245 – Matthew Michalewicz in 90 minutes

 AI and the future of work. And the Universal Basic Income.

Richard Di Natale gave a speech at the National Press Club this month, and said, “With the radical way that the nature of work is changing … our current social security system is outdated,” Di Natale said. “It can’t properly support those experiencing underemployment, insecure work and uncertain hours.” So he called for Australia to explore a Universal Basic Income.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz described Di Natale’s plan as “economic lunacy”, saying banks would become unprofitable and the nation would be bankrupted within years. 

But what happens when the need for humans to do work, shrinks, due to AI and robots?

This is the article Nigel was referring to in his question: Chart proves AI a threat to jobs

In the opening chapter of the book, Life In Half A Second, by Matthew Michalewicz, it says, the tragedy of life isn’t that we only have half a second, the tragedy is that we waste it. Therefore, let’s not waste any more time. Welcome.

I haven’t yet worked out an eloquent way of explaining why your book is called life in half a second. Can you give us your pitch?

Let’s work through the doors. Door one. Clarity. This, as it turns out, is harder than it seems. It has taken me months to see through the false goals, eg, things I THINK I will describe success to me. How do we sort out what is true to us as success vs what we have pushed down our throats from Hollywood and the media, and even in entrepreneur circles?

Can you explain Reticular Activation?

Door two. Desire. How do we hone our inner voice and tune it truly to our hearts?

What things will block our clarity process?

Door three. Belief. Get real. You must believe in yourself. Self-belief is critical to success, even more critical than your actual abilities. That sounds inspiring and dangerous at the same time. What do you mean by it?

You make some strong points about your environment – friends, family, books, media, etc. How savage do we need to be in landscaping our social environments?

Door four. Knowledge. Is this where your road map for success is different from the Dress For Success rage of the 80s? You have to do the placebo activity of dressing for success BUT you also need to be working to a plan?

Best sources of knowledge?

Door five. Action. Nothing you do in life will amount to anything if you don’t take action. Why do so many of us stall?

How big is the fear factor? And how necessary is fear?

So, it’s not buy the book and have success, is it. How long should it take someone to really work through your book?

Nigel Dobson-Keeffe challenges the panel to pick the fake story from three stories from South Australia’s past. And Adrian, one of Ralf’s popular drivers, also steps in for the challenge.

The Recorder July 1937
Q.C. MATHEMATICS
ENQUIRY PROMISED
Questions in Assembly
A COMPLAINT concerning the Qualifying Certificate examination paper for mathematics would be enquired into by the committee which dealt with such matters, said the Attorney-General in the Assembly this afternoon. He was replying to Mr. A.W. Lacey (Leader of the Opposition), who had
called attention to a letter claiming that students had been able to buy answers to the  paper. The letter claimed that a scheme had been arranged by some members on the selection board which enabled boys to buy one, some or even all of the answers before they sat the mathematics
examination. It was further claimed the monies so gained had been used for “licentious behaviour and the consumption of fine wines”. Mr. Jeffries said that, ordinarily, he would not enquire into every complaint made in letters to newspapers however this situation was of a serious concern and
the reputation of the mathematics selection board was at stake.

The Advertiser December 1891
Mathematics Made Easy.
Boys or girls with a hankering after a watch can easily persuade their parents to part the necessary sum by the following simple plan: Every parent, of either gender, has a profound respect for mathematical computations and difficult arithmetical calculations. Now, the Waterbury Watch Company turned out for three years 900 complete watches a day, 312 days to the year; the following three years, the demand having increased to such an extent, 1,050 per day was their output; whilst for the last four years 1,230 complete and guaranteed reliable Waterbury watches have left their factory on each working day. Any juvenile can persuade his daddy to offer one of these really reliable watches as an inducement for him to work out the total output for the 1O years of their existence. It is easy, although it does not look it, and the chances are a hundred to one that if he makes a mistake in the figuring his father will never take the trouble to check it.

News November 1937
More Difficult Mathematics For German Schoolboys
Geometrical problems will be more complicated in Germany in future than in any other country in the world, according to the lecturer in mathematics at the Adelaide University (Mr. H. W. Sanders). News has been received that in Germany the circle will in future have 400 degrees instead of 360, and the right angle 100 instead of 90. The Germans' idea, according to Mr. Sanders, is merely to employ a decimal system in their geometry, as some countries employ it in their coinage. For this reason they have made the number of degrees in the right angle 100: the circle, which consists of four right angles, is therefore 400 deg.