Thoroughly Thursday - The Overachieving Toaster Edition
This week, we're riding the currents of innovation. Also, enjoying Martha Wells' awesome Murderbot, enjoying the average days, and Ryan Coogler's innovative film deal.
Welcome back to Thoroughly Thursday, the Overachieving Toaster Edition. In 1930, famed British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote a famous paper in which he surmised that the continual innovations in technology would eventually make it so that within 100 years (i.e., 2030, or 5 years from now), the majority of people would work, perhaps, 15 hours a week. The true challenge of our generation would be finding uses for all our free time. That’s a lot of pickleball.
And naps. Lots of naps.
Equally famously, that prediction never came to be, or at least, not for most of us. Admittedly, if we were trying to live to 1930 standards, I’m sure much of our available technology could do the work of most people in less than 15 hours a week. But, as technology increased what we could do, we changed our expectations on what we should be able to accomplish.
Similarly, before the invention of the washing machine, most people only washed their clothes when they really needed to. Washing was hard work, and bulkier items, like bed linens, required a couple of people to scrub and clean. As it was tough work, no one expected fresh linens if they came to visit, as long as the stains weren’t too bad.
But with a washing machine in the house, things were suddenly different. You were no longer slapping your pillowcases against the rocks at the frigid riverbed. The machine did all the work. In a few hours, you could wash all your clothing, your linens, Billy’s favorite blanket, and still have time to cook a roast before 5pm. But with that, expectations changed. In a short time, clean clothes and fresh linens went from a luxury to a necessity.
This change in expectation is often referred to as Jevons’ Paradox: as things become easier, less expensive, or more efficient, we use them more, not less. Originally applied to energy efficiency, the term can easily be applied to our behavior, to our email accounts, or to our phones.
Fast forward several decades, and the pace of innovation and changing expectations is nearly constant. In my day job, I have long aspired to keep my projects up to date consistently, have agendas for all my meetings, and afterward, send out a summary and an itemized task list to all my teams. On good days, I could accomplish two of the three. Most days, I was lucky if I could get an agenda in place before my next Zoom meeting descended into awkward stares as I tried to figure out why I had scheduled it.
But over the last few months, I’ve become more confident with a bunch of new (mostly AI) tools. Suddenly, project tracking, agenda building, and summary assembling are easy to do. Also, so is drafting materials to prep my teams, setting up follow-up emails, putting together supporting documentation, and sending comprehensive weekly recaps to my manager. I have never been this organized, this prepared, this responsive to updates and questions. It had been amazing until last week, when I realized that my technological leap forward had just moved the goalposts on my own work, and I can’t go back.
Six months ago, I was happy if I could complete an agenda more than five minutes before a meeting. Now, I get annoyed if I don’t have all my project docs current by 4:30pm. I’m not complaining, as I realize how lucky I am to be in this position. But it is weird to feel the (proverbial) ground shift beneath my feet. If some senior manager told me that I couldn’t use my new tools, I’m not sure I could. I’ve become too attached to my army of digital assistants.
At least my washing machine hasn’t changed (yet).
Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: Oh, don't be so impatient, Comrade Engineer. We've come very far, very fast.
Engineer: Yes, I know that, Comrade General.
Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: Yes, but do you know what it cost?
Take care, my friends, and remember to keep your knees bent and your feet hip-distance apart when on unsteady ground.
A few cool things I have seen/read or have been sent from readers this week, in no particular order:
RESOURCE: A dear friend of mine is recovering from surgery this week after months of chemotherapy. It made me think of this article from 2022 [Gift Article] by NY Times Opinion writer Sarah Wildman. In life, we are often encouraged to make every day a 10. But sometimes, just appreciating the 4s and 5s that come our way is enough.
BOOK: I’ve written before about my love for Martha Wells' Murderbot series. TT-friend Harmon first introduced me to it, and I’ve now read all seven books repeatedly. Set in a sci-fi future ruled by planet-wide corporations, the story follows a cybernetic security unit “Murderbot,” who is excellent at his job, terribly awkward with humans, and just wants to be left alone to watch soap operas. This has long been one of my favorite series, and now it’s being adapted into a TV show.
ARTICLE: While I haven’t seen Ryan Coogler’s Sinners yet, I was really interested in learning that, behind the scenes, Coogler was able to negotiate that he would retain the rights to the film in 25 years. While this is somewhat more common in the music industry, the only other director to negotiate a similar deal was Quentin Tarantino, with Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood. As art forms go, directors have long been creative journeymen, rarely having any financial interest after the film’s release. It’s great to see this innovation, especially for an artist of Coogler’s caliber. Now, have you seen Sinners yet? What did you think?
What I'm Thinking About - Best to Enjoy Alone or With Others
"Comparison is the thief of joy."
Theodore Roosevelt
All the best, and remember, tomorrow is Friday. :)
Scott
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P.P.S. Rest In Peace, Pope Francis. However, I must agree that Italian Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa shouldn’t be named your successor. The world can’t lose the MOST PERFECT Italian name ever.
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