Two words
I don’t want you to read anything else from me, but the software that sends this email told me that if I sent only two words, some of your email software will treat this message as SPAM. And so you won’t see it.
But, you’re welcome to stop here.
Just two words. Don’t quit.
The abuse of a great thing (e-mail) has warped how we can communicate; what I can say, and how I can speak to you.
We accept this deterioration because email – the product of government spending and research universities – is still, on balance, a good thing.
But, the degeneration won’t stop at SPAM.
Just as Google and then Meta algorithms eviscerated the industries that produce the truth, and replaced them with factories that produce fleeting feelings, the coming decades will bring a similar erosion of critical thinking.
The ability to see the forest for the trees.
Self-knowledge. Humility.
We have returned to an age of hubris.
Yesterday while talking with one of you on the phone about the relative pragmatism of Chinese authoritarianism, I said the only cure for hubris is hunger.
Too few Americans with power have known hunger. (Too few with power have known hunger, period.)
In the literal ruins of World Wars I & II, good people said: no more hubris. We need humility.
We need to learn to say “I’m sorry. Your turn.” And move forward, together.
Thus, the UN, NATO, the WHO, the Internet, the WTO, NAFTA, the EU, etc.
But in our society money shields people from accountability.
Ironically, the wealthier and now more powerful a person becomes, the harder it is for them to know, let alone cultivate, the radical power of humility.
“I don’t know. Let’s talk to someone who does.”
Hence, the ambient disdain for experts. The cult of personality around "Men of Action.”
Act first, think second.
Move fast and break things.
It’s a retread.
The new oligarchs who want states run like companies (dictatorships) are full of old, tired, played out ideas.
What’s cool is dialogue. What’s hard is synthesis.
The biggest technological challenge is democracy, not dictatorship.
But, again, our market – “liberated from the chains of morality” – will reward the cheapest, shortest path to ruin.
And the bourgeoisie will, as they have before, go along with their own destruction.
But not you!
You are made of stronger stuff. Of grit and hardscrabble.
A final note that is not a postscript but a preface.
Twice in the last two days I’ve connected with some of you, my oldest friends, about the topic of so-called AI.
I will use title case – from the age of yore – to convey my feelings.
EVERY ONE OF YOU MUST BECOME SKILLED AT USING AI.
Every single one of you must become excellent at it.
As I wrote here months ago:
If you’re familiar with the politics of one Elon Musk and/or his fellow traveler Peter Thiel, you can connect the dots. (Hint: they don’t spell out “d e m o c r a c y.”
Either progressives get involved in this fight or we’ll forfeit it before it starts.
I have been fortunate to use Claude at work.
Last weekend, I used the more affordable DeepSeek R1 model.
Use them now.
“Master” them, until you confront the dialectic.