#makemesmart — Public Fediverse posts

Higher order thinking and AI

On “Make Me Smart” episode “It’s tough our there for new college grads“, Kimberly Adams interviewed NYT writer Noam Scheiber. He mentioned in the world with so much AI, there’s still going to be a need for people who can synthesize and make a decision and make an argument. That stopped me cold because it’s a similar argument that I recall from reading A Whole New Mind back… 20 years ago.

Back then, it was saving my job from going to overseas outsourcing. Working in IT, I saw plenty of cases where the vendors I worked with (BEA, Oracle, HP) open overseas support desks. Over the ensuing two decades I’ve probably worked with a few dozen support people who seemed to work in distant time zones. Now, it’s artificial intelligence. I guess we will see. In both cases, it’s how to be valuable enough to still have a job.

I feel like back then, the argument was shipping overseas the easy jobs so that onshore employees could focus on higher order thinking jobs. Similar to using AI to do that work. So, I guess the question is why so many more IT jobs 20 years didn’t go overseas? The worry was IT in the 2000s would go the way of manufacturing. Did H1-B VISAs help? That doesn’t seem a relevant mitigation to AI. We didn’t create that many college graduates. I wonder how much of it was Enshittification? It felt like in that era, people really complained about all this overseas support in terms of resolution, feeling supported, and making a favorable impression of the company. It cut costs that cut brand image.

@marketplaceapm I get that it’s summer, so this may not be a fair assessment, but I’m giving #makemesmart through the end of the month to find its new vibe. It hasn’t yet. I hope you’ll be iterating to get the show back on track after Kai’s departure. I miss the two strong takes. This is why Kimberly was the right fit. But now, it feels like there’s too much “ooh, I don’t know how to feel about this right now….” The show needs another strong, opinionated voice.

"Lighten up, Francis" Kai with the Stripes reference on Friday's #MakeMeSmart . I see you. @kimberlyadams

@kimberlyadams
I hate that you were right, but you absolutely called it on yesterday's #MakeMeSmart show about #CongestionPricing. Gov. Kathy Hochul received a big influx of campaign donations from auto industry, and is going to receive more in the coming weeks.

https://www.levernews.com/big-auto-and-the-death-of-traffic-congestion-reform/

@kimberlyadams You skipped the punchline of the GATTACA reference. The fellow watching the urine collection was on to Hawke and didn't say anything. On Hawke's last test before he leaves, the urine monitor essentially tells him "you're not left-handed" (meaning the guy Hawke's pretending to be) and winks. #MakeMeSmart

Every Friday on #makemesmart, we have cocktails while chatting about the economy and playing some games… well, I have a cocktail… @kairyssdal.bsky.social has a beer… anyhow… join us on the livestream at 6:30 pm et/ 3:30 pm pt! https://www.youtube.com/@marketplaceAPM/streams

Today I learned (via @kimberlyadams of #MakeMeSmart) that crop insurance payouts have ballooned to $19.1 billion in 2022, up from $2.96B in 2001 when the rates were set. The payouts mostly benefit large industrial farmers, and probably incentivize farmers to grow crops that warmer weather makes less viable, rather than adapting to new crops. And taxpayers are paying a higher percentage of the payouts than the farmers pay in premiums.

https://www.ewg.org/research/crop-insurance-costs-soar-over-time-reaching-record-high-2022

@kimberlyadams I think you should tell us both what a SuperPAC is and why congresspeople are exchanging donations. I realized I don't know either of these things. #MakeMeSmart

@kimberlyadams Two killer #MakeMeSmart shows in a row. Nice to hear a realistic economist for a change.

@kimberlyadams Very happy to hear the nuanced discussion about governance on #MakeMeSmart today.

I’m a big fan of #StrangePlanet so I was happy to be reminded that #NathanPyle has other cartoon works available on the Internetz. Thanks @kimberlyadams for the point-out in the #MakeMeSmile on your #MakeMeSmart podcast! https://laughosaurus.com/p/nathan-w-pyle-illustrates-the-50-states

I’m a big fan of #StrangePlanet so I was happy to be reminded that #NathanPyle has other cartoon works available on the Internetz. Thanks @kimberlyadams for the point-out in the #MakeMeSmile on your #MakeMeSmart podcast! https://laughosaurus.com/p/nathan-w-pyle-illustrates-the-50-states

I’m a big fan of #StrangePlanet so I was happy to be reminded that #NathanPyle has other cartoon works available on the Internetz. Thanks @kimberlyadams for the point-out in the #MakeMeSmile on your #MakeMeSmart podcast! https://laughosaurus.com/p/nathan-w-pyle-illustrates-the-50-states

I’m a big fan of #StrangePlanet so I was happy to be reminded that #NathanPyle has other cartoon works available on the Internetz. Thanks @kimberlyadams for the point-out in the #MakeMeSmile on your #MakeMeSmart podcast! https://laughosaurus.com/p/nathan-w-pyle-illustrates-the-50-states

I am sitting in my kitchen, smelling the cigarette smoke from my neighbors, and thinking about an episode of #MakeMeSmart where they talked about this story… I feel like I would be less bothered by the smell of pot than cigarettes

Bothered by pot smell, she sued her neighbor to stop smoking — and won https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/06/marijuana-smoke-weed-smell-neighbors/

Today's #MakeMeSmart newsletter has #baseball numbers...

- MLB attendance is down (not shocking)
- Survey says 65% of Gen Z respondents said they were “not a fan at all” of the MLB. Only 11% said baseball was one of their three favorite sports.
- A survey of self-reported MLB fans found that people drink between 2.4 to 4.2 drinks on average.

Full newsletter and links: https://view.connect.americanpublicmedia.org/?qs=ade144899b704e2c15deb7a9a75a62dd914518f697bf64c30fb31f8fe3b3b75d664833ad20a204e1ea4f688ec69172c406c5661f3943992b723d8c253e79647bbc8741da6304a4454dd085d6d2631605

@kimberlyadams How many ChatGPT-generated voice mail messages starring you and Kai do you expect to have contributed by #MakeMeSmart listeners?

@kimberlyadams I had a brilliant thought when you said "Drew runs everything" on tonight's #MakeMeSmart. With apologies to the Wu Tang Clan,

Drew
Runs
Everything
At
Marketplace

I am catching up on #MakeMeSmart and it makes me so happy to know that @kimberlyadams subscribed to the USPTO mailing list!

@kimberlyadams cracked me up on #MakeMeSmart yesterday with this article on D.C. residents cheating on #Wordle with a word finding website. Whether that cheating habit can be extrapolated to broader trends in our nation's Capital is up to you!😅

https://wtop.com/dc/2023/02/study-calls-dc-residents-wordle-streaks-into-question/

@kairyssdal @kimberlyadams

The discussion of football in yesterday's #MakeMeSmart episode made me go read the article you mentioned, and it was really good.

One additional thought: you said that the players are adults and can make decisions for themselves. But in order to get to the NFL, they had to have started as kids, teenagers or younger. They couldn't make informed risk assessment at that age, someone ELSE made the decision FOR them.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/football-is-too-dangerous-to-exist

So just finished listening to #MakeMeSmart from 1/12/23. I would like to propose a new version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 with @kimberlyadams and @kairyssdal making comments as the movie plays. #sciencefiction #movies

Appreciate this discussion about Mastodon on #MakeMeSmart with Professor @robertwgehl. What Professor Gehl says about "network effects" is very true - if your network isn't there, people will be reluctant to switch.

Good discussion with @kairyssdal &
@ka_marketplace.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/make-me-smart/unpacking-mastodon/

This is a great episode of #MakeMeSmart with @kairyssdal @ka_marketplace and @robertwgehl https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-me-smart-with-kai-and-molly/id1181589165?i=1000586349704