"The solution to technology is not more technology"
When we're lonely or insecure, it's tempting to reach for the machine instead of people. Rebecca Solnit makes the case for difficulty, and for each other.
Tag
#good reads
23 articles
"Quality follows care"
Keyana Sapp of Worse on Purpose explains how quality erodes when companies manage by dashboard, and why care can't be exercised from a distance.
"Principles are not aspirational"
Barry Lachapelle, creator of the Canadian Google Docs alternative cDox, on Small Tech: software where principles are design constraints, not marketing copy.
"You can’t advertise people out of reacting to their own experiences"
Nilay Patel argues AI doesn't have a marketing problem, because people experience it every day. An important read for anyone working in tech.
"Applying sound methods to stupid projects"
Adam Mastroianni separates objective intelligence from subjective intelligence and argues AI only has the first.
"The failures are the curriculum"
Minas Karamanis on how AI lets students produce work they can't explain. Expertise comes from failing, though AI can shorten the time between tries.
"Technology changes. Human nature does not."
Sahaj Garg expects AI to automate most cognitive work within a few years. I think he underrates the last mile, resource limits, and regulation.
"You cannot fact-check your way out of status competition"
Dan Williams frames anti-intellectualism as a status problem: taking expert advice can feel like admitting inferiority. Facts alone won't fix that.
"This is how societies get dumber"
Shreya Shankar on how AI wears down our ability to verify what we read. When nobody can tell good from plausible, taste and trust go with it.
"Atlas is a browser, but it is not a web browser"
Anil Dash calls OpenAI's Atlas an anti-web browser that turns you into ChatGPT's agent. From a security and privacy angle, that's the scariest part.
"If I forget how to be uncomfortable, I forget how to grow"
Jenny refuses AI to keep the friction that helps her grow. I see it as a tool we have to learn to use well, but her case for discomfort is hard to argue with.
"Who benefits from what this technology does?"
Christopher Butler on how AI can amplify the worst of late-stage capitalism, and why I'm keeping my tech stack nimble while the giants clash.
"Motivation is weather, discipline is climate"
Why do we tell young people that good work should feel effortless? My highlights from a piece arguing that discipline matters more than motivation.
“The art of happiness is also the art of suffering well”
Thich Nhat Hanh's No Mud, No Lotus is a book about suffering that turns out to be about happiness. The passages I still return to in hard times.
"Someone that you'd high five but not hug"
On the Ologies podcast, Dr. Kandi Wiens explains how stress turns into burnout and which physical signs to watch for. Plus a great test of friendship.
“If we expect nothing, we will get nothing”
Matt Duffy argues that efficiency without morality is tyranny. I'm not sure “morality” is the right word, but his piece shook me out of a stupor.
"I don’t want to hide my grief or my joy"
My university classmate Keith writes straight from the heart about being open with the people who matter. A post that reminded me why I subscribe.
"Capitalism is the machine that will do whatever it takes to prevent us from turning it off"
Two years on, I still think about Ted Chiang asking whether AI will become the new McKinsey. So far, his version of the future seems to be winning.
"The ceiling on my appreciation is high, but the floor is high, too"
Sasha Chapin on how to like everything more. Enjoyment is a skill you can train, and so much of the internet trains the opposite one.
"I walk slowly on the race track, but I can climb a ladder"
Collin Lysford starts with baking and ends up asking whether intelligence comes from other minds or from environments. My highlights on AI and humility.