Digest for 12/18/2025

Kevin Kelly talks about the history of AI and where it's headed, touching on the idea of machines becoming conscious or superintelligent.

What will a future with intuitive AI look like? Futurist Maurice Conti offers a look at technology that augments human creativity and intelligence, from generative design to augmented reality.

Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.

At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional 'take / make / waste' industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.

Green-minded architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account all children, all species, for all time.

Convince just 100 key companies to go sustainable, and WWF's Jason Clay says global markets will shift to protect the planet our consumption has already outstripped. Clay lays out how.

Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.

Will machines replace humans? Economist Daniel Susskind confronts this question and three misconceptions we have about our automated future, suggesting we ask something else: How will we distribute wealth in a world when there will be less -- or even no -- work?

What makes work satisfying? Apart from a paycheck, there are intangible values that, Barry Schwartz suggests, our current way of thinking about work simply ignores. It's time to stop thinking of workers as cogs on a wheel.