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Welcome back to Tiny Thoughts! Below are a fresh batch of my insights, experiences, and observations on AI. Got something juicy to add? I'd love to hear from you!
This week I kept running into themes of technological change and how we humans navigate that change.
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Save a horse, ride a...?
The first cars started showing up in American cities in the late 1800s. Not everyone was thrilled. In 1896, Washington DC banned cars on the grounds that they threatened the livelihoods of horses. The Washington Post reported:
The commissioners of the District of Columbia are determined that the horse whose occupation has so largely been taken away by reason of the use of bicycles shall not further be displaced by horseless carriage.
Change is hard.
Source: Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund
The AI "leverage paradox"
New tech gives everyone more leverage, but it also makes competition fiercer. You work just as hard as before (if not harder) because everyone else gets the same superpowers.
This is exactly what’s happening with AI. But, there are ways to work smarter, rather than harder. And this involves focusing on non-technical advantages like marketing, relationships, and artistry (among others).
Source: Channing Allen, Indie Hackers
Designing AI that elevates us
To design AI that elevates rather than erodes our lives, our work, and our world, we must double down on three distinctly human capacities: authenticity (showing up flawed and real), boldness (imagining what doesn’t exist yet), and love (genuinely caring about others). Together, they help define what it means to be fully human in the age of the algorithm.
“We have choices. We can build technology that harnesses our humanity or settle for tools that diminish us.”
Source: Jennifer Aaker, Stanford GSB
Thanks for reading!