PBTO54: The Fuzzy and the Techie- The Important Role of Humanities in a Tech Driven World

Credits: Opening music credit goes to Riju Mukhopadhyay & Pavan Cherukumilli

Who is on the show:

In this episode, we host Scott Hartley. He is a venture capitalist and author of THE FUZZY AND THE TECHIE , a Financial Times business book of the month, and finalist for the Financial Times and McKinsey & Company’s Bracken Bower Prize for an author under 35.

Why is he on the show:

Apart from being a VC and having written a good book, he has also served as a Presidenhttp://amzn.to/2rAeUmWtial Innovation Fellow at the White House, a Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV), and a Venture Partner at Metamorphic Ventures. Prior to venture capital, he worked at Google, Facebook, and Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He has been a contributing author at MIT Press, and has written for the Financial Times, Forbes, Foreign Policy, the Boston Review and others. He has also finished six marathon and Ironman 70.3 triathlons.

What do we talk about in our conversation:

In our free wheeling conversations, we speak about:

  • His upcoming book “The Fuzzy and the Techie”, the reason why he wrote the book and the places from where his insights come from.
  • How do we know if one is a fuzzy (Arts, humanities, economics, political science, etc) and who is a techie (engineering, computer science, etc) ?
  • How it takes both of these skills to do good work in real life?
  • Examples of how some of the well known techies are also fuzzies or surround themselves with people who are fuzzies.
  • Why did Google and Apple have a “Philosopher-in-residence” at some point?
  • The combination of a fuzzy and a techie at the helm of Apple..
  • The thoughts behind the Design of the New York Central Park by Frederic Law Olmstead and how some of the same principles are being used to design at Apple
  • What is the reason for a single narrative of AI taking over the world? Is there a different narrative playing out in the world as well? What are the other conversations that we need to be thinking and debating about?
  • How could automation by machine learning or artificial learning potentially play out? Will machines replace humans completely or will they automate parts of the jobs that humans do and thus enhance the capabilities of us humans?
  • The importance of the skills of a fuzzy in identifying where and how can technology be applied?
  • The story behind Stitch fix and its success. The role that the M Algorithm (Machine) and H algorithm (Human) play in their success.
  • The good, bad and ugly of recommendation engines…
  • How Facebook used user behaviour to drive user engagements
  • Tristan Harris and his movement – “Time Well Spent
  • Persuasive technologies and the impact it is having on us and our world.
  • The story of Sean Duffy and his company – Omada Health
  • His advice for entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level…
  • The importance of continuing to learn technology using tools like General Assembly and humanities.
  • Transforming From Full stack developer to a full stack integrator
  • Prototyping with Framer.
  • The growing importance of imagination
  • What did he learn from running marathon and 1 Ironman 73?
  • What Scott does to learn continuously and stay relevant?

How Can you reach him?

You can reach him on twitter @scottehartley or on LinkedIn. You can buy his book here.

Patreon:

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