By Scott Wilson
We are living through one of the most significant technological revolutions in human history. Artificial Intelligence is changing how we work, learn, communicate, and make decisions. AI can analyze millions of data points in seconds, draft business strategies, predict outcomes, and automate tasks that once required teams of people.
Yet the more time I spend around AI, the more convinced I become that the most important things in life remain stubbornly and beautifully……human.
This world thought was reinforced today through three seemingly unrelated moments.
The first was at a college baseball recruiting event.
Dozens of young athletes stood on a field under a summer sky, surrounded by coaches, scouts, parents, and trainers. Every player hoping to be noticed. Every coach was evaluating talent. Metrics…..well they were everywhere…..exit velocity, pitching speed, launch angle, sprint times, ball rotations. Technology can measure almost everything about a player’s performance today.
But standing there, what struck me wasn’t the dat…..it was the conversations.
A coach pulling aside a player to offer encouragement. A father watching from a distance with quiet pride. Nervous moms watching their boys on a field of dreams.
Potential future teammates, or competitors, laughing together between drills.
Relationships being built alongside resumes.
Trust being formed long before scholarship offers would ever be made.
The future of those young men’s careers may involve analytics, AI-powered scouting reports, and performance algorithms. Yet their opportunities will ultimately emerge through human connection…..someone believing in them, mentoring them, advocating for them, and investing in their future.
AI can identify talent.
People develop it.
Later in the day, I noticed something much smaller.
A baby bunny sat quietly in the grass.
No bigger than the palm of my hand….days old, it appeared almost frozen, relying on instinct and stillness for protection. It would have been easy to walk right past it without noticing…..I watched as over a dozen folks did just that….three I had to stop from stepping on him (or her).
In a world filled with screens, notifications, and endless streams of information, moments like this have become surprisingly rare. We are constantly being directed toward what is urgent rather than what is meaningful.
AI excels at helping us find answers.
But it cannot teach us…..wonder.
Wonder happens when we pause long enough to notice something we weren’t looking for.
A sunset.
A child’s laugh.
A song that transports us back twenty years.
Or a tiny rabbit hidden in the grass.
Technology can help us process the world. It cannot replace our experience of it.
Then I found the nest….two feet away.
Tucked carefully into the ground was a small den lined with fur and grass. Inside were at least three more baby rabbits, nestled together in complete dependence upon something larger than themselves.
The scene was simple.
Yet it felt profound.
No algorithm designed that nest.
No machine instructed the mother rabbit how to care for her young.
No data model orchestrated the delicate balance of life unfolding beneath the grass.
There was an order there.
A design.
A beauty.
Something deeper than code…..or AI.
As business leaders, we often talk about AI in terms of productivity, efficiency, and competitive advantage. Those things matter. Companies that ignore innovation will eventually find themselves at a disadvantage….just ask Blockbuster.
But perhaps the greater question is not what AI can do.
Perhaps the greater question is what AI should never, and cannot, replace.
It should never replace mentorship.
It should never replace friendship.
It should never replace faith.
It should never replace the conversations between a coach and an athlete, a father and a son, a mother and a daughter, a husband and a wife, or a grandparent and a grandchild.
It should never replace our ability to notice the small miracles surrounding us every day.
The irony of AI…..as machines become more capable, the uniquely human qualities become more valuable.
Empathy.
Character.
Wisdom.
Curiosity.
Love.
Forgiveness.
These are not bugs waiting to be optimized…..instead they are the very things that make us human.
The future will undoubtedly contain more AI than we can currently imagine.
But standing at a baseball field, watching relationships form.
Kneeling in the grass beside a tiny rabbit.
Looking into a nest filled with new life.
I was reminded that technology, no matter how powerful, remains a tool.
The real story has always been about people.
About connection.
About purpose.
And about the quiet reminders all around us that there is something greater at work than the technology we create.
AI may help us understand the world.
But relationships, and the small wonders that surround us, help us understand why the world matters in the first place.
Wonder is solely human. Wonder drives innovation.
Wonder.
“Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name” - Rich Mullins, Calling Out Your Name
