Roundup: A tale of two perfect phone calls; I, Human, and more.

As promised, here is a summary of some of the content that caught my eye this week. I've also included some of my own recent work relating to topics that are close to my heart.

This week I want to share some of the content I’ve been consuming across different media. These include podcasts, articles, and books - as well as some of my own content I have published across different platforms.

I will be sending these out every few weeks - I hope you enjoy!

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Articles

This week I read some interesting things relating to Israel, Biden, London, Mental Health, and more:

• Why London is beating America’s cities: The capital still draws on its imperial origins [UnHerd]

• Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health? [The New York Times - paywall]

• Biden’s Shameful Betrayal [Commentary]

• The Gap Between the Price You See and What You Pay Is Getting Worse [Wall Street Journal]

• The death of Superman: How Hollywood killed the American hero [The Spectator - paywall]

A tale of two perfect phone calls

Here is the opening of my latest article in The Times of Israel

It is within a year of an election in America and the president has just withheld military aid from an ally across the ocean. He does so to try and improve his re-election chances at home. News is published about it.

Whether or not there is outrage for this story depends on what year it is and who is sitting in the Oval Office. Were it 2019, President Trump would be impeached for ‘Abuse of Power’ for allegedly asking Ukraine’s Zelensky to inquire about his political opponent’s corruption in Ukraine.

Alas. It is not 2019. It is 2024 and Biden is in the Oval Office. This time, reports have been confirmed that the American government has actually withheld military aid to a foreign ally after a phone call with its leader.

Today that country is Israel…

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Books

This week I started “I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique”.

This one has been sitting on my bookshelf since last summer and I am so excited to finally crack it open. Author Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is an organizational psychologist who works mostly in the areas of personality profiling, people analytics, talent identification, the interface between human and artificial intelligence, and leadership development.

Many of the topics that Chamorro-Premuzic addresses in the book relate to the impact that AI will have on our lives and how different generations might respond to the algorithms living beside us. For example, he cites tech leaders like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, who present concerning views of AI, but also respond positively to how Gen Z might learn to adopt such technologies.

I was first made aware of this book after he appeared on BiblioTech, CTech’s book review series. You can watch our 30-minute video interview below: