A Grandpa’s Survival Guide, in a World Splitting in Two
I am standing in the kitchen, staring at a remote-controlled foam fighter jet like it’s a NASA launch vehicle.
There’s a controller. Buttons. Lights. But absolutely no instructions on how to make the thing lift off.
I push one button—nothing. I push another, and the jet just stares back at me like a defiant child. Meanwhile, the dog senses impending disaster and bolts for cover.
I admit defeat and leave it on the counter.
Later, my nine-year-old granddaughter walks in, grabs the controller, strolls outside, powers it up, and sends that foam jet screaming into the sky like she just enlisted in the Air Force.
It soared so high it lost connection and crash-landed on the roof.
Two mornings later, a gust of wind blows it back down, and my wife brings it back into the kitchen. I try the buttons again because, honestly, I want to feel as smart as a third-grader. But history repeats itself, and nothing happens.
Meanwhile, the one who knows the mystery of this confusing apparatus is off at school learning how to color between lines.
So, I returned to my office, a bit deflated, and (to no surprise) the news didn’t DO ANYTHING to help me regain my footing.
Three headlines popped in my newsfeed that completely shattered whatever confidence I had left in my technical skills.
1. Startups like Skild AI are racing to build a universal robot brain, software that could one day let any robot learn new tasks on the fly. Your Roomba, for instance, might also mow the lawn and wash dishes if it ever grows arms and legs.
2. A 15-year-old Belgian boy named Laurent Simons just earned a real PhD in quantum physics from the University of Antwerp.
But get this. His dissertation was on Bose polarons in superfluids and supersolids. I can barely say the words, let alone understand them.
Now he’s starting a second PhD in medical science, aiming to use AI to extend human lifespan and create “superhumans.” When I was fifteen, my greatest scientific feat was parallel parking without checking the curb for trash cans.
3. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is now personally investing in brain implants that promise to link human thoughts directly to computers—noninvasively. (No drilling through the skull required. One day, you might just think, “turn on the lights,” and the house obeys. Great—unless Siri still hears “lights” as “lice” and your brain accidentally calls pest control.
While the future arrives at warp speed, I’m the guy whose biggest tech challenge is getting AirDrop to send a photo to my computer.
And that’s when it hit me: We’re no longer living in one civilization. We’re living in two.
Civilization A: The Rest of Us
We still call tech support “the computer guy.” We pray over printers. We accidentally leave Bluetooth on and wonder why our phone is connecting to the neighbor’s toaster. We pound the side of the TV like it’s 1985, and that might improve reception.
Civilization B: The Tech Ascendants
Billionaire engineers, teenage quantum PhDs, and venture capitalists racing to build superintelligent robots, merge human brains with AI, defeat aging, and redesign the species.
They speak in acronyms I can’t pronounce and raise billions before breakfast.
These two worlds barely acknowledge each other.
And here is the quiet danger. When technology advances faster than ordinary people can understand or absorb, confusion fills the gap. And that is exactly why the Patriot Majority Report has become so vital.
While we might struggle with foam jets in our backyards, our team at the Christian Action Network is standing as your watchman on the wall.
We know that most of ‘Civilization A’ is too busy living real lives to track every algorithm update or brain-implant patent.
That is why we keep our eyes focused on what matters most: how these AI advancements are fulfilling the very prophecies we were warned about.
We don’t trust the wizards behind the curtain.
That gap—that confusion—is where power concentrates. And, as Jesus warned in Matthew 24:24, deception will become so sophisticated that “if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.”
I always pictured that deception as false prophets or slick politicians. I never imagined it might look like a fifteen-year-old planning superhuman upgrades while grandpas battle to get a toy foam jet to lift off.
So what do we do?
We do exactly what the Foam Fighter Jet Incident taught me:
· Keep our feet planted firmly on the ground (or the roof, if necessary).
· Hold fast to faith and truth that don’t depend on software updates.
· Laugh at the absurdity—because humor keeps us human.
· Stay vigilant without losing hope.
Because gravity still works. Winds still blow. And one day, no matter how high the hype flies—universal robot brains, superhuman upgrades, thought-controlled everything—reality will come back to earth.
And we know exactly who brings everything back down to earth.
Until then, I’ll be the guy in the yard, grateful for grandchildren who can fly foam jets, and choosing the civilization where the human soul still matters most.
And Christian Action Network will be God’s Watchman, so you can focus on the better things of life, like having a good laugh when a nine-year-old can lift both a foam plane and your spirits at the same time.
Martin Mawyer
Photo: martinmawyer.substack.com
To read more articles by Martin Mawyer, click here.
Read More About: Science & Tech | AI News
Editor’s Note
This article had a three-pronged powerful effect on me: firstly, it made me laugh out loud. Secondly, it reminded me of how fearful rapid technological changes are happening in our world. Lastly, As Martin indicated, it reminded me that, while AI and robots may be the greatest work or creation of mankind, the soul of man is the greatest work of God. To Wit:
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” (Psalm 8:4-6)
Michael Bresciani, editor of NewAmericanProphet.org
