Raising Strong Kids in the Age of AI
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Building character to deal with tech. That’s right. We need character if we need you want to deal with what’s coming and actually You know what? We haven’t done a very good job with what has already come. Don’t get me involved with social media I’ve talked about it in the past Anyway, great piece today by Ben Sasse Ben Sasse familiar I’ve talked about him several weeks ago here on the program. He did a 60 minutes interview Ben Sasse former senator
former president of the University of Florida. And, you know, praying for him, he has a terminal cancer diagnosis. And the interview that he did, again, I did a lengthy podcast on it, talking about how he’s dealing with it. And the fact that, again, no maverick molecules in the universe. Several weeks ago, I did a podcast on this. But anyway, I’m glad to see he is working.
He put out a tremendous piece in the Wall Street Journal and op-ed today talking about habits for humanity in the age of AI and how we all have to help our kids to build the character to make the most out of technology rather than becoming a slave to it.
I think that we have failed in many respects with some of the tech that has already come out when it comes to social media and what has happened there. And he mentions he says we’re in a civilization warping crisis of institutional decline. And he says the consequences are all around us. We’re lonely. The share of Americans who tell pollsters that they have no close friends has quadrupled.
since 1990. study by the University of Arizona that came out last month found that over the last 15 years people averaged 338 fewer spoken words per day than the year before. That’s 120,000 fewer words a year. We don’t trust our institutions. Again, this is most certainly centered around the federal government. Trust has dropped from 77 % in the mid 1960s to 17 % last year. I’m surprised it’s even that high, quite frankly. Pew and Gallup have measured 10 different institutions every year for about 50 years. Nine of them have experienced a declining level of public trust for four consecutive decades. The military is the only exception.
one lie after another, one line of BS after their COVID, a myriad of different things. We don’t trust one another. Only one in three Americans tell Pew that they think they can trust most people, down significantly from previous decades. Conspiracy theories are metastasizing across the internet, and more of our neighbors are falling prey to these echo chambers. Again, I…
I would argue that, you know, we need some guardrails with certain things that are out there. I’ve advocated for guardrails in regards to AI in particular, deep fakes. I for the life of me cannot understand why social media, in particular, why you don’t have to prove who you are to actually even be on there. I think that that would be definitely a step in the right direction. But other people say, no, they don’t want that. They want to be anonymous. Yeah.
because you’re a coward. Okay, you know if you’re not afraid to put your name on something don’t say it. Don’t say it. There’s plenty of things that I would like to say on certain topics but if I’m not 110 % sure because it’s my name on it I am not going to cover it. I let things slide all the time. I could be 98 % sure on something if it’s not 100 I’m not gonna go because my name’s on it. If it’s anonymous what do you care if you’re right or wrong?
The debate right now, he writes, is usually whether AI is going to bring heaven or hell. And the troubling, dizzying, but true answer is, it’s going to bring both. When the cost of quantification falls to close to zero, amazing new opportunities are unlocked. But lifelong work is a thing of the past, and our fellow citizens don’t know how to articulate it. They know how to feel it, and it feels scary. It has massive implications for how we conceive of ourselves.
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It’s going to be he said the biggest divide I’m going to simplify again I’ll cut the article down a little bit between people who master the tools of technology and those who outsource their affections and their habits to these tools and algorithms. The future will be awe inspiring for the first group and life will be miserable for the second heaven and hell. Can he compare to people thought you know again the future dystopian future look at Orwell or you can look at Huxley.
And he is saying it’s looking a lot more like Huxley and I would agree with that also. There’s some more well in there as well, but without a doubt, a lot more brave new world here. The family is the source of the habits that we’re going to need to cultivate the next generation. Nobody loves your kids as much as you do. Loves are local and creating the habits that foster the love of the good, the true and the beautiful begins at home. The bad news of what I’m suggesting is it’s deeply inconvenient.
The good news is, hey, parenting has always been inconvenient. It’s the ultimate inconvenience. So let’s flag four starter habits. Reading. Yep, big with this one. Fewer than half of Americans read a book last year.
That’s nuts to me. That’s a national crisis. Shorter attention spans are killing our imagination. Before our kids even learn the alphabet, we hand them tablets. And we know from a neurological imagery that this is rotting their brains. Again, we talked about this. it in Denmark. And one of the best test scores going until they handed everybody tablets and it went off a cliff. Families need to read aloud together again to build children’s affection for books and to build a shared library.
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a family cannon to inform the character of a home. I’m kind of funny about that too. Yeah, it’s the whole I got myself a man cave in the basement. But have yourself a library. Okay. I’m gonna have you so I can have I have yourself a library right there. Anyway, hard work. This habit can start at an early age. Sure, it’s easier to load and unload the dishwasher and put away the laundry yourself.
We miss the opportunity if we don’t bring the next generation into the labor. Over time, small jobs become medium jobs and ultimately pave the way for hard tasks. Young men especially need work. Tech Sabbaths. This again, this is one thing that we’ve done at our household for a long time. Family vacations. Family vacations. We go to again.
my family from Greece, we go away, go to Europe again. Cellular data is off for the kids. When we go. That’s the rule. That’s a rule. Mom and dad can have it. yeah, they can. They’re in their hotel, they can use the Wi Fi. But out and about. Nope. Nope. Nope. Cellular data is off. Okay. It’s important to get off the damn devices. Again, he talks about other thing that I’ve talked about as well travel.
serious travel travel with your family. It’s more important than just buying them stuff. Okay, get your kids if you can. Okay, get your kids to study abroad, do whatever it takes. These are the best experiences you’re going to have, it’s going to make them well rounded. These the some of the things again, great tips by Ben Sasse in dealing with what is coming and quite frankly, a lot of the stuff that has already come.
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