Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy.
I’m taking a break from the newsletter for the next two weeks. See you in August.
AI Saves the World. I called Kevin Kelly the techno-optimist prophet. Looks like Marc Andreessen is contending for the title. Check out his latest well-done and important essay on Why AI Will Save the World. For example: “AI, if allowed to develop and proliferate throughout the economy, may cause the most dramatic and sustained economic boom of all time, with correspondingly record job and wage growth” plus everyone gets an AI tutor, advisor and personal assistant. That all sounds great! If you’re looking for different views of AI’s future, I cataloged many of them. For now, a few considerations on this essay:
He’s optimistic about technology but pretty cynical about human governance. Is he pessimistic enough about the use of AI to manipulate voters and politicians? I do agree that one of the best uses of blockchain is integrity and authorship of content.
Does AI “improving war” really lead to less death? With greater technology, wars can reach greater scale so it is not obvious to me the impacts.
He emphasizes an arms race with China (and totalitarian states in general). The effect of such arguments may be that the government buys more AI from Silicon Valley and keeps regulation low. There is a long history of Silicon Valley’s supplying advanced spying and weaponry to the US government.
We can be optimistic about the power and implications of AI on average while remembering it may not benefit each individual. Like free trade, there are losers.
The societal and political change from the first industrial revolution was dramatic. We may like being on this side of the change but going through it wasn’t always fun. We could experience a painful transition.
Even if you disagree with the rest of the essay on AI, I ask you to ponder this: “inequality is…not being driven by technology, it’s being driven by the reverse, by the sectors of the economy that are the most resistant to new technology, that have the most government intervention to prevent the adoption of new technology like AI – specifically housing, education, and health care.”
The State of Marriage. I’m curious about the demographics of marriage and its implications. Marriage often benefits adults and is a great foundation for child rearing. I wonder if fewer people get married because they think the odds are stacked against the relationship lasting? What is the divorce rate and which way is it moving? According to Our World in Data, people are getting married later, fewer are marrying and fewer are getting divorced. “Researchers attribute this trend to Millennials. By getting married later in life and keeping their options open for longer, today’s young adults may be finding more lasting matches.“ Or put another way the trend is “the net result of two groups moving in opposite directions: younger cohorts (Gen Xers and Millennials) who are increasingly divorcing less at any given age; and older cohorts (Boomers and Silent) who are increasingly divorcing more at any given age.” Here’s an older article on divorce rates being lower than you think. Is there more recent data? What should I read?
My Affirmations. I’ve written before about my use of affirmations as a way of programming my mind. I wanted to share some examples. What should I add?
Dare for just a single day, a whole day, to refuse to acknowledge the fear of failure
How can I wish love and kindness to this person?
How can I find something good about this moment or this thing?
What conversation am I avoiding? I can give clear and direct feedback
I can take time to deeply listen to the kids
Teach kids: hardship is not an excuse for fragility
Honor [a friend] by not yelling at the kids
Until next week,
Miles