Living at the intersection of our most human spaces and the latest in technology, I come across really interesting things on both sides.
And yet, too much of the broad discourse feels either Team Human or Team AI. Everyone is going to need to figure out for themselves (and their families) what the right mix is going to be for them; building an intuition from requires nuance, breadth and context.
But for busy parents, I think an easy, low stakes way to build that intuition is through idle curiosity. So, each week, 5 things from either side - designed to make you think or chuckle or just wonder.
💕 The Human
👩🏾🎨 Play: Kuub - learn about this fun, competitive backyard game with royal Scandi roots. Perfect for the summer with just the family or a backyard full of friends.
👨🏼🌾 Do: Creativity Challenge - 5 little challenges - from doodling to daydreaming, writing poems to 30 sec dance parties, these ideas pack a big creative punch for less than 10 minutes in your day.
👩🏽🍳 Make: Citrus and Red Onion Salad - I love fresh, flavorful dishes - especially in the summer. I found and made this gem last night and it was devoured by the family.
👩🏻🎓Read: Bring Back Communal Discipline - I read this article with great interest. Most of us will agree with want the “village” with which to raise our kids - the support and the backup. But implied in that is also the shared responsibility of discipline, where it gets tricky real fast. Growing up in my Indian community, aunties and uncles held the same authority as my own parents and yet I hesitate to extend the same with kids in my community. I too wish we could bring this back, but it requires mutual values, respect and moderation which is hard but doable, especially in our local communities.
👨🏾🏫 Learn: Guide to Storing Condiments - nothing says summer like grilling burgers and hot dogs which comes with an array of condiments. I never really know the best way to store them so they all crowd into our fridge door. But here’s a handy guide for all of those saucy stars.
✨ Bonus: inspired by graduation weekend, this gem from the incredibly talented Wendy MacNaughton. (Btw - Bay Area families - check out her brand new studio for all to explore their creative/makers selves)
⚡️ The AI
👩🏾🎨 Play: Way of Code - Rick Rubin’s collaboration with Anthropic to explore the ideas of “Vibe Coding” through the lenses of ancient wisdom and intuition. Though I think the term “vibe coding” somewhat undermines its power and accessibility, it celebrates anyone being able to create an app or other digital artifact through instruction and iteration. A fun interactive journey that makes you think while playing.
👨🏼🌾 Do: Granola - I started using Granola about a year ago. It instantly felt different vs so many other AI meeting transcription services. This one actually summarized a meeting in a way that felt useful and natural. It allows me to be more present in my meetings, without needing to take notes, which fits beautifully in my search for tools that help me be more human. I’m not the only one to feel that way - try it out with a meeting you need to take notes on but want to stay present in or to supplement your notes.
👩🏽🍳 Make: Tennis-themed design - inspired by this weekend’s French Open finals, here’s how this designer used Claude to come up with a tennis themed color palette. Useful if you need to come up with colors for a creative project or you just need a brainstorm buddy.
👩🏻🎓Read: Your robot chauffeur is on its way. Welcome it - last March, over spring break, I took my daughters on their first driverless ride. My eldest had written an essay doubting the abilities of robot surgeons and self-driving cars, reasonable for an 11 yo I think. I wanted her human emotion and instincts to be supplemented by data and experience. Needless to say it was eyeopening for both girls.
On my part, given how distracted and volatile human drivers are getting, added to the insanity of working parents trying to drive their kids everywhere, I’m eager to see safe, broadscale adoption of driverless cars, even as I still love taking to the open road with the great tunes and no destination.
The data is far from perfect but it is overwhelming - as independent journalists like Timothy B. Lee are showing, driverless cars may already be safer than human drivers.
👨🏾🏫 Learn: Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath - I put this under “Learn” because I think one of the most critical things that individuals (esp those responsible for others, like parents) will need to get comfortable with in the next year is: 1. what AI is, 2. what it can/can’t do (and how quickly that is evolving) and 3. what role we want it to play in our lives. This is a good intro piece on the stakes and where and how it’s starting to pick up pace.
✨ Bonus: As we rewire our intuition on how to build with AI we need different mental models. When I moved from corporate to startups, I had to leave Gantt charts and waterfalls to embrace the agile/sprint approach. We’re at a similar reframing where first attempts seems wildly off but we can quickly iterate our way to what we need. Effective but very different from what we’re used to… so it’s uncomfortable.
We’ll need to get over the discomfort to get to the curiosity which can lead to the mastery.
Awesome post! Love the new format and links to resources :)