The Digital Alchemist

A recent deep research on myself resulted in a somewhat surprising expression: whatever Gemini found about me online - as it went through its summarisation and thinking process - the result was one expression: "digital alchemist".

I let it sink in.

Then almost immediately I followed up: what does it mean exactly and are there any potential negative connotations associated with this expression?

Gemini responded:

The expression "digital alchemist" is a contemporary and evocative term that generally carries positive connotations.

The term "digital alchemist" is increasingly used in various fields, particularly those involving creativity, technology, and transformation.

Art and design, specifically digital art comes to mind, on the technology and innovation side digital transformation.

It then summed it up:

In essence, it's used wherever there's a strong emphasis on transformation, innovation, and mastery within a digital context.

Fine, but what does it have to do with me?

15+ years spent exploring a few quite surprising combinations of domains may be the reason: digital libraries, satellite telecommunications, some fun years at Disney, financial research and services, spreadsheet transformation magic mastery and more recently AI powered identity verification. It certainly has some elements of a mix.

A mix in a good sense: resulting in a lot of "starting (almost) from scratch" moments, and a TON of (re)learnings.

Never thought about it like it's alchemy.

Let's move on: where else is this expression used?

I found one of the most interesting and profound mentions here:

Digital Alchemy is the state every enterprise would want to attain, distilling the best out of every asset and technology synergistically to redesign operations and innovate with disruptive forces to digitally transform the enterprise. [source]

It's not just for individuals then, companies also aim to get to this "state" where they are described like that.

So what's in it for you?

This expression is gaining more and more popularity these days as AI advances and most people have digital assistants as partners to tackle the day to day complexity of navigating the digital landscape.

Alchemy may also refer to the magic only humans carry: seeing through the complexities, connecting the dots in unexpected ways and above all else: managing human relationships.

Learn more about it. Use it. Like it or hate it.