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In the midst of the AI hype bubble, how do we spot real AI capabilities and snake oil marketing? Many AI companies promise that they will help us predict the future. Is this true? Can AI really predict the future? Turns out, in this capacity at least, it might be more snake oil than success.

In this episode, I sit down with Arvind Narayanan, a Princeton Computer Scientist and co-author of AI Snake Oil. We discuss how to spot snake oil as well as how to prepare for a workplace of integrated AI. What skills should young people like me be investing in? And how do we plan for our futures?

Topics:

• Predictive AI vs. generative AI
• Why algorithms struggle to predict human behavior
• The risks of using AI in healthcare, hiring, education, and criminal justice
• How generative AI is changing programming and other professions
• Will AI replace jobs or transform them?
• The future of entry-level work and professional training
• What students should learn in an AI-shaped economy
• Artificial general intelligence and the future of work
• How to separate genuine expertise from AI hype
• “What books have had the most impact on you?”
• “What advice do you have for teenagers?”

Bio:

Arvind Narayanan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University and the director of the Center for Information Technology Policy. He is a co-author of the book AI Snake Oil, the essay AI as Normal Technology, and a newsletter of the same name which is read by over 75,000 researchers, policy makers, journalists, and AI enthusiasts. He previously co-authored two widely used computer science textbooks: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies and Fairness in Machine Learning. Narayanan led the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project to uncover how companies collect and use our personal information. His work was among the first to show how machine learning reflects cultural stereotypes. Narayanan was one of TIME's inaugural list of 100 most influential people in AI. He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

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This interview is a bit different from other episodes. I sit down with Dr. Jennifer A. Frey, the former Dean of the University of Tulsa’s Honors College. If you’ve been following the Lessons for Interesting People podcast on Substack, you will know I wrote an article about Tulsa’s honors college recently. I committed to UTulsa because the university seemed to have accomplished the impossible: combine a computer science college filled with research opportunities with an Honors College whose mission was to analyze and debate the great works of the Western tradition in a vibrant community of professors and peers.

That’s why I was distressed, when seven weeks before school was set to begin, UTulsa decided to “restructure their program” without any clear information on what exactly this meant.

In this interview, Dr. Frey discusses the purpose of higher education.

Is it simply to equip you for the workplace? Or, is it to teach you the habits of mind to think freely? Then, we dive into the truth about why programs like UTulsa’s Honors College are not being supported by their universities. According to Dr. Frey, it’s not the cost.

Topics:

• The State of Higher Education: What is the Purpose of the University?
• What is a Liberal Education?
• The Honors College of the University of Tulsa: the Dream, its Present, and its Precarious Future
• "What books have had an impact on you?"
• "What advice do you have for teenagers?"

Bio:

Dr. Jennifer A. Frey is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. She previously served as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College at the University of Tulsa. Before coming to the University of Tulsa, she was an Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, where she was also a Peter and Bonnie McCausland Faculty Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences. Prior to her tenure at Carolina, she was a Collegiate Assistant Professor the Humanities at the University of Chicago, and a junior fellow of the Society for the Liberal Arts

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Lessons from Interesting People substack: https://taylorbledsoe.substack.com/

Website: https://www.aimingforthemoon.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiming4moon/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aiming4Moon

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What happens when your world crumbles? When all the things you hold dear are snatched away from you? Most of us would give up and despair. And, yet, though he awaited an unjust execution, Roman senator and philosopher Boethius penned these hopeful words:

“The world in constant change maintains a harmony. And elements keep peace whose nature is to war.”

Faced with his coming death, Boethius reflected upon his life of contemplation and philosophy, writing one of the greatest works of the medieval age on facing suffering: The Consolation of Philosophy.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Thomas Ward to discuss Boethius’ magnum opus and Dr. Ward’s latest book, After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher. Dr. Ward and I examine what Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy can tell us about how to approach life in the midst of suffering.

Topics:

• Who Was Boethius and Why He Matters
• Why The Consolation of Philosophy Endured
• Lady Fortune, The Wheel, and Approachability
• Boethius’ Illness and Philosophy’s Diagnosis
• Forgetting Who We Are
• Modern Stoicism’s Appeal and Limits
• After Stoicism: Hope, God, and Joy
• Love as the Order of the Cosmos
• Eros and Caritas: What Love Means
• Daily Practices for Recollection
• How to Live Like Boethius: Suffering, Virtue, and a Transcendent Order
• "What books have had an impact on you?"
• "What advice do you have for teenagers?"

Bio:

Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin, in the School of Civic Leadership. He is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher (Word on Fire, 2024), which won the Catholic Media Association Book Award for History (First Place). He studied philosophy at Biola University (BA 2004) and UCLA (PhD, 2011) and theology at Oxford University (M.Phil 2006).

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Lessons from Interesting People substack: https://taylorbledsoe.substack.com/

Website: https://www.aimingforthemoon.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiming4moon/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aiming4Moon