A Few Innovations Have Truly Changed My Life. Here’s One More.

I’ve lived through some world-altering innovations:

• The first expensive handheld calculators

• The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A 16-bit home computer

• The arrival of the internet, the mobile phone, and eventually, the smartphone

Each changed the course of human history.

Then came Bitcoin—an innovation still misunderstood, yet already shaking financial foundations.

Now, it’s AI.

I use it every day—not blindly, but deliberately. It’s my creative co-pilot, my technical assistant, my productivity enhancer. I shape it, test it, and challenge it. In return, it helps me do things I once thought were out of reach.

For over a year, I dreamed of building my own IT home lab—a sovereign space to experiment, learn, and build without relying on Big Tech. The idea seemed ambitious. I’m not a network engineer. I just had curiosity, some budget, and relentless questions.

So I turned to AI. I described my vision—home network segmentation, PFSense firewall, VLANs, Proxmox virtualization, self-hosted services. The guidance I received was clear, logical, and step-by-step. Within 3 days, I had:

• A fully functioning segmented home network

• pfSense running on a ProtectLI Vault

• A managed 16-port switch with 5 VLANs

• Proxmox up on a Beelink SER7

• Detailed diagrams and documentation for every device and connection

Every error I hit, I fed back to the AI—and it walked me through solutions. The process wasn’t flawless, but it was transformative. I didn’t just build the network—I understood it.

This is what the future looks like.

Not just automation. Not just intelligence. But empowerment.

Don’t ignore these technologies. They’re not just tools. They’re force multipliers. Yes, some jobs will vanish. But many more will be born.

We are living in the most exciting era in human history—and if you lean into it, you’ll be amazed what’s possible.