At a time when AI is making such progress, many ask me (a la Bob Geldof) “Is that it?” and (pitching the real concern) “Am I redundant?”

No. And No (maybe).

Another Dublin Zurich connection sparked this reflection – but more about that in a moment.

But first, spare a thought for the humble bean counters (that’s all of us, by the way – and more recently (and perjoratively) we accountants).

So far as we can establish, no other species on the planet has figured how to conceptualise numbers. Yes, some species demonstrate an awareness of greater or lesser quantity, but none can demonstrate an appreciation of the the edifice of numbers we humans have constructed. Consider the progression in thinking:

From a collection of tally marks to a symbol indicating a specific quantity – think “6”

To including the concept of Zero (a huge jump)

To figuring ‘positional placement’ – 24 means 2 tens and 4 units etc (remember that stuff all those years ago?)

To Negative numbers

To Complex Numbers (a + ib, where i is the square root of -1 – I know, what figment was that??)

To Quaternions . . . . Qua-wha’?

Well, another figment of the imagination – conjured up along the banks of the Royal Canal in the mid 1840s (by Sir William Rowan Hamilton, who, later, spent much time in the University of Zurich – ah, so that’s the connection?)

Here’s the heavy bit: a quaternion is used to represent points in 3D space , using the form a + bi + cj + dk, where i squared plus j squared plus I squared = -1

Who cares?

Actually, you do (over 175 years later!)

Because this type of number system is used in computerised graphics, robotics, animation, aviation, molecular research (think COVID vaccine), virtual reality, gaming, medical research, navigation – the list goes on . . . thank you Sir William!

Oh – and another numbers figment (matrix mathematics) is key to machine learning ( a branch of AI)

Would an AI ever have come up with any of this? Hard to know. But in the meantime, we need to keep generating our personal figments of imagination. Who knows what each one of use can contribute in our chosen field?

In the meantime (to answer the original question) one thing is for sure – those making effective use of AI WILL take the jobs of those who ignore it.