Human Stuff

“It’s getting ever harder to distinguish humans from bots, not just because bots are becoming more humanlike, but also because humans are becoming more botlike.”

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk

down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs

to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”

when someone sneezes, a leftover

from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.

And sometimes, when you spill lemons

from your grocery bag, someone else will help you

pick them up.

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I’m betting on people. I’m betting that people will refuse to abandon their souls to the machine, and refuse to forget who they truly are. People just need, in Plato’s words, anamimneskein —”to be reminded.” And that’s a process that is best done in genuine encounters.

Got an email from a student looking for an internship in private equity. Here's my response: Hope it helps someone else trying to break into a new field.

People are happy enough rich, and people are happy enough poor. But it’s hard to imagine anyone happy without a feeling that their actions have some impact, however small. Even if you’re not going to be remembered by history, you want to be remembered by your barista. The prisoner, though largely robbed of power, is probably happier if he can vex... See more