As AI adoption ramps up worldwide, a counter-movement is emerging as authors speculate about humanity's role once AI replaces most corporate thinking at work. So Ryan Levesque's Return to Real tries to figure out what human advantages will survive in the age of AI.
I think this genre is still very new, and I doubt anyone has the right answers, so I have to admit that the book disappointed me. It looks like there are many more creative ways to get folks to touch grass more and tap into their innate authenticity.
One useful idea explored on this blog is that a counter-AI movement will gain some force, and businesses need to be prepared to tap into it. So sometimes, when I meet up with blog readers, I tell them that if they have a monetisable way to get folks to "touch-grass", they should give it a shot. I doubt a counter-movement would be strong enough to build massive companies, but a few first movers might be able to make a living and avoid total obsolescence from AI.
Of course, while I'm dispensing my thoughts, I need to also ask myself what I'm doing about my own humanity, given that I'm now so deep in AI, I'm balancing multiple AI projects outside my work.
So here's what I have done:
- The counter-AI is now very credible because one of the most popular courses at Harvard today is "Hum 10", a brutal Humanities course based on the Classics. Students spend many hours grappling with Classic books and writing without using AI, based on their Professor's instructions.
- At my own level, I asked Claude to gain inspiration from this "Hum 10" program and similar programs across the Ivy League universities to design a self-study program for myself. This makes sense because AI is smarter than most humanities professors.
- This is a lightweight program designed to just take one hour of my time each week, but collectively will take a year to complete.
I've finished my Orientation, and I find that as I get older, I'm more willing to play along and patiently find practical insight in this study of the humanities. And it's actually quite stimulating because I have to keep asking myself what makes a classic classic. In Week 2, I had to process 600 lines of Homer's Iliad that detail the wrath of Achilles, and this targeted reading helped me think about situations where a falling-out occurs between a star employee and his aura-farming asshole boss.
I shared this with my CET law student, and her idea is that this should be some kind of salon where people discuss philosophical ideas, and this document can serve as a blueprint to provide some kind of structure for people to skinny-dip into the humanities pool and not be judged or graded by a stuffy academic who might have no actual corporate experience. I also suspect that the biggest beneficiaries would be the engineering and CS types like me.
Am I onto something here?
As I delve into this project, I will keep blogging to connect it to work and the FIRE movement.
Anyway, I'm not gatekeeping the document; you can find me on social media to get it. If you have a venue where the salon can take place, please share it with me.
If you are interested in joining me, just let me know.
Maybe this can blossom into a Toastmasters-like movement, but without the FAs and MLM people!
