Ai-lone

There’s this one sentence from Salma Alam-Naylor’s Blog Post that really fascinates me:

AI is an incredibly lonely experience where human collaboration and conversation have been replaced by strange conversations with computer algorithms.

That sentence hits the nail on the head for me — and it leaves behind a deep sadness. This loneliness at work started for me with the pandemic. And yes, I love working from home. Especially as a parent, it’s a blessing not to be away from home for eleven hours a day — to witness a lot, or even most, of your child growing up. When you’re trying to share parenting and partnership as equals, it also means the other parent can occasionally tap out and catch their breath.

At the same time, I find myself holding on to a work reality that was shaped by coding together, solving problems together — and yes, the occasional Nerf gun battle or foosball game was a welcome break for passively mulling over a bug, which back at your desk would often get solved pretty quickly. But even when it didn’t, there were always colleagues in the office who could help. Now, with AI being practically omnipresent, it somehow feels even worse. Even in the office, it has become quiet and lonely. And a sentence from a colleague describes that feeling just as perfectly as Salma did:

So I just discussed the best solution to the problem with my agent.

Where we used to ask a colleague, we now ask an agent — or even four, five sub-agents. Sure, that buys our colleague some time, sparing them from being pulled out of their context to deal with our problem. But what gets lost? Our own problem-solving skills. And the connection to our colleagues. That shared moment of triumph when the div is finally centered. The code works and the linter stops complaining.

Or simply that a colleague might not have an answer right away either. That you’re not alone in that brief moment of not knowing. That won’t happen with AI. It always has something to say — immediately, confidently, even when it’s wrong.

Ask a colleague again. Pull them out of their context. It’s worth it — for both of you.

‘Project Hail Mary’ demonstrates how intellectual humility can be a guiding force for scientists and astronauts

Brilliant article via @Kenny Chaffin! Spoilers alert for parts of this article!

...Perhaps the real hero of the story is not Ryland Grace himself but his intellectual humility. Intellectual humility, the admission of your own limited knowledge and a willingness to learn from others, sometimes seems to be undervalued, particularly by those in leadership positions.

People who are intellectually humble will say things like, “Tell me more,” or “I wish I had thought of that.” They don’t feel threatened when admitting vulnerability.

Some people, however, do feel threatened by the thought of admitting incomplete knowledge or appearing to have limitations. Instead of confessing what they don’t know, they may claim a kind of certainty that goes beyond their true expertise, shutting down further questioning. Intellectual humility, in contrast, encourages someone to remain engaged by highlighting how much they still have to learn.

Being contradicted by the facts can produce diverse reactions. For someone without intellectual humility, not knowing can feel like failure. It can lead to defensiveness, denial or a refusal to engage. With humility, however, not knowing is more interesting than scary. The defensiveness is gone, replaced by curiosity...