You’ve seen the articles. Massive layoffs coupled with a company’s adoption of AI technology. They paint a bleak picture of the employment future for us humans. But they are lying. Lying with the truth, or at least with a combination of true facts. While it is true that many companies are both making large capital…
Whenever you hear an AI researcher dismiss criticism as pearl clutching, you should hold onto what matters and start paying attention. I saw this play out during a recent panel where concerns about using GenAI for mental health support were categorized as old-fashioned thinking. We don’t worry when someone sits alone journaling for mental health…
I think this will be one of the lasting lessons that I will remember from the current AI era. There are many really smart people who have conflicting ideas about how things will turn out and what choices we should make. Some of them will be wrong. You could argue that self-interest is motivating some…
Untangled by Lisa Damour A wonderful guide for parents raising teenage girls. Notes on Being A Man by Scott Gallaway Authentic to the core. An exploration of the challenges modern men face and tips to overcome them. They Just Need To Get A Job – 15 Myths On Homelessness by Mary Brosnahan This booked helped…
A winner-takes-all mentality marked the early days of ChatGPT. The major AI labs were all openly chasing Artificial General Intelligence. An AGI breakthrough would supposedly kick off an intelligence explosion. This in turn would trigger a chain reaction of recursive self-improvement; whoever got there first would be forever uncatchable. Generative AI research was positioned as…
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo I was a bit intimidated by this book, but it turned out to be much gentler than I thought it would be. Terms used to talk about racism in the contemporary United States have different definitions than what I grew up with. I think it is often these new definitions…
Reading physical books is a different experience than reading digitally. It is a more human connection to the author’s work. You can view the progress as your bookmark takes its many steps through the pages. The bookmark itself can contribute to your individual experience. When I think of certain books, they take me back to…
Add one to your profile picture, drop your pronouns, and change your name to something masculine, and your LinkedIn posts will become 200+% more visible. I am seeing this claim trending on LinkedIn recently and find it concerning. Not because it exposes gender bias in LinkedIn’s recommendation algorithm, but because the claims are not backed…
The models behind GPT chatbots will continue to improve, but they are good enough today. Everything we discussed in the previous sections (1, 2, 3, 4) is possible with the technology that exists today. Model capabilities and personality do play a role in retaining users on a given platform. Trying to win the fight for…
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire I had this one on my list for a long time. Some good insights on how to evolve the student-teacher (manager-direct) relationship. Overall, I found it a bit long winded and intellectual. I think reading this with a discussion group vs solo would probably have helped. The Code…