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I. Penn State’s president, Neeli Bendapudi, published a Forbes article titled “Why People Are The Smartest AI Investment—And What It Means For Universities.” She argues that companies should hire “AI-ready graduates” because they “reduce onboarding costs, strengthen teams and accelerate innovation.” She closes by claiming “the organizations that thrive in the era of AI will not be defined by the tools they purchase. They will be defined by the people they hire now and empower to grow into tomorrow’s leaders.” ...

At the 1900 Paris Exposition, organizers installed a moving staircase. A journalist recorded what happened next: “The escalator caused many an incident worthy of the vaudeville, separating families, sending old men sprawling, delighting the children, and reducing their nannies to despair.” Every clause maps to a different response to novelty. The spectacle-seeker showed up for entertainment. Families lost their grip on one another, the elderly fell. The children loved it. And the people responsible for maintaining order discovered that their competence no longer applied. ...