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SPOS #1000 – Patrick Tanguay On Paths To Better Thinking

Welcome to episode #1000 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Patrick Tanguay is a self-described generalist, synthesist and curator whose lifelong curiosity and love of reading have led him across multiple careers, and now shape one of the most thoughtful newsletters in the futures-thinking space. As the creator of Sentiers, a weekly “futures thinking observatory” (and one of my most favorite reads), Patrick spotlights signals of change across technology, society, and culture. He helps readers trace emergent paths instead of prescribing them. Alongside his writing, he designed and launched Station C, one of the first co-working spaces, co-founded the print magazine, The Alpine Review, and seeded communities like Creative Mornings and some of the earlier community get-togethers for the digital enthusiasts. For episode #1000, Patrick guides us through how he curates global currents of change, explores how platform design, sense-making systems and personal knowledge management influence our capacity to understand the future, and why the skills of generalists matter now more than ever. He walks us through why Sentiers became such a respected newsletter and how its architecture reinforces and expands his handwritten trail of ideas. Across the show we consider how to build a personal “observatory,” not just follow feed algorithms, how to connect seemingly disparate signals from AI to city futures, and why being able to notice what’s happening before everyone else is becoming more crucial… and more rare. This is an episode for curious minds, digital gardeners and anyone searching for clarity amid chaos. I hope that you will also take a couple of moments to listen to my opening monologue about my reflections on the past 1000 episodes (nearly 20 years), and what the future will hold for this show starting next week. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:28:08.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.Check out ThinkersOne.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on X.Here is my conversation with Patrick Tanguay.Sentiers.The Alpine Review.Follow Patrick on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) – The Evolution of Six Pixels of Separation.
(04:14) – Introducing Patrick Tanguay.
(05:31) – The Art of Thinking and Curating.
(20:56) – Foresight and Future Thinking.
(29:54) – Navigating the World of AI.
(41:41) – The Role of Reading in Deep Thinking.
(01:00:08) – The Future of Knowledge Work.
(01:10:04) – The Intersection of AI and Human Purpose.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast – Episode #1000.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Six Links That Make You Think #793

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

A Visual Archive of Byte. “For two decades, Byte magazine charted the course of the personal computer industry from hobbyist weirdness to mainstream platform for the fledgling Internet. It ended print in 1998, and survived online until around 2010. But as a time capsule for most of what we take for granted today, it’s fascinating. There’s a fully-zoomable archive of every print page from every year that’s interesting to zoom around in.” (Alistair for Hugh). Tami T – Instagram . “This is a weird share for me, because since we started sharing links, I realized we always share pages or sites, not people. My sense of links is they’re pointers to things, pieces of information. I realized that in today’s world, there’s no real difference between a page, a website, a YouTube channel, and a public profile. But somehow, sharing a ‘person’ felt different. Anyway, Tami makes musical instruments for her performances, and they’re delightful.” (Alistair for Mitch). AI Comes Up With Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work – Anil Ananthaswamy – Quanta Magazine . “Love this, it mirrors how I use AI — as part of a collaborative conversation, an idea bouncer that comes up with many great, and many kooky ideas.” (Hugh for Alistair).  The Sudden Surges That Forge Evolutionary Trees – Jake Buehler – Quanta Magazine . “An interesting update to evolutionary theory, that it’s not slow and incremental, but rather that at the moment of forking of a species there’s a surge of adaptation.” (Hugh for Mitch). AI Apocalypse? Why Language Surrounding Tech Is Sounding Increasingly Religious – Krysta Fauria – AP News . “I have been thinking a lot and talking to peers about this idea that the future with AI is either defined as ‘utopia’ or ‘dystopia’. I’m not sure I understand why either outcome has to be so radical. Might there be a possible middle-ground… might there be an opportunity for this to be another (albeit big) disruption/transformation? With that tech leaders are using religious and apocalyptic language to describe AI, calling it ‘godlike’ or a new kind of ‘salvation’. Real words from real leaders who are real smart. Some are now warning that this kind of rhetoric fuels dangerous hype and profit motives, while others promise big benefits if AI is guided and regulated. Some religious experts say the that this trend reflects a human need for transcendence more than literal belief. Candidly, I don’t know who to believe anymore, but find the use of religious terminology fascinating when you consider that the people using it (mostly) don’t bellieve in religion…” (Mitch for Alistair). 3Books.net – Books recommended on The Ezra Klein Show . “The last question Ezra Klein asks every guest on The Ezra Klein Show is to recommend three books. Welp, somone apparently vibe-coded this helpful site to scrape the show and post them on this website. You can sort by shows, books or even go random (and yes, there’s a search function as well). Happy reading!” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Linda May Han Oh On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

“Wait… did I miss something? Why is there an article about a bass podcast on Six Pixels of Separation?”

Here’s why:

In the late nineties my first job was as a music journalist (actually, my first interview was with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue right before the band released Dr. Feelgood).
I spent many years interviewing musicians and artists for local weekly alternative newspapers, national and international magazines (and even published three music magazines – before we had the Internet).
I also studied and played the electric bass (in high school and post-secondary) and always felt like bass players never really had a chance to tell their stories.
So, about ten years ago, Seth Godin introduced me to Corey Brown (founder of No Treble – one of the world’s biggest bass platforms – and he also worked on Squidoo with Seth).
From there, Corey and I decided to try this monthly podcast where I would interview bass players and talk about their music, art, creativity and more.
I’m hopeful that these conversations will inspire your work, creativity and innovation as much as they do for me…

Linda May Han Oh is this month’s conversation on Groove – The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #129 – Linda May Han Oh.

Linda May Han Oh’s story is as global as it is musical. Born in Malaysia, raised in Australia and now a Grammy-winning bassist, composer and educator in New York/Boston, she has become one of the most distinctive and respected voices on the instrument today. Her journey began at the piano before the bass called her in, and that foundation of harmony and melody continues to shape her approach whether she’s anchoring the bands of Pat Metheny, Vijay Iyer, Kenny Barron, or Terri Lyne Carrington, leading her own acclaimed projects, or teaching the next generation as an Associate Professor at Berklee. In our conversation, Linda reflects on the intersections of culture, geography, and sound in her development, how classical training and jazz improvisation have always been in dialogue within her playing, and the delicate balance she strikes between performer, composer, and teacher. She shares stories about writing for chamber ensembles, percussion trios, and film projects, about stepping into Pixar’s Soul both musically and visually (the bassist “Miho” was modeled on her), and about why she still approaches each project with a spirit of curiosity rather than mastery. What makes Linda so compelling isn’t just her virtuosity, it’s the clarity with which she connects her instrument to broader ideas of imagination, resilience, and storytelling. And just as she pushes boundaries in conversation, she continues to do so in her music, with her latest project Strange Heavens – a chordless trio with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. The album wrestles with why we cling to familiar struggles even when they no longer serve us, and listeners can expect both intimacy and daring: music that is at once questioning and grounding, reflective and boldly unmoored. If you’ve ever wondered how the bass can be both foundation and frontier, this episode (and this artist) make a powerful case. This conversation was recorded live at the Montreal Jazz Festival – a stage that has welcomed some of the greatest bass players in the world. Each year, the festival gathers legends and innovators and we get the rare chance to sit down with them face-to-face, right in the heart of the music. Enjoy the conversation…

What is Groove – The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

Listen in:  Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #129 – Linda May Han Oh .

Groove – Episode #129: Linda May Han Oh (Pat Metheny, Vijay Iyer, Kenny Barron, Terri Lyne Carrington & More) by No Treble

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends). 

When Everything Becomes A Number

We like to believe that numbers tell the truth.

That when you quantify something, you’ve captured it.
That a metric is sharper… cleaner… more objective than messy human judgment.

But what if the opposite is true?

In my conversation this week with Noah Giansiracusa on Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast, I kept circling this thought:
Algorithms are flattening the depth of our interactions into something unrecognizable.
Think about it: a passionate debate, a supportive comment or a sarcastic jab all register the same way inside an algorithm: as engagement.
A +1.
A tick on the board.
A weighted value to optimize against.

The human richness… the texture of emotion, intention and nuance… collapses into the same numerical bucket.

That flattening might make the machine “smarter,” but it makes us poorer.
It’s easy to forget that a “like” is not the same as love.
That a comment isn’t always curiosity… lately, it’s often cruelty.
That not all clicks are created equal, even if they’re treated that way in a dashboard.

And, as a reminder, these numbers don’t just describe the world anymore.

They shape it.
They decide who gets seen and who gets silenced.
They reward outrage and bury ambiguity.
They mistaken attention for meaning.

This isn’t just about social media feeds.

It’s happening across industries: in hiring, in healthcare, in lending, in education.
The most human decisions we make are being reframed as numbers in a formula.
And we rarely stop to ask what’s lost in the translation.

What happens next?

Maybe the next frontier of analytics won’t be about more data… but different data.
Not “how many clicks” but what kind of clicks.
Not “time on page” but quality of attention.
Not just counting transactions… but tracing transformations.

AI might help here… or make it worse.

On one hand, it can read tone, parse context, detect sentiment with greater precision.
It could finally distinguish between sarcasm and sincerity, outrage and admiration, curiosity and contempt.
That’s a step closer to measuring meaning instead of just motion.

But it could also deepen the trap.

Optimizing not just for engagement… but for emotional manipulation.
Not just keeping us scrolling… but knowing exactly which button to press in our psyche to keep us hooked.
The question isn’t whether AI will change the way we measure.
It’s whether we’ll choose to measure what matters.
Because metrics can sharpen clarity… or distort reality.

Maybe the future of analytics isn’t just about what we can capture… but about what we decide is worth capturing?

Maybe the better question isn’t ‘what do the numbers say?’ but ‘what do the numbers silence’?
I’m sitting with that this week.

Maybe you are too?

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

The Real Test Of AI Is The Human One

Every new invention looks obvious in hindsight.

Electricity… the printing press… the internet.
But at the time?
Few really knew what it’s for… or were using it in ways the mass used it when it hit scale.
The printing press wasn’t invented to create novels.
I’m guessing Edison didn’t imagine Netflix.
The early web looked like a clunky screen of text files that were not interconnected.

Now here we are with AI… which, in and of itself, is difficult to define.

And the same mistake is happening… again.
We think we know what it’s for.
Students using it to cheat on essays.
Workers using it to write their emails (and business plans).
Institutions banning it out of fear of potential.
Individuals demanding it not be used in creative work.

But if history teaches us anything… we don’t actually know what this thing is good (or bad) for yet.

We are not even at stage one (by my accounts).
The invention (or evolution of something that has been around for a while) is here.
The knowledge and conjecture is spreading (which, I think is both healthy and needed).
But the products and real adaptations? 
Still very early days.

I love this insight from Tim O’Reilly in his article, We Are Only Beginning to Understand How to Use AI…

When Google Docs arrived, people thought it was just a Word file in the cloud… on the internet.
It took some time for us to realize the revolution wasn’t in the file… it was in the collaboration.
Multiple people typing into the same document at once.
A new process, not just a new tool.
What’s the AI version of ‘multiple people typing in the same doc’ that we haven’t yet discovered?

AI feels like that moment… with much greater (and grander) use cases and scale. 

We’re still dragging it into old workflows, when what’s required is rethinking the workflows themselves.
Schools are banning it.
Companies are banning/limiting it.
Regulators are debating how to throttle/understand it.

We should be cautious… and we should be cautiously optimistic.

Because when we dismiss or shut down innovation at this stage, we choke off the tinkering, the iteration, the leapfrogging that shows us what it’s actually for.
We make the same mistake we made with the early internet… forcing it into old models instead of imagining what new ones it might make possible.

I’m not discounting the risk or the possibility for mass disruption. 

Of course, there will be risks.
Of course, there will be bad actors.
Of course, there be a slew of new problems.
Every disruption has its fire-burns, internet-scams, social-media-mobs moment.

But dismissing it outright?

That only guarantees we miss the chance to build what’s good… better… what’s next.

So what do we do?

We tinker.
We plan.
We test.
We stay open to being surprised.
We stay on top of it to ensure that it’s aligned, safe and for the better of our angels (as much as we can). 

Because maybe AI doesn’t just make us faster… smarter…

Maybe it makes us… different.
And maybe (like every other disruption we once faced/feared) that difference will define the next era of business, culture and connection.

The real risk isn’t that AI changes us… it’s that we fail to change with it.

This is what Trudie Mason and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · The Real Test Of AI Is The Human One – The Elias Makos Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Noah Giansiracusa On The Algorithms That Run Your Life – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #999 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to:

Noah Giansiracusa is an associate professor of mathematics at Bentley University and a visiting scholar at Harvard who has built a reputation for translating the hidden power of algorithms into plain language that empowers individuals. With a PhD in algebraic geometry from Brown, he’s always bringing a mathematician’s eye to the cultural and social impact of technology. His earlier book, How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, was praised by Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Romer as “the best guide to the strategies and stakes of this battle for the future.” In his latest book, Robin Hood Math – Take Control Of The Algorithms That Run Your Life, Noah shows how banks, insurers, tech giants and governments use algorithms to make decisions that shape our lives, and how ordinary people can reclaim agency using simple mathematical tools. At a time when our feeds, finances and even friendships are increasingly mediated by code, Noah argues that math can be a democratizing force: a way to cut through the opacity of “black box” systems, understand who benefits from them, and make better choices in daily life. His work emphasizes that algorithms are neither inherently good nor bad, they tilt the balance of power depending on who wields them. By unpacking formulas like the weighted sum that underpins credit scores, college rankings and even TikTok virality, he provides a way to see through the manipulation and complexity. In this episode, Noah discusses the double-edged nature of technology, the transparency gap in digital platforms, the cultural consequences of algorithm-driven media and why math education must evolve to reflect the algorithmic realities students are already living. For anyone curious about reclaiming autonomy in a world increasingly designed by machines, his message is clear: a little math can go a long way in leveling the playing field. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose):  #999 – Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

SPOS #999 – Noah Giansiracusa On The Algorithms That Run Your Life

Welcome to episode #999 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Noah Giansiracusa is an associate professor of mathematics at Bentley University and a visiting scholar at Harvard who has built a reputation for translating the hidden power of algorithms into plain language that empowers individuals. With a PhD in algebraic geometry from Brown, he’s always bringing a mathematician’s eye to the cultural and social impact of technology. His earlier book, How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, was praised by Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Romer as “the best guide to the strategies and stakes of this battle for the future.” In his latest book, Robin Hood Math – Take Control Of The Algorithms That Run Your Life, Noah shows how banks, insurers, tech giants and governments use algorithms to make decisions that shape our lives, and how ordinary people can reclaim agency using simple mathematical tools. At a time when our feeds, finances and even friendships are increasingly mediated by code, Noah argues that math can be a democratizing force: a way to cut through the opacity of “black box” systems, understand who benefits from them, and make better choices in daily life. His work emphasizes that algorithms are neither inherently good nor bad, they tilt the balance of power depending on who wields them. By unpacking formulas like the weighted sum that underpins credit scores, college rankings and even TikTok virality, he provides a way to see through the manipulation and complexity. In this episode, Noah discusses the double-edged nature of technology, the transparency gap in digital platforms, the cultural consequences of algorithm-driven media and why math education must evolve to reflect the algorithmic realities students are already living. For anyone curious about reclaiming autonomy in a world increasingly designed by machines, his message is clear: a little math can go a long way in leveling the playing field. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:05:57.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.Check out ThinkersOne.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on X.Here is my conversation with Noah Giansiracusa.Robin Hood Math – Take Control Of The Algorithms That Run Your Life.How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News.Check out Noah’s podcast: AI In Academia: Navigating The Future.Follow Noah on Instagram.Follow Noah on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) – Understanding Algorithms and Their Impact.
(03:11) – The Dual Nature of Technology.
(06:05) – Agency in an Algorithmic World.
(09:00) – The Centralization of Algorithms.
(11:53) – The Role of Math in Understanding Algorithms.
(15:04) – Practical Applications of Algorithm Understanding.
(19:07) – Engagement and Its Consequences.
(24:06) – Navigating Social Media Dynamics.
(27:54) – The Future of AI and Algorithms.
(37:28) – Understanding AI: Generative vs Traditional.
(39:59) – The Impact of AI on Social Media.
(41:25) – Data as the New Oil: Advertising and Efficacy.
(44:51) – Transparency in Technology and Advertising.
(48:19) – Bridging the Gap: Understanding Algorithms.
(51:56) – The Power Dynamics of Technology.
(53:58) – Reclaiming Agency Through Math.
(56:49) – Rethinking Math Education for the Modern World.
(01:00:42) – Simplicity in Complexity: Understanding Algorithms.
(01:03:51) – Finding Relevance in Math.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast – Episode #999.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Six Links That Make You Think #792

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

We Are Only Beginning To Understand How To Use AI – Tom O’Reilly – O’Reilly Radar. “Another great piece by Tim O’Reilly, whose ability to pivot to the latest technology stack and think profound thoughts remains unrivalled in the world, IMHO. ‘It takes time and shared learning to understand how best to apply a new technology, to search the possible for its possibleness.’ It’s a short article, but rich because of what it links to: Ethan Mollick writing about successes and failures, and Narayanan and Kapoor reflecting on AI as Normal Technology.”  (Alistair for Hugh). I’m Worried It Might Get Bad – Daniel Miessler . “Mitch, I know we’ve commiserated over many of these concerns. Recent news about the decline in jobs for recent grads only adds to the pile of societal woes that could lead to disenfranchisement, unrest, or worse. A pessimist might see the militarization of police in the halls of power as an anticipation of such uprisings. Daniel Miessler brings data, and it’s a strong counterpunch to any argument that AI might, like any other normal technology, follow normal diffusion laws that give us time to adjust.” (Alistair for Mitch). Mano A Mano – Gordon Marino – The Point . “My father boxed in university, and was a sports writer early in his career, and one of my fond memories from childhood was watching boxing matches with him on our old black and white TV. Sugar Ray, Roberto Duran in 1980 is a particular memory. I still occasionally fall into a YouTube vortex watching boxing. Here, the philosophical power of courage, and boxing, is analyzed.” (Hugh for Alistair). Stop AI-Shaming Our Precious, Kindly Em Dashes—Please – Brian Phillips – The Ringer . “Em dashes are the best. Leave them alone.” (Hugh for Mitch). We’re Not Ready For Superintelligence – AI In Context – YouTube . “It’s hard to know where to put yourself when it comes to artificial intelligence these days. It seems like the smartest people are telling us very divergent stories. Here’s one story: The AI 2027 scenario isn’t prophecy, but it’s close enough to feel unsettling: clumsy AI interns evolving into superhuman coders, accelerating their own evolution and quietly reshaping the world while humans argue about what to do next. Two paths emerge: race ahead and risk extinction through indifference or slow down and try to keep control through cautious alignment. Neither ending feels safe, both concentrate terrifying power in the hands of a few. What struck me most wasn’t the sci-fi sheen, but the plausibility. The job shocks, the political theater, the feedback loops of faster machines making even faster machines… those seeds are already here. Dismissing superintelligence as science fiction is unserious. I found myself nodding along because I’ve seen this cycle before: every wave of technology feels ridiculous until it feels inevitable. The future doesn’t announce itself… it creeps in, and then it accelerates. The only real hedge is to keep learning fast enough to steer, instead of gawking at the machine while it quietly takes the wheel.” (Mitch for Alistair). Ex-Google CEO: What Artificial Superintelligence Will Actually Look Like With Eric Schmidt – Moonshots With Peter Diamandis – YouTube . “With that last link, I find myself getting more and more optimistic (if you can believe that) when it comes to AI. This one feels less like a podcast and more like a briefing for the future… and not the far future either. Eric Schmidt is blunt: digital superintelligence isn’t science fiction, it’s a 10-year problem. Within a few years, AI systems will write their own scaffolding, making breakthroughs in math and programming… the foundation of everything from physics to biology. That means millions of ‘AI scientists’ working in parallel, accelerating discovery at a rate human institutions can’t match. The choke point isn’t chips, it’s electricity, hundreds of gigawatts of it. And while U.S. firms scramble for nuclear deals, China’s energy abundance gives them an edge. The danger isn’t just competition, it’s proliferation: superintelligence that escapes the fortress data centers and spreads via smaller models, open-source weights, or inference hacks. At that point, it’s not ten models to watch but millions. Schmidt draws the historical parallel: this is 1938, The Einstein Letter has just been sent. The question isn’t whether we’ll build the bomb. It’s whether we’ll find a way to live in a world where everyone has it. And, with that, he’s quite optimistic about what this means for work and society. Fascinating stuff… and now you have to decide which side you believe…” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

From The Attention Economy To The Intimacy Economy

I can’t shake the feeling that something’s gone missing… and when I get this feeling I also start feeling that I am “The Olds” (or, as Harley Finkelstein likes to remind me: BOOMER!).

We used to have moments that everyone shared.
Albums… commercials… TV finales. 
Even ads that landed as cultural events (hello, Apple 1984).
Love them or hate them… you knew about them. 
You could talk about them at the office… in the coffee line… on the subway.

They gave us a common language… a kind of communal glue.

Now? 
It’s all fragments…
Algorithms feed us personalized universes. 
Media is hyper-targeted. 
Communities splinter into smaller and smaller niches (with more and more people).
I’ll still orbit the music business with my bass podcast and can’t name five Taylor Swift songs… and I’m paying attention.

We care about brands more than ever. 

We carry them, wear them, define ourselves by them.
But increasingly, we experience them alone.
Scrolling in isolation, laughing at memes only our corner of the internet sees, living in For You Page feeds that overlap less and less (even when you have common interests).
I often find myself loving a product or service that no one else has even heard of.
It’s progress… but it also feels like loss.

And it’s a new way to think about marketing when you have a business.

We’ve shifted from The Attention Economy to what I call The Intimacy Economy.
The question is: will leaders design for connection at scale… or settle for clicks in isolation? 
And this shift happened because culture isn’t just what we consume… it’s what we share (and that has changed).

So if we stop the sharing part at scale (or if we how we engage with brands shifted), what happens to the meaning?

What happens to the joy of connection when discovery is reduced to your personal feeds that may now be filled with Grid Zero?
I wonder if this is why nostalgia hits us so hard now. 
We don’t just miss the shows or the music… but perhaps we miss the togetherness of it (and this is what all of those studies on raging loneliness and anxiety don’t talk about?).
The sense that we were all tuned in, at the same time, to the same thing… but now we’re not… so we’re “out of synch”?

This isn’t an argument against personalization or progress.

It’s a reminder that leaders, creators and brands have a choice: chase clicks in isolation… or build moments that bring people together.
And that’s what struck me while editing my conversation with Annie Wilson for this week’s Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast. 
Annie has great book out called, The Growth Dilemma – Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things (along with co-author Ryan Hamilton).

Because maybe the future of marketing isn’t about reaching everyone… but about reaching everyone differently.

Maybe it’s about finding new ways to help us feel like we’re experiencing something together again… in a world that isn’t grooving that way.
I’m trying to think of the last time I felt part of a truly shared cultural moment… do you have any? 

And if not… is that part of the problem leaders and marketers need to solve?

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

AI Can Make Smart People Smarter (And Everyone Else Sloppier)

Every new technology sparks similar fears…

It’s making us dumber…
It’s making us lazier…
It’s making us weaker…

Television will rot your brains.
Video games will make us violent.
The internet will fry our attention spans.

Now? 

ChatGPT (and, Generative AI) is here… and the same question echoes with a different voice:
Is this the thing that finally makes us dumb and lazy?
A small study in Boston threw gasoline on that fire (check this out: Is ChatGPT really making us dumb and lazy?).
Fifty-four students split into three groups: one wrote essays without any tools, one used Google (but no Gemini) and one used ChatGPT.
Electrodes tracked brain activity.

The results?… won’t shock you…

The “brain only” group lit up the charts.
The ChatGPT group? Quiet.
Almost on autopilot… they “wrote” faster… they worked less.
They thought less (because… copy and paste).

Cue the headlines: “ChatGPT is shrinking our brains and making us dumb.”

But here’s the thing…
Science first: the study is too small, too narrow and too obvious to be a final word.
Rational thinking next: Of course a tool designed to reduce effort… reduces effort.

That’s the point… right?

The calculator didn’t make us dumber at math.
It freed us from rote arithmetic so we could actually do more math.
Electricity didn’t make us lazy.
It removed the need to light candles and churn butter so we could build cities and airplanes.

I’m starting to shift my thinking about these tools (as they evolve and as I use them personally and with clients).

The real danger isn’t the tool… it’s how we choose to use it.
If you prompt ChatGPT to “write my essay,” you’ll get less thinking.
If you prompt it to “show me the research paths I should explore,” you might actually think more deeply.
If you get a bigger challenge (think about giving first year college students a PHD level challenge to accomplish) where they have to “show their work” (meaning thinking and research – which, tools like ChatGPT are excellent at documenting and delivering), you might make everyone smarter in the process and final result.

That’s the new paradox.

AI doesn’t replace effort.
It replaces bad effort.
And it tempts us to stop there.
And it tempts those who don’t chase excellence to deliver something easy and mediocre.

This is the part we have to wrestle with:

Do we let it make our work faster… or do we let it make our minds slower?
Do we treat it like a calculator… or like a mathematician?
Do we treat it like a copy writer… or like a business mentor?

We need to be smarter to use smarter tools as well.

Because the risk isn’t just laziness… it’s also trust in the sources and output.
When we stop questioning the information we’re given (whether it comes from a machine or a human) we stop thinking critically.
And that’s when another type of erosion begins… and that’s what it feels like we’re seeing in this research.

So no… ChatGPT isn’t making us dumb.

In fact, I’d argue that ChatGPT is making smart people much smarter.
But our over-reliance on it for those who will use it for outputs over excellence could.
The line is thin… the stakes are high.

To me, the question isn’t “Is AI making us dumb?”

The question is: Will we keep thinking for ourselves (and our personal growth) once it’s here to really think with us?
Because in the end, AI won’t decide whether we get smarter or dumber… we will.
The real test isn’t of the machine… it’s of us.

And history will remember whether we chose to think harder… or just prompt faster.

This is what Trudie Mason and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · AI Can Make Smart People Smarter (And Everyone Else Sloppier) – The Elias Makos Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.