Study History: Your Life and Career Depends on It!

There are lessons to be learned and adapted

I am a big fan of history, especially ancient Chinese history. This is especially true after I attended the 3rd Language Summit in Bangkok. Along with language, history has a lot to teach us.

If we believe that the Humanities are the way to go to help reduce the risk of AI being an existential risk (I personally don’t think so), we need to get people to learn about History, but not in the way it is taught in school, which is more based on rote memory but more analytical, analysing history and understanding how major events come to be, unfold, and impact subsequent events.

It should not be limited to just History as in Humanity’s History but also the History of Technology, how they are discovered or invented, etc.

This will train us to be critical thinkers and better analysts at the same time. If you are an avid student of History, you will know that history repeats all over the world. It is important for us to first study History (again a reminder that it is not only Humanity's History), understand what is the confluence of factors and circumstances that may lead to the abuse of technology and again based on History understand what humanity has done to avoid catastrophe.

Granted it is not an easy feat because folks well-versed in History are lesser granted the neglect by most universities, let alone finding lecturers that are familiar with Technology and their history, and being able to facilitate discussions on it.

The point I would like to make in this issue is that we need to learn History but two things need to be changed for us to benefit from it and be applied to the usage of Artificial Intelligence:

1. How History is being taught - analytical rather than rote memory

2. Expand the History we need to learn from - we need to learn from the history of technology and innovation, how it happens, and how we manage it.

So are you a student of history? What is the most important lesson you have learned from history then?

Do share your thoughts and also history book recommendations, if any!

Here is my own recommendation:

1. Unbound by Richard L. Currier

2. Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett

Looking forward to your recommendation! :)

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Year-end Note: As we close out 2024, I’m excited to reflect on all we've accomplished together and looking forward to an even brighter 2025! This will be the final issue for this year, but I’ll be back in January. Thank you to everyone for your continued support of the 'Let’s Build Intelligence Together!' newsletter! Your attention, comments, feedback, and Likes have been greatly appreciated. Let’s keep pushing the boundaries of our Intelligence and AI together—your engagement means the world! I can’t wait to hear more from you in 2025. If any past issues have resonated with you, feel free to share them so we can grow this community even bigger in the year ahead! Thank you! :)