Back in 1991, George HW Bush was hugely popular — like 90% approval rating popular.

But in 1992, that changed dramatically, shifting to a 64% disapproval just months before the presidential election. The economy had a lot to do with it.

That shift was even worse because it was an election year, and he was running against a charismatic young Democrat named Bill Clinton.

So in order to keep Clinton (a relative newcomer to national politics) on track during the campaign, his strategist James Carville wrote 3 sentences on a poster.

One of them was The economy, stupid.

Assuming today’s politicians are anything like those of 30+ years ago, it’s easy to want to react to every opinion that comes across your desk. It’s easy to get distracted, which is why Carville picked only 3 topics Clinton should focus on.

Almost as divisive as US politics are opinions about AI and its use. They range from “it will save the world” to “everyone will be jobless this time next year.”

But being at Jay Clouse’s Lab Offline event, followed immediately by Craft + Commerce, solidified for me our greatest strength in the face of AI.

The humanity, stupid.

In-person events showed me something

I’ve been hitting on this point hard, and it was a common theme amongst the talks at Craft + Commerce this year too.

But more powerful than anything said on stage were the actions of me and my fellow attendees.

As my high school motto goes, Non Vox, Sed Votum — “Not words, but deeds.”

And my friends, what we experienced was fantastic human connection. Many of us knew each other from the Circle community at The Lab Offline. But seeing each other in-person forged stronger connections and fostered better, deeper conversations.

That continued through Craft + Commerce. There’s nothing like sitting down with people and having a drink, a meal, or just a good conversation.

You show parts of yourself that you likely would not online.

The connections are deeper. And you have to be yourself.

There’s no asking ChatGPT what to say when you’re in real life.

Something that AI will not replace — because it can never replace it — is our desire for human connection. We progressed because of it, we continue to evolve because of it.

How this helps us

So what do we do? We continue to get better at our craft. Hone our skills, and use AI tools to enhance, not replace us.

And then use the extra time to build relationships with people. Go to more events and connect with folks in the real world. Tell stories and work side by side with people.

Teach them on a more personal level than just regurgitating information; the people who do that will be out of a job soon.

But the people who actually show humanity? Who can connect with others?

That’s a skill AI cannot take from us.