We are still mid-journey

TIL the name "Midjourney" actually comes from the Zhuangzi, a classic Taoism text filled with ancient fables. David poetically describes the sentiment behind the name:

"I feel like we're actually mid-journey, and that we come from this rich and beautiful past, and ahead of us is this wild and unimaginable -- unfathomable future."

In the text, an old oak tree appears in a dream to Carpenter Shi, explaining that it survives precisely because it has long tried to be of no use. Unlike fruit trees that are cut off in "mid-journey," its lack of utility allowed it to finish out the years Heaven gave it.

AGI may be imminent, but we are indeed still mid-journey.