I haven’t read this book Power and Progress, but I couldn't agree more with Noah here. Honestly, I’m so grateful we have younger, sharper minds like Noah Smith doing the heavy lifting on these genuinely critical modern issues, saying what many of our generation peers think but are too busy or lacks the platform to say.
I loved the other Why Nations Fail, which makes this trend of Nobel-level giants losing their edge when facing AI all the more disappointing. It's a sort of "vulgar caution"—when confronted with AI, they offer nothing fresh, just boilerplate warnings and predictable pleas for regulation. The same thing happened with the late Henry Kissinger. He was fascinated by AI in his final years and wrote extensively about it, but reading his take felt remarkably similar: these giants lived and shaped history, yet when confronted with a paradigm-shaping reality like AI, their insights don't actually sound any wiser than those of a regular young person living here in California.
More people need to be reading Noah's sober, data-driven critiques.
Brilliant. But is there any evidence that any of our political masters, or their advisors, read essays like this?
The creators of great ideas in technology can form companies, or sell their ideas to companies, and see them adopted, by the simple operation of the pursuit of self-interest on the part of the adopters. But great ideas regarding society and politics? (I'm not saying this book review's are correct as opposed to the ideas of the authors it criticizes. Just that this is the sort of debate to which our political leaders should be exposed, directly or indirectly. How can we achieve this?)
Surely, providing a brief synopsis of an essay is exactly the sort of thing AI can do. And it will make the author's ideas, if not his actual words, more widely known -- an example of AI increasing overall human welfare. (Depending on what you think of the author's ideas, of course.)
I haven’t read this book Power and Progress, but I couldn't agree more with Noah here. Honestly, I’m so grateful we have younger, sharper minds like Noah Smith doing the heavy lifting on these genuinely critical modern issues, saying what many of our generation peers think but are too busy or lacks the platform to say.
I loved the other Why Nations Fail, which makes this trend of Nobel-level giants losing their edge when facing AI all the more disappointing. It's a sort of "vulgar caution"—when confronted with AI, they offer nothing fresh, just boilerplate warnings and predictable pleas for regulation. The same thing happened with the late Henry Kissinger. He was fascinated by AI in his final years and wrote extensively about it, but reading his take felt remarkably similar: these giants lived and shaped history, yet when confronted with a paradigm-shaping reality like AI, their insights don't actually sound any wiser than those of a regular young person living here in California.
More people need to be reading Noah's sober, data-driven critiques.
Brilliant. But is there any evidence that any of our political masters, or their advisors, read essays like this?
The creators of great ideas in technology can form companies, or sell their ideas to companies, and see them adopted, by the simple operation of the pursuit of self-interest on the part of the adopters. But great ideas regarding society and politics? (I'm not saying this book review's are correct as opposed to the ideas of the authors it criticizes. Just that this is the sort of debate to which our political leaders should be exposed, directly or indirectly. How can we achieve this?)
best wishes to your rabbit for a speedy recovery
Hi. Respect.
Now, honesty.
If you think you are getting paid by the word .. lovely.
I don't reward anyone for wasting my attention.
So. Please. Provide a synopsis. A "tldr". Axios gets it.
Don't drag me through your painfully indulgent narrative. If I want narrative I can open a Harry Potter book. ( I *NEVER* do that. )
Please respect my time and tell me - UP FRONT - what it is that you wan to tell me.
Surely, providing a brief synopsis of an essay is exactly the sort of thing AI can do. And it will make the author's ideas, if not his actual words, more widely known -- an example of AI increasing overall human welfare. (Depending on what you think of the author's ideas, of course.)