Progression to Analog Caitlin Begg

I felt an inexplicable feeling a few weeks ago, and turned to GPT-4 to help explain it. I was feeling nostalgia for a time I've never known, a longing for an unexperienced past. GPT identified this as "anemoia".

In this episode, I explain anemoia, relate it to technology (as it pertains to childhood, college, etc.) and especially to NYU Professor Jonathan Haidt's book "The Anxious Generation", a paradigm-shifting book calling for a move away from a phone-based childhood and back toward a play-based childhood. A PROGRESSION TO ANALOG.

"The desire to play returns to destroy the hierarchical society which banished it" -Raoul Vaneigem

In this episode, I speak with Zurich-based entrepreneur, author, speaker, and scientist Dr. Christian Hugo Hoffmann. We first speak about Christian's entrepreneurial and professional endeavors, including House of Lab Science AG and TECHNOPARK® Zürich, and then (~18 min in) about his book "The Quest for a Universal Theory of Intelligence: The Mind, The Machine, and Singularity Hypotheses".



Dr. Christian Hugo Hoffmann's book proposes a universal theory of intelligence which is based on causal learning as the central theme of intelligence. The goal is not just to describe, but mainly to explain queries like why one kind of intelligence is more intelligent than another, whatsoever the intelligence. Shiny terms like "strong AI," "superintelligence," "singularity" or "artificial general intelligence" that have been coined by a Babylonian confusion of tongues are clarified on the way.



Learn more about Christian on his personal website and on his LinkedIn.

Radical futurist, tech critic, independent industry analyst, and interdisciplinary researcher Sara M. Watson and I discuss "A People's History of Technology" in this episode, which she co-founded and curates (with Emily Best). Recently featured at SXSW and Sundance, A People’s History of Tech is a collective storytelling project. Popular histories of technology often focus on lone inventors or technical innovations. A People's History of Tech wants to capture the full spectrum of the lived experience of technology.

We also speak about Sara's prior research at Oxford Internet Institute re: data privacy and social impacts of technology.

Additionally, I reference University of Cambridge Professor Caroline Bassett's "Anti-Computing".

You can learn more and submit your story to A People's History of Tech here, and you can keep up with Sara via her LinkedIn and website.

A People's History of Tech will also be at The Conference 2024 in Malmö, Sweden (27-28 August)!

One issue organizations are dealing with right now: how do we move AI from a buzzword to something that actually impacts our organization?

Along these lines, in this episode I discuss the importance of a sociotechnical (think: joint optimization of people + technology) approach in workplace AI adoption as well as in sales and communication strategy.

Gordon Tobin and I speak about insights regarding the social and technical sides of sales, how to avoid 'spam culture', Gordon’s life philosophies, Irish culture and the ‘nation of storytellers’, the Dublin tech ecosystem and European tech ecosystem more broadly, tips to approach sales in this over-saturated digital age, ways to stay present in everyday life, and more. 

Gordon is a Dublin-based global sales leader, having successfully run and managed sales teams across NAMER, EMEA, and APAC. He was employee number ten at LinkedIn, and was there for over eight years. He was a founding member of the first sales development team at LinkedIn, and after time as an account executive in Dublin, he relocated his life and bult out LinkedIn’s Perth office as their first employee there. He also helped to build out LInkedIn’s early in career talent programs, including the (now sunset) Business Leadership Program, where I started my career. 

Gordon was at G2 for four and a half years... from starting at  G2 in San Francisco as VP of Commercial Sales, to moving to North Carolina, leading americas Mid-Market Sales and Customer Success, and finally wrapping up his time there in his hometown of Dublin as VP & General Manager of EMEA.



Gordon just announced his "next play" (LinkedIn terminology for next career move at TestGorilla, an Amsterdam-based company that prides itself on identifying the best talent faster, easier, and bias-free. TestGorilla says that their "affordable tests replace subjective, incomplete, and often inflated resumes with objective, reliable, and fair results that measure aptitude, practical job skills, culture add, and motivation".

I discuss why you should stop checking your phone when you wake up, benefits to ditching your smartphone in the bedroom, sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness, how I decreased my screen time by 65%, and more.

Some references from the episode:


MindBodySpace podcast episode: Two Simple Steps To Ditch Your Phone From Your Morning Routine So That You Can Focus and Be Happier
MindBodySpace podcast episode: How to Decrease Anxiety and Get Focused in a Hyper Texting Digital World with Caitlin Begg
Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness (2018 US study)
Using Wake-Up Tasks for Morning Behavior Change: Development and Usability Study (2022 Korean study)
Sleeping with the frenemy: How restricting ‘bedroom use’ of smartphones impacts happiness and wellbeing (2018 UK study).
Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep (2014 US Study)
Everyday Conversation: The Effect of Asynchronous Communication and Hypercommunication on Daily Interaction and Sociotechnical Systems