I love the idea of “knowledge-with.” There was a World Economic Forum release about jobs of the future (2030) and so many of the care taking and craft jobs were ranked as growing. I hadn’t thought about it in these relational terms. So much to ponder here.
Dear Nicolas. There is much to admire in your article, and much to critique.
I must start with the critique, however. You have chosen an either/or dystopian approach common to social media discourse. 'This was the great before' 'This is the disaster we are now in or leading too'.
I apologize for saying, as an older reader, that this is neither engaging nor accurate.
There is too much supposition (the drama for readership) and too little substance.
It is in fact more poetic than substantial.
Good for proposing that the reader examine the world and their ideas, for gaining their attention, engaging their emotions but, Apologies, very low on substance, deep research and careful, thoughtful propositions.
No we are not at the apocalypse yet. At least not the apocalypse you propose.
Read more history and history as reflection in great literature, starting where you choose before AD1.
Propositional mastery was never meant to be a goal in and of itself, it was meant as a method to investigate the nature of truth. Once it was divorced from the deeper philosophical underpinnings of morality, ethics and human experience it became a disembodied pursuit, the empty cornerstone of rationalists and relativists, disciples of The Organon.
They fashioned it into an anti-humanist cult that sees the world as something to be catalogued, financialized and optimized instead of simply experienced. We were coopted into this sinister cult through adhesion. By interfacing with its obligatory systems we’ve legitimized it and given it power.
No one should lament its passing, it is good that it should devour itself, because while we were collectively under its auspices we were incapable of rejecting it. Now, placed on the outside, we can simply see if for what it always was a synthetic, oppressive, malignant, disharmonious rejection of what it means to be human.
We don’t need a replacement, we’ve always had everything we have ever needed. We’d just let this parasitic memetic organism temporarily convince us otherwise. Nothing will be lost and we have everything to gain.
Was long awaiting this addition to your previous piece on the Wisdom economy. This is such rich and valuable visioning of the future - and those of us tuned in are building the scaffolding out of the collapse. Thank you for this!
Things are changing and we will adapt. I know I am - building my next project with the Dunbar's number in mind- a community that I think of as a digital village.
We need more "villages", and, just like you - and John Vervaeke or Ian McGilchrist say- different ways of knowing of navigating what's already and what's next.
I’m happy to find this article and so resonant with something I’ve been exploring too. The shift you describe feels deeply tied to how we revalue human work in the age of AI. Not everything can be measured, scaled, or pointed at, some things must be held, with judgment, presence, and care. I’m trying to push for a human metric in how we move forward … wondering what you would think
You’re absolutely right. This will be a massive workforce migration. There is a lot of great work happening with trying to figure out more human metrics. The human flourishing project is one that comes to mind.
I can’t help but think, too, that there’s a “garbage in, garbage out” quality to AI and technology in general when it comes to trends. As a former designer, I’ve noticed that there’s a sameness to everything that you see in Instagram feeds, for example, with nothing really breakthrough or new. Similarly, with everything now digitized, “content” takes the place of “creative”, rewarding quantity and filler over quality and creativity. The point being, as long as our system rewards monetization over original thought, we might be generally hosed.
The reward system is more complicated. Look at the algorithms. They reward volume over quality. Homogenisation of taste is real: why: the incentives are placed on posting (numbers of posts/followers/likes) (engagement) over quality. Substack falls for the same trap of volume over quality. Quality when posting means eloquent and simple, clear thoughts. Could the poster have said the same thing in way less words?
Yes, yes and yes. You've put into words and so beautifully and with depth what I've been reflecting on. Thank you!
I love the idea of “knowledge-with.” There was a World Economic Forum release about jobs of the future (2030) and so many of the care taking and craft jobs were ranked as growing. I hadn’t thought about it in these relational terms. So much to ponder here.
Dear Nicolas. There is much to admire in your article, and much to critique.
I must start with the critique, however. You have chosen an either/or dystopian approach common to social media discourse. 'This was the great before' 'This is the disaster we are now in or leading too'.
I apologize for saying, as an older reader, that this is neither engaging nor accurate.
There is too much supposition (the drama for readership) and too little substance.
It is in fact more poetic than substantial.
Good for proposing that the reader examine the world and their ideas, for gaining their attention, engaging their emotions but, Apologies, very low on substance, deep research and careful, thoughtful propositions.
No we are not at the apocalypse yet. At least not the apocalypse you propose.
Read more history and history as reflection in great literature, starting where you choose before AD1.
I am advising as an older reader only.
Propositional mastery was never meant to be a goal in and of itself, it was meant as a method to investigate the nature of truth. Once it was divorced from the deeper philosophical underpinnings of morality, ethics and human experience it became a disembodied pursuit, the empty cornerstone of rationalists and relativists, disciples of The Organon.
They fashioned it into an anti-humanist cult that sees the world as something to be catalogued, financialized and optimized instead of simply experienced. We were coopted into this sinister cult through adhesion. By interfacing with its obligatory systems we’ve legitimized it and given it power.
No one should lament its passing, it is good that it should devour itself, because while we were collectively under its auspices we were incapable of rejecting it. Now, placed on the outside, we can simply see if for what it always was a synthetic, oppressive, malignant, disharmonious rejection of what it means to be human.
We don’t need a replacement, we’ve always had everything we have ever needed. We’d just let this parasitic memetic organism temporarily convince us otherwise. Nothing will be lost and we have everything to gain.
Was long awaiting this addition to your previous piece on the Wisdom economy. This is such rich and valuable visioning of the future - and those of us tuned in are building the scaffolding out of the collapse. Thank you for this!
Thank you 🙏
Things are changing and we will adapt. I know I am - building my next project with the Dunbar's number in mind- a community that I think of as a digital village.
We need more "villages", and, just like you - and John Vervaeke or Ian McGilchrist say- different ways of knowing of navigating what's already and what's next.
I’m happy to find this article and so resonant with something I’ve been exploring too. The shift you describe feels deeply tied to how we revalue human work in the age of AI. Not everything can be measured, scaled, or pointed at, some things must be held, with judgment, presence, and care. I’m trying to push for a human metric in how we move forward … wondering what you would think
You’re absolutely right. This will be a massive workforce migration. There is a lot of great work happening with trying to figure out more human metrics. The human flourishing project is one that comes to mind.
I just wrote an article about it and wonder what you think: https://open.substack.com/pub/thehumanplaybook/p/the-human-metric?r=1fr1e&utm_medium=ios. Trying to find collaborators for this next phase.
I can’t help but think, too, that there’s a “garbage in, garbage out” quality to AI and technology in general when it comes to trends. As a former designer, I’ve noticed that there’s a sameness to everything that you see in Instagram feeds, for example, with nothing really breakthrough or new. Similarly, with everything now digitized, “content” takes the place of “creative”, rewarding quantity and filler over quality and creativity. The point being, as long as our system rewards monetization over original thought, we might be generally hosed.
That's exactly it, and why this is not just an easy fix, but a larger rewiring that needs to happen.
The reward system is more complicated. Look at the algorithms. They reward volume over quality. Homogenisation of taste is real: why: the incentives are placed on posting (numbers of posts/followers/likes) (engagement) over quality. Substack falls for the same trap of volume over quality. Quality when posting means eloquent and simple, clear thoughts. Could the poster have said the same thing in way less words?
It could, but then it wouldn't have been written by me, in my voice, as i saw it at the time.
Didn’t I basically just say the same thing?
beautifully said. 🙏🏼❤️
this is stunning and brilliant food for thought, thank you! 🥰
Don’t want to use too much words. Your article stays for itself and says what I feel.
Thanks for sharing.🙏
Thank you Anne 🙏
This article is dope...
AI is only a powerful tool and mimic , it can be if you load your corpus a collaborator. Think not of “let me check my notes” but instead “
: 🤖 what would I do or say about this ?
I already am doing same.
Loaded my corpus, give 🤖 a problem it gives me part of a solution that must be tweaked.
Label the product you have done so.
“AI assisted”
… and get some hard practical skills…
The diagnosis is correct.
The prescription of
New schools for adults to become part of something real?
To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield - Stay out of school , it makes you too weak to survive the jungle out there… which is now everywhere.
That is one crucial aspect of it. But, less classrooms, and more ecosystems of becoming.
“This form of knowledge gave us modern science, global trade, and technological scale.”
This is tendentious if you look at WHO did these things, certainly they were literate and educated, but in no way products of institutions.
Nor was the HOW institutional.
No, the institutions inherited these things.
Too deep for me!