Month: May 2026

Systems Thinking, the Fifth Moat: The Human Skill of Seeing the Whole

Posted on by cary

A society that cannot think systemically will use intelligent machines to automate its confusion. That sentence may sound severe. It likely is not severe enough. The great danger of artificial intelligence is not simply that the machines will become too powerful. The more immediate danger is that institutions will become more powerful without becoming wiser. Read More “Systems Thinking, the Fifth Moat: The Human Skill of Seeing the Whole”

Adaptation, the Fourth Moat: Learning Without Losing Ourselves

Posted on by cary

Consider a man like Marcus, who teaches automotive technology at a regional career center in central Ohio. He has been teaching for twenty-three years, and in that time the cars have changed three times underneath him. He started with carburetors and distributor caps, the kind of engines a student could understand by looking at them. Read More “Adaptation, the Fourth Moat: Learning Without Losing Ourselves”

The Graduation Promise and the Adjunct Reality

Posted on by cary

Three years ago, I wrote an article called “AI and the Adjuncts: The Converging Trends Reshaping Higher Education.” At the time, the argument felt speculative, though not far-fetched. AI was beginning to move into teaching, tutoring, grading, writing support, and academic administration. Adjunct labor had already become one of the hidden foundations of American higher Read More “The Graduation Promise and the Adjunct Reality”

Craft, the Third Moat: Done Is Easy, Good Is the Moat

Posted on by cary

Earl walks the apron at 5:47 in the morning, before most of the airport is awake. He has worked for the same regional carrier for thirty-four years, and he is one of the senior aircraft maintenance technicians at a hangar that services a fleet of regional jets nobody outside aviation thinks about. He carries a Read More “Craft, the Third Moat: Done Is Easy, Good Is the Moat”

Welcome to the Iceberg Economy

Posted on by cary

The first mistake is looking for disappearing jobs. The second mistake is looking only at Silicon Valley. The third mistake is assuming that the country with the best artificial intelligence model automatically wins the century. Each of these mistakes is comfortable, because each of them lets us keep the maps we already own. Taken together, Read More “Welcome to the Iceberg Economy”

TTST: Thank Three Someones Today

Posted on by cary

The news was heavy again this morning. It usually is. Traffic reports, political arguments, prices rising, systems failing, everyone seemingly convinced that the person on the other side of the argument is either foolish or dangerous. There is a weight to the information environment we have built for ourselves, a low-grade exhaustion that accumulates before Read More “TTST: Thank Three Someones Today”

Trust, the Second Moat: When Information Gets Cheap, Trust Gets Expensive

Posted on by cary

There is a man named Raymond who does tile and fixture work out of a white van with his name and number on the door. He has been at it for twenty-two years. He answers his own phone. He is not the cheapest contractor in the county and he is not the most expensive, and Read More “Trust, the Second Moat: When Information Gets Cheap, Trust Gets Expensive”

The 7 Moats: Moat #1 – Judgment, The First Human Advantage

Posted on by cary

At 4:17 in the morning, the medical ICU is quiet except for the soft chirp of monitors and the hush of pumps cycling antibiotics. The early-warning system on the wall, the hospital’s new AI deterioration model, shows the patient in bed seven as stable. Heart rate green. Respiration green. Oxygen saturation green. The model has Read More “The 7 Moats: Moat #1 – Judgment, The First Human Advantage”