay centered and useful as the systems we’ve created get faster and more capable.
1) We’ve never done this before — so admit uncertainty, then act
Humanity has handled inventions before—fire, electricity, the printing press, nuclear energy. Each one changed how we live. But the difference with AI is scale and agency. These systems can now learn, reconfigure, and in some cases set goals. When people confidently predict the exact outcome, they are guessing—and guesses that matter most are those from the engineers and corporate leaders who hold the levers today. That’s why uncertainty must be our starting point: honest about what we do and do not know, and aggressive about preparing for multiple futures.
Actionable idea: treat uncertainty like a planning variable. For your family, business, or workplace, run two short checklists: (A) What would be different if AI made some jobs cheaper and faster? (B) What would be different if AI improved productivity but concentrated profits? Plan for both.
2) The economic picture: efficiency can be good — until buying power disappears
One clear, near-term effect is efficiency. Companies will use AI to replace repetitive tasks, lower costs, and scale services at near-zero marginal cost. That’s great if savings get passed to consumers and if people still have incomes to buy services. But if whole sectors lose payroll without new income sources replacing it, demand drops—and cheap goods don’t mean much if there’s no money to spend.
Local lens: watch retail, call centers, basic administrative roles, and some service platforms—these are likely first to change. For real people in Santa Clarita, that could mean fewer entry-level jobs in certain firms months to a few years from now.
Actionable idea: prioritize skills and revenue streams that are harder to fully automate—relationship-based sales (real estate advice with human empathy), high-trust local services, trades, and roles combining judgment, licensing, and people skills. If you run a small business, start cross-training employees into higher-value roles now.
3) Children, apps, and dopamine: parenting in the age of thoughtful feeds
A line I keep repeating: handing a device to a child to “keep them quiet” is handing them an experience curated to keep attention. Most social and entertainment apps are already optimized by AI to deliver exactly what each user will keep watching, clicking, and craving. For kids, that equals an early education in being captured by engagement-first systems. The consequence? Less focus, less outdoor play, fewer chances to build self-regulation—and that matters.
Practical parenting tips:
Limit unavoidable screen time to clearly defined windows and apps that are curated by a parent (not algorithms).
Keep shared family time tech-free—meals, walks, homework help.
Teach kids an “attention budget”: explain how apps are designed to pull focus and let them track their own usage for a week.
Favor apps that are explicitly educational and transparent about content creation (ask: where does the content come from?).
4) The mental-health and addiction parallel — treat persuasive tech like addictive substances
From my own past battles with food, alcohol, and impulse behavior, I know how easy it is to get pulled into patterns that destroy well-being. AI-driven systems are built to keep us engaged—endless dopamine hits coded into recommendation loops. If you know you’re vulnerable, treat digital platforms like substances: set boundaries, find accountability, and don’t be ashamed to step away.
If you’re a parent: model self-control. If you’re an employer: design break policies that protect attention and productivity. If you’re an individual struggling with time-on-device, try a 14-day reduction challenge: halve passive scrolling and replace it with one habit that strengthens rather than drains you.
5) The moral question: will AI “attend to the greater good”?
The best-case future is the one people often imagine: abundance, fewer drudgery jobs, more time for creativity and community. The toxic alternative is one where wealth and power concentrate, people are unemployed at scale, and persuasive systems amplify division and passivity.
How we tilt toward the best-case future depends on decisions we collectively make now—regulation, corporate responsibility, and community-level organizing. Large tech companies can choose to prioritize public value. Governments can choose to tax automation gains and redistribute. Communities can choose to create local programs that reskill and support.
Local step: advocate for transparency and worker transition programs. Build local forums—like SantaClaritaAI.com—to demand clear data on automation impacts from local employers and training programs.
6) Faith, grounding, and the human compass
Whether your grounding is religious faith, philosophy, family, or a personal mission, you’ll need it. The recording I made talks about how having a center helped me stay resilient during low points. AI will be a gale-force wind: it pulls, distracts, and reshapes what we value. If you don’t have a personal anchor, now is a great time to write one down—your principles, a short creed, or a “values resume” you can return to when you feel tossed.
Practical exercise: write a one-page statement of values you can read every morning. Include three “non-negotiables” that AI cannot change: how you treat people, what you won’t do for money, and what success means to you.
7) Community power: small networks matter, and organizing works
No single person will rewrite the course of AI. Organizational power does. That’s why local efforts matter. If we band together—parents, teachers, small business owners, first responders, and civic leaders—we have more leverage. We can insist on human-in-the-loop practices, advocate for safeguards, and design local safety nets.
If you’re in Santa Clarita: join SantaClaritaAI.com. Bring questions. Ask for local meetups. Push for school board discussions on AI in classrooms, and for small-business seminars on AI adoption that keep human workers in the loop.
8) Practical checklist for the next 90 days (for families, workers, and small businesses)
Families
Audit screen time and app permissions for every child device.
Start two “no-screen” family rituals (meals and one weekly activity).
Teach children about persuasive design—simple age-appropriate explanations.
Workers & Job Seekers
List tasks you do daily. Which are automatable? Which require judgment/emotion?
Start learning one complementary skill this quarter (customer empathy, systems thinking, trades, sales negotiation).
Network locally—higher-trust referrals will count more.
Small Businesses & Managers
Map out processes that could be automated responsibly (customer replies, scheduling).
Pilot automation in a way that lifts employees into higher-value roles rather than replacing them outright.
Communicate openly with staff about automation plans and retraining options.
Community Leaders & Educators
Host a public town-hall on AI impacts.
Create short, local-resourced training for displaced workers.
Advocate for transparency from big employers deploying automation.
9) Hope is not naive — it’s preparation + courage
The recording ends with a tone I want to keep: curious, cautious, but not paralyzed. Yes, the future can be dangerous, but it can also be magnificent. AI can free people from drudgery and allow more time for creativity, care, and community—if we design incentives, protections, and cultural norms to make that happen.
So be curious. Learn. Ground yourself. Join with others. And don’t let the fear-mongerers or the techno-utopians rob you of action. Action builds leverage; leverage builds outcomes.
10) Where to go next
If you want to keep the conversation local and practical, come join our community: SantaClaritaAI.com. For ongoing posts, resources, and local events, check SantaClaritaArtificialIntelligence.com. I post regularly with practical tips, local framing, and starter plans so people in the Santa Clarita Valley can get ahead of the issues and shape a humane, prosperous future.
I’m Connor MacIvor—Connor with Honor. If you found this useful, share it with someone in the Valley who cares about what the next few months and years will bring. Let’s stay ready, not scared.
— Connor
