Can AI Do That? ...maybe
In the educational technology timeline, the end of February 2026 will be remembered as the debut a new product named for a famous theoretical physicist. It will also be remembered for the week a large number of educators and edtech support personnel lost their collective minds.
Instead of joining in the middle school cafeteria food fight online about artificial intelligence and agentic AI browsers, and their impact on Canvas, I am drawn to a story famously shared by Alan Watts, a mid-20th century “philosophic entertainer” about a Chinese farmer:
Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.” The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”
The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.” The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”
The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad — because you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune.
— Alan Watts
In addition, I often repeat this statement when faced with life situations that give me elevated states of anxiety and stress:
Christopher, there is more to the situation than you are aware of. Lift up and out of it to get a better perspective.
— My inner narrative
My hope for you, my fabulous and dazzling Canvas Insider, is that you will consider the possibility that a new product might not result in a career that is flushed down the toilet. A calling that is all for naught. A job that is unceremoniously terminated. My hope for you is that the overwhelm incurred from concern for events that have not yet happened might actually result in change that will ultimately benefit you and others.
Thanks for your time,
Chris
PS and by the way - I don’t use AI to generate my written words. This is my own original blabbering.