More Human

I had an interesting experience at work a while back involving me and a co-worker who is convinced AI is a fad that will implode on itself and we will all return to the old ways of working. I owed her something that would be mundane and time-consuming to write up so I used AI to do the job for me (which got be about 80% of the way) and I only had to review more inaccuracies. When B reviewed it she found a mistake and pinged me immediately to point out how this was highly problematic because it was AI generated and full of errors and now that increases her effort. It was like she had found that smoking gun she'd been looking for. She had gone through a lot of work to find out mistakes which ended up taking only a few minutes to resolve. In the old days, this task would have taken me a whole day to get to the content to be considered "final". Notwithstanding B's umbrage at my use of "tools", it was only ten minutes of work to produce the first draft and thirty minute to update and and other fifteen to finalize. Still under an hour and it gave me the time to work on things that are more intellectually interesting and creative for me. I never found any joy in doing the routine parts of my job that are hard to delegate and yet fill like a time sink. Like many, I have found a way to escape it. B was deeply unhappy about it all even after we got it over the finish line. 

Reading this essay on what is means for humans to be intelligent in the time of AI got me thinking about that situation with B. According to the authors, what is now called for is a  dynamic, computational, predictive, and collective process that emerges from the interaction of many specialized parts (neurons, individuals, or agents). It is shaped by social and environmental feedback, and is not limited to biological systems. Intelligence is defined by its function, modeling, predicting, adapting, and cooperating, rather than by its specific implementation or economic output

For instance, when a scientific research team collaborates to address complex issues like climate change or medical breakthroughs, their intelligence is not simply the sum of individual IQs. Instead, it emerges from their ability to share information, predict outcomes, adapt strategies, and integrate diverse perspectives. Research shows that the effectiveness of such groups depends less on individual brilliance and more on the quality of their collaboration, communication, and social perceptiveness. 

As such the durable human intelligence is collective, adaptive, and shaped by social and environmental feedback. By refusing to co-operate with me in the process, B had made sure we did not produce something that met the new bar of intelligence. Conversely, there are any number of instances where people from multiple disciplines apply their efforts in coordination (aided by AI) to accomplish novel and useful things that became possible through their collective human intelligence. 

Clearing Things

Great to see an educator acknowledge that they learn from their students. I found it relatable despite never having been a teacher professionally. There is a lot that I have learned from people much younger and less experienced than me at work. They way they think about a problem, what stands out for them versus what does not can prove useful learning. The questions they would think to ask in meeting with a customer or a client may not be the ones I would ask and that could prove a lost opportunity. I enjoy being challenged about my approach to problem solving by someone who is only a few years out of college and without any "real-life" experience. Some of the best outcomes came out of those debates where I changed my mind.

I’m also thinking to the brilliant student in my fourth year of teaching who’d ask “What does this have to do with real life?”. She had a reputation for whining in the school, but I went home and reflected on it. Over the next few weeks, I decided to work on giving her access to the math. As she arrived at her “oh!” moments, she asked better questions and participated more. I learned to reframe “whining” and to re-ground myself in patience.

That one particularly reminds me of L who was very vocal about things not making sense and questioned why we insisted on going down a path when it was far from proven that it would work. L at the time was a newly minted employee fresh out of his senior year internship. I admired his courage to call things out. There were a couple of times in the year that he was on my team that I decided quickly that L knew better than the rest of us and that turned out to be the right call. To this day, I ask myself how L would respond to something and it help clear the cobwebs in my thinking. 

Good Outcomes

An industrial design school project evolved into a significant legacy in marine conservation through the creation of an algorithmically designed artificial reef. Great to read about algorithms doing good in the world at time when bad news is more the norm. Inspired by the need to restore and protect coral ecosystems threatened by climate change and human activity, the project leveraged computational modeling, digital fabrication, and high-precision underwater monitoring to create reef structures that closely mimic natural habitats and promote biodiversity. 

The design process integrated ecological requirements with architectural innovation, resulting in modular, component-based reefs that can be customized and adapted for specific marine environments. Real-world experiments, notably in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, validated the approach, demonstrating that these reefs can support coral regrowth and withstand environmental stresses over the long term. The project also produced new digital tools for reef design and monitoring, enabling broader collaboration among scientists, designers, and local communities.

In architecture and engineering too, computational and biomimetic design methods use digital modeling and simulation to create structures inspired by natural systems, integrating environmental and material considerations for innovative, sustainable outcomes.

Safe Haven

The findings of this research are not surprising and reflect growing skepticism among younger generations about the necessity and value of traditional college education, especially as AI reshapes job requirements and career paths. When leaders twenty or more years into their careers are asked by Gen Z about future-proofing their careers, it is common to hear the lame response "learn a trade".

If the person asking the question has spent their time and money getting a college education and now joined the workforce, that answer tells them that they are screwed and they have been foolish to have bothered with college. They would have been smarter to learn plumbing. Its easy for someone how had has a good run, made some money to be flippant about learning a trade to jump into once they are laid off but this is catastrophic for a young person on their first job out of college. 

Most Gen Z respondents feel they could do their jobs without a degree, a sentiment much stronger than in older generations. This skepticism is fueled by rapidly rising tuition costs and the perception that AI and evolving job requirements have diminished the traditional value of higher education, signaling a major generational shift in attitudes toward college. This perception is only solidified when they hear their best bet is to learn a trade. If a large-scale migration is indeed fueled towards trade-schools then those occupations can only experience a race to the bottom and not remain a safe haven option.

Having Moat

This Slashdot post highlights the personal stories of creative professionals who have lost their jobs or seen their livelihoods threatened due to the rise of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI tools like Midjourney and ChatGPT. Illustrators, copywriters, voice actors, and graphic designers have experienced  being replaced by AI-generated content, often without consent or fair compensation. 

For example, illustrators report companies using AI to replicate their style, leading to fewer jobs and lower wages, while voice actors describe unauthorized use of their voices in AI platforms, resulting in lost work and lengthy battles to regain control. 

The phenomenon will impact other professions no doubt. Anyone who is able to create IP of some sort is potentially at risk of it being subsumed by AI into its corpus of knowledge. Simplistically speaking one could try to build a moat by not share their best ideas with AI, keep that off the grid. 

Yet that may not be enough to save the person's job as one commentor has astutely noted:  AI is being hired everywhere under the name Good Enuff. If you're not perfect, AI doesn't have to be either. And AI will work 24/7/365 without bitching about all that needy shit humans require. Like pay raises, sleep, time off, vacations, sick pay, lunch breaks, and retirement funds.

Eternal Youth

This article argues that American wellness culture is a complex mix of positive health engagement and dangerous pseudoscience. The challenge for experts and policymakers is to encourage beneficial health behaviors while protecting the public from misinformation and political extremism. The wellness industry, now deeply embedded in American life and politics, reflects both the nation’s aspirations for better health and its vulnerabilities to unproven, profit-driven solutions.

A woman I met recently told me that she's all about PRP (I had no idea what that was) and loved staying on hormones because they made her feel so much better. She has no health conditions that required medical help and what was most astounding to me is that she is an ER nurse. I would have imagined someone with no proximity to illness and hospitals may want to experiment with fads but for medical professional to want to do things to just improve quality of life was a bit unexpected. She was very unconcerned about side-effects and tried to explain to me why these things were absolutely safe. Maybe being in the professional gives her that confidence and I hope for her sake she is right because those are not the only experiments she's tried. 

Over the years, Americans have spent less and less time with their doctors and received increasingly alienating healthcare services. For many people, going to the doctor is intimidating or inaccessible. Going on Instagram is easy and habitual.

I had to wonder if this woman was talking to any of the doctors who were her colleagues at the hospital or if she been inspired by some biohacking influencer who claimed to have found the fountain of eternal youth.

Declining Writer

I can't say that I have paid particular attention to this phenomenon because I read very little modern fiction because it fails to meet the bar of satisfying and unique for me, but it is true now that I think about it. 

This article is right about the sharp decline of young white male writers in American literary fiction, as evidenced by their near-absence from major prize lists, fellowships, and year-end “notable fiction” lists over the past decade. The change is attributed not only to diversity initiatives and a desire to spotlight previously marginalized voices, but also to a broader cultural climate that has turned against the archetype of the “litbro” or ambitious young white male novelist. 

There is a sense that writing directly about their own experience has become fraught: white male writers are wary of being seen as either victims or aggressors, and fear accusations of appropriation or toxic masculinity. As a result, many young white male writers have shifted to genre fiction, autofiction, or historical novels, often avoiding direct engagement with contemporary social realities or their own identities. The few who do attempt to tackle these subjects often do so with a tone of disavowal or irony, reflecting a broader uncertainty about their place in the current literary landscape.

But in the 2010s, the literary world was less interested in straight men. I think you have a general lack of the heterosexual male perspective in newer fiction. There’s a long history of writers portraying toxic masculinity and rough male characters — and it feels like you see less of that today.

I also think at the same time, young male writers, white and nonwhite, were taking less of an interest in fiction. It’s a chicken-and-egg challenge: Is it the publishing industry deciding this is no longer something we’re going to push or take a real interest in, or is it market forces as well?