Long, long ago I was hitchhiking from Rochester, Vermont.
I was searching for a miracle that did not appear.
Well, worse yet, a miracle may have appeared and I was oblivious to it.
Did I "Reject" My Dreamgirl?
I was in absolutely wretched condition.
If the most skilled Hollywood special effects people were offered tens of millions of dollars with the caveat that they assemble a more gruesome looking human, they would be well advised to decline that assignment.
Despite that, a very nice woman in a white Japanese car picked me up.
Neither the fact that the car was a Japanese brand, nor the fact that it was white are important to the story.
Those are merely details with which to emphasize that it was a real event.
The woman offered to let me stay with her.
Sadly for me, I declined.
She drove me the roughly 25 miles to my destination.
I do not know whether she had grown up anywhere near that general area, or she had grown up somewhere far away.
If she had been familiar with, for example Texas, it would have been extremely valuable if she had said something such as:
"You should consider moving to Texas. You do not know any in Texas. You do not know anyone in New England. However, the difference is that the cost of living is much lower in Texas."
I very much remember the make and model of the vehicle, but there is no point in listing it on this page.
I also remember 2 other things that she said:
She mentioned that something was "nirvana".
I do not remember what that something was, but I remember being pretty pleased with myself for figuring out from context what "nirvana" meant.
That was the first time that I ever heard the word nirvana, and I do not recall having heard the word again until the band by that name became famous.
She mentioned that her employer had just had an IPO.
Years later, speaking with a different woman who was a friend reminded my of the above statement regarding the IPO.
She would make a point to work into conversations references to a friend of hers that attended the University of Pennsylvannia.
The message was unambiguously that because I did not come from an upperclass family background, it would be impossible for her and I to be anything more than platonic friends.
With just a few years more of life experience, a plausible interpretation of Japanese car lady's statement could have been:
"If you are too numb and/or nearsighted to appreciate that an attractive unfamiliar woman gave you a ride, I am about to have money too."
If this website becomes popular enough, maybe she will read this dedication, and if she reads this dedication, maybe she will remember me.
I hope that she had an absolutely magnificent life in the years since that day.
Beautiful angel in the white Japanese car, this website is dedicated to you.
Current Day
In my current day circle of acquaintances, there is a group of elderly women.
At any given moment, their conversation will revolve around one of the following three topics:
How their nieces will all be marrying wealthy men.
How their nephews will be accepted into the very most prestigious universities.
Whatever topic has been prominent in the news.
If I ask to be excused from the conversation because speculating on the ability of their nieces to find wealthy husbands is outside my ability to speculate on:
The elderly women accuse me of being not merely antisocial but rather outright rude.
If I try to explain to the elderly women that their understanding of college admissions and their understanding of current news are both deeply flawed:
The elderly women accuse me of being not merely antisocial but rather outright rude.
A.I.
For the last few years, artificial intelligence has been all over the news.
In the event that one of the nieces of the women in the group above should fail to find a wealthy husband, the elderly women have a backup plan.
The backup plan is for that niece to get a job in artificial intelligence.
Regardless of how clearly I try to explain it to them, they adamantly refuse to listen to me when
I try to explain what "AI" means in the labor market.
For a very, very small number of people artificial intelligence means jobs with high compensation.
For a far, far greater number of employees, when CEO's say they are cutting jobs to focus on "A.I.", they mean "Affordable India".
I would gladly cite whichever source first referred to "A.I." as "Affordable India", but referring to "A.I." as "Affordable India" is like referring to Klaus Schwab as a Bond villain.
It is so intuitive that even if whomever was first had not made the reference, someone else would have anyway.
In contrast to the group of elderly acquaintances, the woman who picked me up while I was hitchhiking would have the background to understand that for the overwhelming number of U.S. workers, A.I. is about exchanging one set of workers for another.