February 2026 Newsletter

Being an Ostrich Only Works for So Long

Sooner or later, you have to stick your head out of the sand.

We as humans are very much wired for the here and now. Our evolution dictates that we concentrate on the task at hand. Driving a spear into a buffalo while on horseback took all the concentration that could be mustered. The consequence was survival versus starvation.

Change is painful, and as a rule most of us don’t like it. Technology’s ever-changing landscape has forced many of us to adapt to it or go backward on the economic scale. Like many of my generation, I would have been perfectly happy never to have had to learn a computer program in order to complete tasks. I had no choice, so I had to take ole lame brain out of mothballs and learn Word and, at the time, Lotus 1-2-3. Spreadsheets were the killer app—meaning they provided so much efficiency and convenience that you had to learn and adapt or go backward.

Humanity is on the precipice of historic change on a level bigger than the Industrial Revolution. Because of the speed and potential exponential change AI will bring, it’s just hard to wrap your brain around it. It is especially hard given our tendency to favor the here and now.

AI will force us to adapt or be left behind.

Anyone reading this needs to know that change is already happening. The job market—especially for computer programmers and white-collar workers—is getting turned upside down. Where it all lands eventually is anyone’s guess. But it is starting to happen.

Largely because of AI compute spend and buildout, the GDP of the U.S. last quarter is predicted to break 5%. Many prognosticators are forecasting GDP levels that could rival what happened during WWII, when growth exceeded 10% for several years.

We Will Have Robots

Robots will no longer be a circus sideshow. Within 2 years, humanoid robots will perform meaningful work in many factories. Visual learning will make robots far more adaptable and allow them to learn tasks much faster than many of us can accept and comprehend. Once we see it, touch it, and feel it, we will have to accept it—and it’s coming much faster than we think. At this point, useful robots in high numbers are only a matter of industrial scale and supply chain. Given this, we are maybe 2 to 3 years at most from wide adoption.

It’s time to get our heads out of the sand.

Self-driving cars, by many metrics, are already safer than human drivers. Yes, self-driving is basically solved. Regulations, laws, and equipment availability and affordability are the only things holding it back. We will not want to buy a car without it in the near future, much like safety features like airbags drove our purchasing decisions in the mid-90s.

We Have Free Will

We can refuse to accept this tsunami of change that is coming. Hiking into the woods and living off the land sounds great—until you get real hungry real quick. Many of us will adapt and accept this change, dragging and screaming, much like I do when I can’t remember a password from a place I haven’t logged into for over a year but have to now. You get an account reminder pop-up and it refuses access any other way.

The one thing that gives me pause in all this is the old saying: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” As humans we like to be busy—creating, living, loving. My wish is that we can use AI but keep the good stuff—you know, the stuff that makes us human.

Thanks, Andy McClung CFP™

Sources: Nextbigfuture.com; Jason Wong