Curated reading & watching

Resources

A small, carefully chosen collection of writing, video, and tools for people trying to understand what’s actually happening — and what it means for how we live and work.

Perspectives

Should we pause AI? Here's the debate.

An animated explainer from Rational Animations. If superintelligent AI could cause human extinction, why don't we simply stop building it? The video lays out the main arguments, the practical difficulties, and proposed responses — clearly and without hype.

Machines of Loving Grace — Dario Amodei

A long essay by the CEO of Anthropic on what a positive AI future could actually look like — in detail. Most discussion of AI focuses on risk. This is the other side: what does a world where everything goes right look like? Essential reading for the full picture, not just the warnings.

Horses — Andy Jones

A short, uncomfortable essay. Horses were once central to the economy — transport, agriculture, war. Then they weren't. Jones asks what happens to a species when its primary economic role disappears. Read slowly.

Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age — OpenAI

A policy paper from OpenAI arguing the transition to superintelligence will require an ambitious response — new safety nets, democratic input into AI alignment, and mechanisms to share the economic gains broadly. Significant not just for the ideas, but for who is saying them: the company building superintelligence is asking governments and communities to act now.

What if AI bullishness is right — and bearish? — Citrini Research

A scenario piece from a macro research firm, not a prediction. What happens if AI adoption accelerates exactly as the optimists expect — but the speed of disruption outpaces the economy's ability to adapt? A careful look at left-tail economic risks that most AI commentary ignores. Thought-provoking whether or not you buy the scenario.

Canaries in the Coal Mine — Stanford Digital Economy Lab

The most rigorous employment data on AI's impact to date. Using ADP payroll records covering 25 million US workers through September 2025, researchers found that workers aged 22–25 in high AI-exposure roles — coding, writing, legal, customer service — have seen employment drop by around 20% since late 2022. Workers in the same roles aged 35+ grew over the same period. The headline unemployment number hasn't moved. This paper explains why that doesn't tell the full story, and what the early signal actually looks like.

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