One kind of school is about culture, compliance and community. We indoctrinate kids, for better or worse, in what it means to be in this world we’ve built, and how to do it together. We teach them how to be kids, how to be citizens and hopefully, how to be adults.
And the other kind of school is about the content. All the ‘R’s. The software that goes with the operating system we taught in the other school.
For obvious reasons, these have always been integrated.
Now that Socratic and infinitely patient and customizable AI tutors are everywhere, perhaps it makes sense to consider each separately. Let’s not compromise either on the behalf of the other.
The opposite of “I don’t know” isn’t “I’m certain.”
No, the opposite is, “I’m not sure, but…”
“I don’t know” is a conversation ender. It is almost never followed by a useful question. Instead, it’s a form of surrender. Teach me! Show me answer! Don’t make me figure it out. Most of all, let me off the hook.
Traditional education is built around the helplessness of “I don’t know.” It gives the teacher and the system all of the authority, and requires the student to memorize, obey and regurgitate.
But useful inquiry doesn’t work that way. Neither does effective conversation or even therapy.
Instead, we engage.
We engage with our hunches and our inkling, and we examine the safe spot our apparent ignorance has landed us.
Socrates had no students who sat in the back row, taking notes.
Front row, hands up, ask questions. Inquire.
We’re not asking for a guarantee or a certificate. We want your focus, your analysis and your investigation.
Culture is built on the stability of persistence.
Pop musicians have farewell tours that last for decades. The local print shop is still there, reliably getting the job done. We want things that last.
And yet…
When it’s time for a company to raise another round of investment, the smart investor treats the new round as if the old one never happened. Today, right now, is this the best use of my capital?
And the person at the buffet does the same thing. Right here, right now, which dish appeals the most?
We don’t get tomorrow over again. We can choose to spend it on the best option, not the option we committed to ten years ago.
At the lab, they don’t know the right answer. They are explorers and scientists. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough. The work at the lab requires mutual support, shared information and a commitment to the process of discovery.
At the factory, the answer is known. It’s productivity that’s being pursued. Do it a little faster, a little better and a little more reliably than yesterday. Cut costs. Repeat.
And the dentist? It’s not rote work, but it’s not a dance with the unknown. Meet a client, diagnosis the problem and do the work efficiently as well. Different than yesterday, but it certainly rhymes.
Where do you work?
It could be that you’re getting exactly what you signed up for.
We called them this because they used tools. The first proto-humans to clearly do so.
The question that we need ask ourselves today, “Are you a tool user or a tool maker?”
Everyone uses tools. But only a few people, even with access to AI and systems of leverage, choose to make tools.
Part of the gap is failing to ask the question. It generally doesn’t occur to a productive tool user to decide to slow down, risk failure, and take responsibility by making a new tool.
But new tools are one way we change things for the better.
Homo Faciens
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