Into the Future

Starting off the week, I spoke to a group of interns at the earliest stages of their careers in journalism. It is tempting on occasions like that to reminisce. After all, when I was their age, reporters smoked in newsrooms, had green lampshades, and composed their stories on manual typewriters.

But if interns want to know about that distant past stuff, they can read novels or watch old black-and-white movies. My agenda when spending time with them is to talk about their future.

And in that context there are two items in the news I’d recommend to anyone concerned with the future of work, both in the near-term when nobody drives any longer and robots dominate most workforces, and well beyond that.

The first item, courtesy of Martin Abraham in Malaysia is an article in Psychology Today titled “Humans Are Fast Evolving Into an Astonishing Lifeform” by Dr. Eric Haseltine.

According to this article:

• We have entered an era of hyper-communication that may be rapidly changing the human species.

• Evolutionary biology suggests we may be evolving into super-organisms that limit our individual autonomy.

• Loss of autonomy has lead to recent social unrest from aggregations such as globalization and immigration.

As of 2025, young Americans aged 18-24 got an average of 109.5 texts per day, sent 40-50 themselves, checked their phones 46-74 times a day, and if they are teens got an average of 240 notifications a day from apps. Adults got an average of 117 professional emails a day.

All the rest of us averaged a third of the time we were awake glued to our electronic communications devices.

What this may be doing to us at home and work is the article’s focus.

***

The second recommendation I have about the future of work comes courtesy of John Jameson. It is an excellent half-hour interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now with journalist Karen Hao, who has written a new book called “Empire of AI.”

Hao finds examples of people around the world using AI in limited, positive ways and casts doubt on whether AGI (artificial general intelligence) is really imminently within our grasp.

She believes, as do other experts I’ve recommended on the topic, that under proper human control, AI tools will perform tasks in ways that will make the future not an apocalypse but a brighter place.

At least as a speaker (I’ve not yet read her book), Hao has an unusual ability to make AI accessible to the lay person. Plus the interview left me feeling much more hopeful about our future with robots.

We all need to know where our society is going, well beyond when we’re part of it. These articles offer some clues.

(This one is reprised from this week last year.)

HEADLINES:

• At the NATO Summit, Trump declares Iran ceasefire is ‘over’ (NPR)

• U.S. Launches New Strikes on Iran, Military Says (NYT)

• Inside Trump’s Oval Office Decision to Ditch the Iran Ceasefire (WSJ)

• Sabre-rattling to ‘tremendous love’: erratic Trump dominates final hours of Nato summit (Guardian)

• ‘We may just do it without a deal’: Trump muses about new blockade in Strait of Hormuz, taking over Kharg Island (Yahoo)

• In shift, Trump praises Zelensky, will let Ukraine build Patriot missiles (WP)

• NATO pledges 70 billion euros for Ukraine as Trump praises peace ‘progress’ (Al Jazeera)

• Denmark says it will defend Greenland as Trump threatens to revive NATO crisis (WP)

• Platner Suspends Senate Bid in Maine After Rape Accusation (NYT)

• Platner’s disastrous candidacy exposes rifts that could dampen Democrats’ Senate hopes (BBC)

• McConnell health update demanded by Gov. Beshear as Senate vacancy questions grow (CNBC)

• Judge Orders $5 Million Trump Judgment Be Released to E. Jean Carroll (NYT)

• The game theory of replacing Graham Platner (Silver Bulletin)

• Global Economy, Hit by Iran War and Inflation, Faces Sharp Slowdown (NYT)

• A Mexican father was shot and killed by an ICE officer. His son is demanding an independent probe (PBS)

• Judge Convicted of Obstructing Immigration Agents Faces No Prison Time (NYT)

• The Ukraine Lesson Taiwan Keeps Missing (Foreign Affairs)

• I Built a Self-Improving AI, and So Can You (Wired)

• Meta Unveils an A.I. Image Generator (NYT)

• OpenAI set to launch most capable GPT model after delayed rollout. (Reuters)

• Crowd Boos After Little Boy Steals Foul Ball From Adorable 42-Year-Old Man (Onion)

Relics

Today I was thinking that I maybe should be in the salvage business -- rescuing the castoffs of this throwaway society, restoring them, and preserving them as artifacts. 

I’ve been collecting things for at least half a century. Old bottles, coins, stamps, magazines, books, photos, postcards, baseball cards -- the list goes on — not to mention the memories they evoke.

Today’s find was this old portable typewriter -- the laptop of its time. I used to work on a machine like this, and in fact, I still had one until recently, when in a weaker moment I discarded it.

Thanks to one of my neighbors, it didn’t get far. And today, following the local custom of putting whatever you don’t want anymore out on the sidewalk for anyone passing by to claim, I now have retaken possession of this portable Remington. 

It makes that old comforting sound that a century ago came from the open windows in Rudyard Kipling’s compound in India, as he pounded out his stories on tropical nights.

Or Conrad, Hemingway, Faulkner, all warm-weather writers, take your pick. For many decades, this was the sound of literature and the sound of journalism. Even as recently as the Watergate scandal of 1974, the signature film made of Woodward and Bernstein’s legendary reporting that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency, closes with a sequence of headlines typed on an old manual typewriter.

Relics. If I ever write a memoir, I should do it on this. On second thought, strike that, but its photo might make a good book cover.

(This is an excerpt from 2007.)

HEADLINES:

• Trump says Iran ceasefire is ‘over,’ U.S. will ‘hit them hard tonight’ (CNBC)

• Trump is playing with economic fire by calling the peace deal with Iran ‘over’ (CNN)

• Midtown Manhattan buildings evacuated after columns found buckling at high-rise construction site (ABC)

• Democrats Clash Over Who Replaces Platner Even Before He Exits (NYT)

• Assault allegation rocks Platner’s Senate campaign, prompting Democrat to take ‘time to reflect’ (WP)

• The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier for Presidents to Sabotage Their Successors (Slate)

• More than 440,000 people became millionaires in the US last year (The Hill)

• Trump is gaining surprising leverage over Iran (CNN)

• The pastor who wants to repeal voting rights for women is becoming more mainstream (NPR)

• Trump arrived in Ankara to join a closely watched NATO summit as the U.S. president has repeatedly trashed the military alliance. (HuffPost)

• Wikipedia Is Battling for the Soul of the Internet (NYT)

• Foreign Investment Rises, But Developing Countries Squeezed By AI Focus, Says UN (WSJ)

• China Built Cheap AI. Now It’s Building a Great Wall Around It (Gizmodo)

• How to stop ChatGPT from ruining how you think (WP)

• Alibaba’s A.I. Is a Hit, but Hard to Turn Into a Moneymaker (NYT)

• Report: Trump Made $1.4 Billion As President Off Selling Tupperware To Friends (Onion)

 

Today's Biggest News

Dear Readers:

This morning there is the usual array of international news, national news, state news, regional news and local news I could report on or discuss.

But instead I have some happy personal news: A new grandson, Dean Nicholas Weir, 6 lb. 6 oz., joined us as of 9:45 pm July 5th!

This brings my number of grandchildren to nine —six boys and three girls, aged two days up to 19.

HEADLINES:

• Mourners throng funeral procession in Tehran for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (AP)

• Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin (NYT)

• Graham Platner denies sex assault claim as Democrats urge him to quit Maine Senate race (CNBC)

• Top Democrats call on Graham Platner to drop out as sexual assault allegation emerges (CBS)

• Charlie Kirk’s family attends hearing for suspect charged with his murder (BBC)

• Under Trump, spouses of U.S. citizens face policy changes in the immigration system (NPR)

• ‘Killer Robots’ Must Be Banned, U.N. Secretary-General Says (WSJ)

• He wrote a scathing message to ICE. Federal agents showed up at his door. (WP)

• Trump makes strange claim that ‘George Washington had two desks’ to justify getting rich off his presidency (Independent)

• At Trump’s Direction, Federal Agencies Are Abandoning Discrimination Cases

  (NYT)

• Microsoft cuts 4,800 across Xbox, sales divisions, redeploys hundreds more (Seattle Times)

• Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs across sales and Xbox (BI)

• When It Comes to Energy Use, AI Agents Could Make Chatbots Look Like Pocket Calculators (Gizmodo)

• Are Humanoid Robots Ready to Be Deployed? (New Yorker)

• Inside the secret AI war between Silicon Valley and China (WP)

• Adam Sandler Unwinds After Busy Weekend Officiating 6 Back-To-Back Weddings (Onion)

The Past Is Not Enough

I’d gotten so used to talking through career plans and options with younger friends that it caught me off-guard when one of them asked me recently. “So what’s next for you?”

It’s easy to fall into a trap when you are in your late 70s and retired. The trap is assuming that whatever you did for a career ended when you collected your last paycheck.

And that you have essentially checked out for good.

The friend who asked me that question is half my age and in the middle of her career, which we’d been discussing over dinner.

But now she had turned the tables.

“I don’t know,” I stumbled. “I guess I’d still like to do something that matters — to write something that matters. Maybe a book.”

After dinner I thought about our exchange. What am I going to do with this time that is in a sense borrowed time? It’s a question that will take some of that time to answer.

HEADLINES:

• What Trump’s July 4 Speech Revealed (Atlantic)

• Khamenei’s other sons appear at his funeral in Iran as new supreme leader remains in hiding (AP)

• The Strait of Hormuz has reopened — why that might be a problem for the oil market: Chart of the Day (Yahoo)

• Tennessee national guard troops shoot man dead in Memphis (Guardian)

• Supreme Court’s dramatic moves will reshape elections — and give the GOP a midterm boost (WP)

• How the Supreme Court has changed on transgender rights since 2020 (CNN)

• Trump urged FIFA to review Balogun’s suspension before star was cleared for World Cup (WP)

• How the president is putting his imprint on the nation’s capital (AP)

• Zelenskyy demands Western support after Russian strikes kill 12 in Kyiv (Politico)

• In Strike After Strike, Ukraine Is Bringing the War to Crimea (NYT)

• Trump Offered in Conversation With Putin to Help With Ukraine Settlement – Kremlin Aide (Moscow Times)

• Naming Police Officers Who Kill in California (Structural Zero)

• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Marriage Plot (New Yorker)

• How a young Jefferson’s plea to the king helped ignite America’s fight for independence (WP)

• Founding Fathers Smile Down On America From Outer Space (Onion)

Sunday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Hell Arrives in Washington (Atlantic)

• Trump rants about communism in delayed America 250 speech before he joins Melania to watch fireworks (Independent)

• July 4: U.S. history in dispute (Reuters)

• Why America at 250 Still Cannot Face Slavery (Reveal)

• Washington DC’s Fourth of July parade canceled due to soaring temperature (Guardian)

• Trump pardons a major donor and violators of the Clean Air Act (WP)

• Trump Targets Not Just Georgia’s Vote, but Also Trust in Elections (NYT)

• Stateless (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Millions in Tehran for funeral of Ali Khamenei (Al Jazeera)

• ‘It is a crisis’: Putin under increasing pressure from Ukraine war (The Hill)

• Russia runs short on gasoline (Reuters)

• ‘She absolutely crushed it’: Ocean rower set to smash California-to-Hawaii speed record (SFC)

• This mistake helped transform 22-year-old George Washington into a leader (WP)

• Apes: they’re just like us (Reuters)

• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, the ultimate Swiftian experience (WP)

• The hidden cost of empathy at work (BI)

• How the world’s top AI models were revived (Axios)

• The Quest to Make Humanoid Robots Safe Enough for Humans (WSJ)

• Nation Turns 250 Despite Presence Of Irish (Onion)

Freedom of Spirit

Today is Independence Day, when we’re free to celebrate our opposition to the tyrant who oppresses us. 

When we’re free to celebrate all those who have stood against this tyrant for over a decade now.

Happy Fourth of July. 

Celebrate our resistance in every form it takes.

Join it going forward.

HEADLINES:

• How Trump took over America’s 250th (Politico)

• What If We’d Never Broken Away From the Brits? (Bulwark)

• Massive Crowds Gather in Tehran for Khamenei’s Six-Day Funeral (WSJ)

• U.S.-Iran Latest: Slain supreme leader’s coffin on display as Iran gears up for dayslong funeral, with peace talks paused (CBS)

• U.S. warned Iran about Israel’s aims to assassinate leaders (WP)

• These Justices Are Not Impartial (Atlantic)

• Unemployment dipped, but more people left the workforce: What’s going on in the job market? (Yahoo)

• Trump returns to Mount Rushmore after years of hinting he belongs there (WP)

• Ukraine proves it can hit Russia almost anywhere (Axios)

• Turkey blocks American LGBTQ+ cruise from docking, citing ‘moral standards’ (CNN)

• A cascading crisis was presented to more than 370 government and military officials during an exercise in central Taiwan this week, part of President Lai Ching-te’s push to harden the island’s ‌war preparedness as Chinese military pressure grows. (Reuters)

• Extreme heat wave threatens U.S. power grids and July 4 travel (CNBC)

• Finding freedom from the heat on July 4th will be a challenge in eastern US (AP)

• The growing dangers of record heat waves like the one engulfing July 4th celebrations (PBS)

• Trump Jr's 'Amazon of guns' could make millions under new proposed firearm rule. (Reuters)

• Social Media Lawsuits: What Parents Should Know to Keep Kids Safe Online (Legal Standard)

• How software engineers really feel about AI coding (BI)

• A top Goldman Sachs economist says AI will displace the jobs of 15 million US workers (Yahoo)

• Police Suspect Gunman’s Motive Was To Kill Bunch Of People (Onion)

 

Divided We Stand

So it is finally here, or almost here. Tomorrow will mark our 250th birthday as a nation.

Some will attend public displays marking the Fourth of July. There will be hot dogs, beer, speeches and fireworks.

Some will stay home, where there will be hot dogs, beer, arguments and fireworks.

Trump will give another of his bloated, narcissistic excuses for a speech to “We the People,” the vast majority of whom oppose his actions to dramatically increase wealth disparity, halt progress on climate control mitigation, wage war on a variety of smaller, weaker countries, and alienate the U.S. from the rest of the world.

This year besides that semiquincentennial and all of its mixed messages, France will play a key game in the World Cup, this time in Philadelphia. There is enough historical symbolism in that to make my high school history teacher drool.

My French-American grandchildren are in Philadelphia this weekend for that game.

I’m here with the dog and the rabbit; none of us are fans of beer or fireworks. But we’ll celebrate the Fourth in our own ways.

They’ll be treats for the pets and the World Cup game for me.

I’ll be rooting for France.

HEADLINES:

• Iran sends a defiant message to Trump with colossal funeral for slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (CNN)

• Powerful Iranian general seen in public amid preparation for supreme leader’s vast funeral (NBC)

• U.S. Dangles Rewards for Opening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran Isn’t Budging. (WSJ)

• Iran warns of ‘forceful response’ if tankers don’t use approved Strait of Hormuz routes (The Hill)

• The U.S. healthcare system is in crisis. A Supreme Court ruling could make things worse (NPR)

• Postal Service’s proposed restrictions on mail-in voting blocked (The Hill)

• Olympian Is Indicted After Arrest at Washington’s Reflecting Pool (NYT)

• Trump wants to ditch his signature trade deal. It’s not that easy (CNN)

• Why the expected fight over the North American trade deal never kicked off (BBC)

• F.B.I. Assigns Scores of Analysts to Examine Election Records in Georgia (NYT)

• Following High-Court Victory, Bayer Separates Roundup Business (WSJ)

• The Unprecedented Profiteering Revealed by Donald Trump’s Financial Disclosure (New Yorker)

• Ross Gerber Says Trump’s $1 Billion Crypto Windfall Is Why ‘Bitcoin Went Down and Isn’t Going Anywhere’ (Benzinga)

• Trump’s wealth grew on a scale without modern presidential precedent (WP)

• June jobs report: US payrolls rose by 57,000, missing expectations (Yahoo)

• Russia Bombards Ukrainian Capital With Deadly Wave of Attacks (NYT)

• Catholic Church says 6 bishops from ultra-conservative SSPX society excommunicated as decades-old feud reopens (CBS)

• California Bans ‘Sell By’ Labels, Hoping to Cut Food Waste (NYT)

• Onetime MAGA loyalist and staunch Trump supporter Tucker Carlson has announced his next move in the wake of his messy breakup with the GOP. [HuffPost]

• 4 surprising (and evidence-based) health benefits of drinking coffee (WP)

• Elon Musk says AI is the only way to fix the $40 trillion U.S. debt crisis—but a new study says even the most optimistic scenario won’t fill the hole (Fortune)

• Can You Embrace A.I. Without Layoffs? This Company Says It’s Trying. (NYT)

• Agriculture Department Puts Trump’s Face On Soybeans (Onion)