The future of AI, work, and the world
My favorite articles, ideas, and conversations of the fall.
Hey parents:
You don’t have to push your kids to choose a “practical” major. No one really knows which skills will be useful in the future anyway. The goal of liberal arts education is not to build careers—it’s to broaden minds.
If you know someone who loves learning, consider gifting them a subscription to the Next Big Idea Club. Each quarter, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Dan Pink and I pick our two favorite new books—and donate 100% of our profits to students in under-resourced schools.
Without further ado, some perspectives that have broadened my mind lately:
1. Is my toddler a stochastic parrot? (Angie Wang, New Yorker)
A deeply insightful, wildly creative, and unusually moving take on AI.
2. The next global superpower isn’t who you think (Ian Bremmer, TED)
Ian is my favorite thinker on geopolitics, and this is the most-watched TED talk of 2023.
3. What if Americans are happy at work? (Derek Thompson, Atlantic)
As much as we love to complain about our jobs, they’re not getting worse—and they might not be as bad as we think.
From my desk
4. The SATs will be different next year, and that could be a game-changer (NYT)
The students with the greatest potential aren’t always the ones who rapidly spit out the right answers. They’re often the ones who take the time to ask the right questions.
5. Re:Thinking podcasts on psychology:
Why aiming for the best isn’t always good for you, with Barry Schwartz and Coco Krumme. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
The Office’s Rainn Wilson on meaning and happiness. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
Poet Maggie Smith on embracing ambiguity. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
6. WorkLife podcasts on improving our jobs:
The science of recharging on weekends and vacations. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
The zombie guide to surviving bureaucracy. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
The three big myths of mentoring. Apple | Spotify | Transcript
Happy holidays,
Adam
P.S. If you haven’t seen my favorite Venn diagram:
The “Is my toddler a stochastic parrot?” Is the most creative essay I’ve ever read in the internet. It was emotional, surprising, and so beautiful. Maybe I connected to it so much because of my own toddler, but thanks a lot for the recommendation 🙃
And that Venn diagram cracked me up 😂
How about both broadening minds and building careers? I taught High School and adult students in a Career Tech center for 22 years and then online for 8 years. Students need to know how to use both their hands and their minds, just because they have to develop what really interests them and how to use their hands and tools. I developed many technicians and quite a few contractors, some of whom now operate rather large companies. One of my granddaughters went in to Human Relations and the other into Nursing. Neither was sure what they really wanted to do until 11th to 13th year in school.