News, speculations, resignations, and layoffs. Obviously, AI stepped out of our video games, books, and movies to flood our daily lives, our expectations, and our fears. Once again, the latest headlines feel more alarming than usual: another researcher resigning from Anthropic while predicting a fatalistic “end of mankind” within the next decade. Beyond alarming me (something I have felt for a while now) this is a clear call to take categorical action: almost insurgent, but NOT destructive, when it comes to the entertainment we keep at home.

Fig 12. Lego: tangible building blocks of an identity of my dreams and admiration.

The Importance of the “entertainment identity”

If a collapse of the digital world as we know it ever happens, AI taking control of core systems, widespread hacks, crumbling infrastructure, or banking, legal, and medical records wiped clean, entertainment certainly won’t be the top priority for corporations. Yet, it remains our bastion in the sanctuary of our home, giving us what we need to step outside and face whatever reality throws at us.

Because of that, I am seriously thinking about hunting down physical records (or at least owning local, offline MP3 files) of the music I like, well, that WE like; I can’t just think of myself, since my wife is and will always be part of my plans. Looking for DVDs, Blu-rays, an external disc burner… etc. I don’t have every detail figured out yet, but the goal is simple: preserving our identity. We are already watching songs get re-recorded, scenes quietly cut from films, episodes disappearing from streaming platforms, and digital video games vanishing overnight. Everything we chose as part of who we are, a direct reflection of our personal taste, ends up modified or “optimized” by someone else who is definitely not US.

Fig 13. A bookstore, its value speaks for itself in times like these.

Don’t Feed the Fear; Feed Prevention With Hope

A while ago, I was thinking about something I called “The Advance Project,” looking to pick up a Game Boy Advance. Then I decided to buy the Nintendo Switch 2, and damn, I don’t regret it at all! It truly renewed my love for video games. Because of that, tracking down physical copies, maybe a Nintendo 3DS, and other portable conosoles makes even more sense today. Naturally, building a library of physical media, dedicated players, and printed books (at least we have some of those) takes a real budget. Let’s be honest: right now I am without a job, so… hopefully I will sort that out soon. That remains the immediate priority.

Speaking of money: this fragile balance in the tech sector and economy feels more threatening by the day. To be completely honest, I even considered selling my dream car (if you follow my photo galleries, you probably know which one it is) just to secure the roof over our heads and safeguard that “other dream” I share every day with my wife: building and paying off our own home. There is plenty of uncertainty and fear, but also a genuine drive to resolve it and protect our hopes, the exact things that push us to wake up every morning and build the best life we can.

Take Action

As I told my wife: We need to do something; though Im NOT looking to live in a bunker stocked with weapons and canned rations. But we do need deliberate habits to protect what makes us uniquely human, peculiar, and genuinely quirky. We have already taken a few small steps: we keep physical photo albums with 35mm and Polaroid prints, tangible memories that don’t depend on 1’s and 0’s (the very code I use to work, get paid, and make a living). We keep a modest shelf of books that we intend to grow, safe from digital revisions and silent edits where specific nuances get lost. My point, as always, IS NOT “burn down the datacenters”, “smash your smartphone” or any kind of chaotic, anti-system stunt.

The real point is to act consistently with your identity and hold on to the quirks that make us who we are. Step back from the radioactive storm: AI Slop, the catastrophic AI doom, and the superficial feeds from influencers designed to dilute genuine human expression. Build an Identity Bastion that stands firm: This is ME, this is US (by all means, make use of digital tools, but aim for media that you truly OWN), staying independent from a standardized, optimized, pre-filtered “normality.”