Daily(ish)

Part 1: My friend, Dave Rupert, wrote a short story back in 2018 called The Mammoth. I’ve long thought it would make a great audio play of some sort. And so I figured as a first attempt, I’d do a reading of it on my podcast for you. This is part 1.

Links Mentioned in This Episode:
Topics:
00:00 Intro
00:13 Why Read The Mammoth
00:42 Foggy Morning Job Site
01:31 Rehab Corp and Auto Cab Boom
02:34 Life After Car Ownership
03:20 Before the Singularity
03:43 From Foreman to Herder
04:42 Meet the Walkers
05:53 Humans at Work Program
06:36 Part One Wrap Up

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Creators and Guests

Host
Chris
I edit podcasts so you don't have to. I live in Saskatchewan so you don't have to?

What is Daily(ish)?

Challenging myself to record a podcast episode a day for my 50th year on this planet.

Hello and welcome to Dailyish
for September 20th, 2026.

I'm recording an episode every day
for this, my 50th year on the planet.

My friend and also my client,
Dave Rupert, wrote a short story

back in 2018 called The Mammoth.

He'd published it well before we
had any idea that AI was coming

for us all in less than 10 years.

But I find the way Dave told the story
of AI's takeover of humanity, and

particularly how much it crushes one
person's soul, to be really impactful.

I often reference it again
and go back and read it.

I've long thought it would make a
great audio play of some sort, and

so I figured as a first attempt,
a draft if you will, I'd do a

reading of it for you on my podcast.

So with Dave Rupert's permission,
here's part one of The Mammoth

It was 5:06 AM on a foggy morning when the
auto cab dropped me off at the job site.

I remember the time because I got to see
the cargo drone dropping off the shipping

container filled with a day's supplies.

Exactly the right amount of
supplies, no more, no less.

Occasionally, the algorithm would
mess up and not fully anticipate

work-halting weather or unique
events like a family emergency.

But for the most part, the algorithm
can predict the scope of a day's

work within a couple man-hours.

Much better than a human.

Heck, it seems like it knows
you're sick even before you do

The cargo drone's circuitry buzzed
as it released the container and

fired up its giant quadcopter blades.

Unladen, it sprung into the air like
a grasshopper, but only for a brief

minute as it pounced down on yesterday's
container, grabbing it in its talons.

Its massive motors now fully engaged,
kicking up earth and dust, it slowly

lifted the container filled with
yesterday's broken concrete and

refuse collected by the site bots the
night before I work for a rehab corp.

You see, since the auto car, the demand
for parking spaces has rapidly declined.

We convert old parking garages
into usable spaces, offices,

luxury condos, nightclubs, all that
sort of downtown stuff As far as

work goes, it's pretty all right.

There's some job security there.

Every parking garage is just different
enough it's cost prohibitive to

build custom bots for rehabbing.

AI has determined humans are a more
cost-effective labor source, and

there are some intangible benefits.

Turning greasy smog-filled dungeons
into livable spaces feels like

you're doing some good in the
world At first, automakers assumed

autonomous electric vehicles would
be the next big consumer item, but

that fad only lasted about a decade.

Auto cab startups
anticipated the next wave.

No driver to pay was too good an
incentive, and investors went crazy.

Competition between auto cab startups
drove the cost down to almost zero.

People figured this out and
traded their personal vehicles

for ride-hailing apps instead.

Life is better now for commuters.

As more auto cars came online and
connected to the shared Metrolink

protocol, cars could communicate
with each other like connectables.

That maximizes efficiency and nearly
eliminates the need for stoplights.

Vehicular fatalities are
at a pre-industrial level.

Reliance on auto cabs
doubles this efficiency too.

Fewer cars on the road mean
fewer roads are necessary.

Some cities are converting entire
arteries and old freeways into

affordable housing for the service class.

Fewer cars also means higher speeds,
so you can move further out of town,

get a bigger house with some land, but
your commute isn't dramatically longer.

But most folks I know rehab their
unneeded garages into a second

living room and plant gardens
where their driveways used to be.

Life and society are
pretty good in that regard.

Less commute means you get a bit
more free time in your day to

chase hobbies or go to the bar.

bar conversations are a little
more depressing, however.

Instead of the old, where do you work, get
to know you dance, you're stuck answering,

what did you do before the singularity?

The question itself originated as a joke
that came from some dumb TV show, but

struck a chord and became a meme of sorts.

It's an ironic acknowledgment of the
boat we're all in, but it gets a little

bit sadder each time you have to answer.

I think the meme got popular
because no one likes to talk

about what they do anymore.

Take me, for instance.

Back in the day, I was a foreman
for a mid-size construction company.

I oversaw forty or fifty
people on a job site.

I was at the top of my pay
grade and looked up to.

To be that far along in my career,
it's demoralizing and emasculating to

tell people I'm a mammoth herder now.

I thought my job was
safe, that I added value.

then AI figured out more efficient
project management techniques and

could generate compelling instructional
VODs, short three-D augmented reality

animations that play in our displays.

The animations are simple, sometimes
funny, and remind me of those

instruction booklets that came with all
the furniture you wrenched together.

the VODs needed for the day start
uploading to the displays as soon

as the container hits the ground.

About four years ago, AI determined
the optimal construction crew

should be broken up into groups
of two seniors and four juniors.

This made the foreman
role a bit redundant.

Most foremen went back to labor,
but my file already showed that

I was unable to lift a jack.

injury when I was young and
dumb manifested in my later

years with bad knees and elbows.

So I got assigned to the walkers.

Walkers are an impressive
last-mile shipping technology.

their size and the large wingspan,
cargo drones can deliver the shipping

containers to the nearest block.

Walker technology then takes over and
positions the container exactly where

it's supposed to go on the job site.

It's based on old military tech.

Every morning, I'm supposed to
survey the site to make sure

the site bots did their job.

Then I walk over to the freshly
dropped container, shout, "Up!"

and back away.

A warning halo illuminates the ground as
the under-mounted legs transform, twist,

wrench, and begin to slowly lift the
impossible heavy load of the shipping

container one meter off the ground.

It's my job to escort the walker.

when standing, its rusty metal shell
looks like a giant prehistoric animal.

Other types and sizes of walkers exist.

Pups which carry small suitcase-sized
cargo like tools and instant deliveries,

camels which carry large liquid
cells, and cattle which carry methane,

nitrogen, and other pressurized gases.

almost the size of real cattle, so as a
project to make them less brutalist and

more friendly, a lot of local elementary
schools partnered with fueling stations

to paint them to look like actual cows.

It's pretty cute.

Also makes it more fun when
you get drunk with your buddies

and try to tip them over.

They won't fall over, but
it's cathartic to try.

Truth be told, the walkers
don't need to be escorted.

They could be easily nav-mapped
to where they need to be.

In fact, they walk themselves
back to the drop site after hours.

But jobs like these came about
as part of a federal initiative

called Humans at Work to slow down
hemorrhaging unemployment rates.

Partnering with corporations and
market research firms, the government

developed the role of herder so machines
always seem as coexisting with humans.

It's supposed to help the machines seem
more like useful farm animals rather

than soulless lumbering dinosaurs.

To which, I get their point.

If you've ever stumbled upon hundreds
of walkers autonomously resetting

themselves after hours, it's
unsettling and creepy on foggy nights.

So maybe I'm not so useless after all.

All right, so that was
part one of The Mammoth.

You can check the link in the show
notes to find Dave's story published

on his website at daveruppert.com

I'll be back tomorrow with part two.

As always, feel free to reply to this post
on social media wherever you saw it, or

you can email me at chris.enns@gmail.com.

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Thanks for listening.

Have a great day.

Bye.