From Game Boys to GPTs: Riding the Greatest Tech Wave Ever

Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s felt like living on the edge of a digital frontier. I remember the first time I held a Game Boy in my hands—like holding a book, grey, and gloriously pixelated. Tetris never looked so good. Then came the Super Nintendo with its magical purple buttons, delivering Donkey Kong Country and Zelda in vibrant color. PlayStation blew our minds with discs instead of cartridges and the first truly cinematic games. Xbox followed with Halo and LAN parties that redefined "multiplayer."

We weren’t just playing games—we were watching the world shift beneath our feet.

We went from flip phones with snake to the first iPhone, a glass slab that somehow packed the internet, our music libraries, and a camera all into one device. Our generation didn’t read about revolutions in textbooks—we lived through them in real time.

Now, fast forward to today. I’m working in AI and emerging technologies, and the feeling is familiar. That same energy. That same sense of, “Wait... we can do that?” Watching tools like ChatGPT and Lovable go from novelties to industry-changing powerhouses feels a lot like the moment Mario first jumped in 3D or when YouTube suddenly made us all broadcasters. It’s not just a new tool—it’s a whole new way of being.

The shift we’re living through now is arguably bigger than anything before. AI isn't just about efficiency or automation—it’s becoming a partner in how we think, create, and solve problems. It’s helping entrepreneurs move faster, artists dream bigger, and researchers push further. Every day, something drops that makes you rethink what’s possible.

Sometimes I wonder if younger generations will realize how wild it was to go from blowing into NES cartridges to talking with an AI that can write essays, code apps, or compose music. We rode the whole wave. We didn’t just adapt—we evolved with it.

There’s something uniquely lucky about being born at a time when floppy disks, CDs, USB drives, and the cloud all had their moment. We got to experience dial-up and fiber. AOL Instant Messenger and iMessage. We were there for the beep-boop of dial-up, and now we’re watching AI draft legal contracts in milliseconds.

Being part of the generation that played 8-bit games after school and now experiments with machine learning models before dinner? That’s a privilege. And it’s not over.

If the past few decades taught us anything, it’s that the best stuff is always just around the corner. I’m here for it. And if you are too—buckle up. We’ve still got plenty of wave left to ride.