Predecessor X: The Origin of All Stories

Posted: November 8, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

As a sequel to The Olduvai Stomp, have Marvel’s Stan Lee write the original story of the first H. Erectus as a complete storyboard trilogy —
the birth of rhythm, empathy, and humanity as our “Predecessor X.”

ChatGPT Prompt

Act I: The Raindrop Origin

(inspired by Homo erectus and the evolution of rhythmic entrainment)

Page 1 – Shelter in the Storm

Dusk under an overhang. A cold rain begins.
The clan huddles together; lightning flickers.
She listens. Raindrops patter against stone — tok… tok tok… tok tok tok.
Her baby brother whimpers beside her.
She mimics the sound with her fingers on his arm — plip… plip…
He stills. Falls asleep.
The storm stayed wild. But in their corner, time learned gentleness.

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The Friedman School: Self-Differentiating Leaders for a Meta-Modern World

Posted: November 7, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: AI-Powered Essays, education | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

[Yes, this is a ChatGPT-powered fantasy. But seriously: why isn’t anyone doing this? — Ernie P.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2025

Minerva University Launches The Friedman School: A Groundbreaking Program for Self-Differentiating Leaders in a Meta-Modern World

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Minerva University today announced the launch of The Friedman School, a pioneering leadership program designed to develop self-differentiating leaders equipped to navigate, integrate, and lead in the complex, interconnected meta-modern world. Named in honor of Edwin Friedman, the influential thinker on self-differentiation and systems-based leadership, The Friedman School aims to empower a new generation of leaders with the resilience, empathy, and adaptability needed to address today’s global challenges.

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October 32nd, Part 3: Personal Reality

Posted: November 3, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Governance Reform | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Continued from Part 2

After hearing Carrie tell the story of Alex, the alien who became US President in this reality with an October 32nd, I sat there stunned for several minutes. Both at the radical shift in my entire concept of the universe — and at her amazingly concise summary of such an extraordinary series of events!

“Did you really just figure all that out while you were watching TV?” I asked.

She actually blushed when I said that. I couldn’t help noticing this made her several notches more attractive than I had initially thought. Read the rest of this entry »

MINFIG: Strawman, Steelman, Legoman

Posted: February 13, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Truth Bowl | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment
Most of you have heard the term “straw man” for an intentionally weak argument.   I only recently discovered that the tern “steel man” has become fashionable for the opposite (we’ve also referred to it as “strongman” or “brick man”): restating your opponent’s argument in the strongest possible terms.
Building on that, I propose the term  “legoman” for when we explicitly show exactly how the argument is put together, to make it easier for our interlocutors to deconstruct our reasoning and reconstruct alternatives.  This is what I call ‘pre-future’ thinking: we don’t claim to have all the answers, but we must present our best current understanding in a way that helps our community evolve better understandings in the future.  This is what I see as the heart of the scientific method, and what I am hoping to transplant into the humanities!
That said, the gendering of the term is starting to grate on me.  As an alternative, I have started using the term MINFIG: Maximally Informative Narrative For Inspiring Generativity.

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Sign Up for Truth Bowl v1.0: Thu Jan 24 10:30am

Posted: January 18, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Truth Bowl | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

This is it!  Please let me know by Monday if you can join a team for the 1.0 Truth Bowl competition:

Thursday, Jan 24th, 10:30 AM US Pacific Time
We want to put together two teams of 2-4 people each to start discussing the cases in advance.
Feel free to invite anyone else who might be interested; we will also need a few people to act as judges.  A draft Blurb is below (feedback welcome).

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Make Entrepreneurship Central to California’s Workforce

Posted: August 23, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Workforce Action Team 2013 Charter | California Economy, California Economic Summit

Dear Workforce Action Team,

Are we trying to solve the immediate problems of matching people with jobs for current industries, or the long-term problem of creating a population that can prosper decades into the future?  Because a lot of us in Silicon Valley are working on destroying the very industries you hope to train people for now!
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