As AI sweeps the world of software development and beyond, it’s not obvious where all the trends lead, except to say they will probably land somewhere between vested tech optimism and disinvested post-tech visions.

When we look at AI, we something both novel and familiar. AI is a mirror on our past and our present. Without making full and detailed predictions of the future, we can learn from previous software adoptions — from spreadsheets to search engines to social media — to reach a more balanced view of at least some of the trends, sorting real human behaviour from hype.

This is not so much a talk on AI as it is a talk about us and how relate to technology, whether that technology is the novelty of AI or the familiarity of its predecessors.