To my colleagues at AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association), thanks for hosting me for the closing keynote at Amplify AMIA May 2026 in Denver, CO. Here is the video of my talk, if you missed it. Do you agree with my definitions of PROFANE, MUNDANE and INSANE? What kind of hyper-change is going on in our lives?
In brief: the Profane: patients using ChatGPT to cross-check physicians in real-time? AI alone is a better diagnostician than human using AI? The technological acceleration is so fast that human adaptation is not keeping up.
The Mundane: a single digit percentage of our physician colleagues use any form of generative AI outside of what is purchased by health systems or clinics (like AI scribe). How are YOU using it? Why are we as informaticists not teaching each other and our colleagues? The world is changing; are we changing with it?
The Insane: examples like the Aussie Tech Bro and his dog illustrate hyperchange and how we must think about productive cognitive friction, the idea of helping me with the sawing, or doing the sawing for me, or helping me stack and sort wood. Are these even the right metaphors?
My lessons: why try to keep up with hyperchange when AI’s are trying to be more like humans? Why are we not taking a lesson from Bowling Alone and trying to be more human, developing more human relationships? This might be the highest achievement of being a human: developing and sustaining human relationships that sustain us.
Watch the vimeo above for more!
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