A recent encounter with some pesky parasites has got Stephen Holmes thinking that the march of progress can catch the best of us off -guard – but take your eye off AI and you risk damaging your own competitiveness
Head lice. Tiny parasites with six clawed legs that cling to human hair, sticking to an evolutionary pattern that genetic studies suggest began some 1.68 million years before Homo sapiens even walked the earth.
I’m reading these wearisome details on my phone, standing in the bathroom at home, where my wife is combing the head of our child and occasionally declaring in triumph, “Another one!”
It’s as if she wants me to have the head of each and every vanquished louse stuffed and mounted on the wall.
I’ve got past form when it comes to parasites and pests. My various encounters include bed bugs from a Las Vegas hotel, moths from an old carpet, ticks from the dog and rats while living in London, where rats are basically everywhere. So my son’s infestation is a relatively minor one by comparison, but the treatment for it is very different from what I remember from my own childhood.
Those of you who also attended school back in the twentieth century might share the memory of a person referred to as ‘the nit nurse’. I doubt their work required a full medical degree – but the skill involved in grappling with a feral primary-school pupil long enough to drag a close-toothed comb through their unkempt hair shouldn’t be underestimated. (I suspect they got bonus points for removing a good chunk of hair along with every louse captured.)
Pupils found guilty of harbouring lice were sent home with a shampoo that may well have been derived from unsold batches of napalm, along with a plastic comb, so that their own parents could continue the task of painfully scraping at their scalps.
But times change and the kit you need to tackle head lice has moved on, too, much to my delight. Combs are far more efficient; for my money, the best in the business is the Nitty Gritty. Each of its 33 teeth has a spiral groove along its length, like a tiny drill bit. Lice and their eggs get caught in this groove and are quickly dispatched.
Anti-lice shampoo has improved too – and that’s just as well because, having built up a resistance to poison over time, they must now be suffocated instead. The upside is that the chemical warfare stench is a thing of the past, at least in this particular arena of combat.
Big leaps forward
The recent scene in my bathroom prompted me to consider that all tools and processes eventually move on. Hopefully, they evolve and improve. And the more attention we pay to reassessing them, the more surprised we are at the seemingly inexhaustible march of progress.
People often look at what’s new and decide it’s not for them at this particular time, for their own particular reasons. Fair enough. But when they do get around to checking back in with a technology several weeks, months or years down the line, they’re likely to find that a technology has become dramatically more accessible, more affordable, less complex, or just a better fit for work they need to get done.
With AI, the rule seems to be that big, big changes are far more noticeable, especially when they arrive at a faster rate and over a shorter period
If they don’t take the time to reassess regularly, then these improvements simply pass them by, often until it’s way too late to catch up. To my mind, this rule seems to apply to AI, too – but big, big changes are much more noticeable, especially when they arrive at a faster rate and over a shorter period.
This time last year, DEVELOPD3D presented readers with a list of exciting new AI tools for design and engineering workflows – and, sure enough, the majority of the companies featured and the products they offer have advanced substantially since then.
Take, for example, Depix. Despite being fed a steady trickle of Depix renders and demos via social media, I had absolutely no idea of the intelligence and judgement of which this tool is now capable until I sat down with the company’s CEO for this issue of DEVELOP3D.
In my head, AI renders still meant six-fingered hands, nonsensical text, iffy lighting and poor levels of user control. Some AI renders are still like that, to be fair – but not at Depix. In fact, the pace of development there in just a couple of months has been shockingly fast.
So go and take a second look at that newer technology or toolset. You may be amazed at what you find. Either way, your competitors are probably weighing them up, too – and the risk here is that their willingness to consider more modern approaches could accelerate their workflows and leave yours in the dust.
While I’m on the subject, the march of progress is a very good reason to attend DEVELOP3D LIVE. Our annual event offers attendees the opportunity to see firsthand what’s available now and also catch a glimpse of what’s coming down the line. It’s a chance to ask the questions that have been bugging you about a particular technology or toolset and to speak to your peers about their own experiences.
When change comes thick and fast, it’s tempting to keep your head down. But for those of you willing to stick your head above the parapet, please do make sure that it’s lice-free first.
This article first appeared in DEVELOP3D Magazine
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