I Smell a Rat! The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Did you know the original Universities were designed as Prisons to keep unruly young men caged up while their hormones drove risky behavior that threatened the local social harmony?

Rather than allow young people to take risks that help them to grow and experience life, we continue to indoctrinate them with social rules to help keep the order.

The risks available to busy students are far less violent than what may be the alternatives.

I don’t remember everything from University. There certainly weren’t a lot of dangerous risks in the small town where I studied.

Dorm life was a party — and we could smoke indoors! A “career” after graduation seemed a lifetime away. Econ 101 taught me the benefits of Free Trade.

I hated this class! Photo "Amherst63-012" by NealeA, Flickr, CC-By-2.0
I loved this class! Photo “Amherst63-012” by NealeA, Flickr, CC-By-2.0

And while I learned a lot I’m sure, there is plenty that I didn’t learn.

Maybe you, too?

•We didn’t learn how to start a business in university — the mindset of an entrepreneur.

•We didn’t learn how to create and maintain a budget — the mindset of habit.

•We didn’t learn to negotiate — the mindset of persuasion.

This is the reason I’ve started PersuasionReadingList.com — to learn what I should know to understand what moves the human mind, and to share these concepts of influence with you. Continue reading “I Smell a Rat! The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

Our future is Technical. Your future is Human.

You can shop for clothes on the British version of Amazon, the clothes are made in Bangladesh, and they’re shipped to your vacation hotel in Peru.

Sounds like a nice vacation!

It’s no secret that our economy is now global. International markets cross borders to supply the demands of humanity.

In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution changed the workforce in the United States and around the world. Machines that could do the work of 10 people were invented, and then 100 people.

Hardware, slow and lumbering, ate the jobs of the 1800s.

In response to these labor-saving devices, US Americans increasingly became knowledge workers or geographic movers. We push pencils, we pull freight, we move people.

These jobs of the 1900s are quickly disappearing.

Within the coming decade, by 2025, a majority of the 3.5 million trucking jobs may well be automated. 180,000 taxi jobs are at risk. Even more Uber drivers. Retail jobs. Sales clerks. Fast-food restaurant employees. Warehouse pickers.

Many of the traditional jobs of the 1900s are being replaced by robots.

Robots don’t get tired, robots don’t negotiate as a union.

But back then, robots didn’t think.

Now, in the year 2017, we have software. Artificial Intelligence, AI. Software, cheap and infinity reproducible, is eating the jobs of the 2000s. Software that builds computer networks. Software that programs machines of all types. Software that writes software. Coders are eating their own.

The next economic shift is terrifying because we don’t know what the jobs of tomorrow will look like.

What we do know, however, is that there will always be people (until the world melts or freezes or something).

People want direction, people crave excitement, people follow charisma.

Motivating people will always be in demand.

The best way you can prepare for tomorrow is by learning how to work with people, how to influence their attitudes and direct their behaviour. These are known as ‘soft skills’ — and Persuasion Reading List is working to uncover these skills with you.

What do you see in the future?

Will your job be eaten by software automation?

Are you preparing yourself with soft skills?

Leave a comment below!