Making Intelligence Masculine Again

I've had all the various parts of this episode swirling in my head for months—from The Paperclip Maximizer to The Great Feminization to Meta's Masculine Energy to mind-body dualism to the AI industry's role in what I propose is The Great Re-Masculinization. 

It is absolutely about both the present and the future of work, and whether we accept the inevitability of regressing to an imagined past or forge into a more dynamic, multi-dimensional workplace that values the contribution of all sorts of intelligence.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode
• "The Great Feminization" by Helen Andrews in Compact Magazine
• "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?" on Interesting Times with Ross Douthat (gift link)
• "Why does Mark Zuckerberg want more masculine energy in the corporate world? Patriarchy is still in charge" by Ashley Morgan on The Conversation
• Artificial Knowing by Alison Adam
• Mark Zuckerberg's comments on free expression
• "GPT-5 has lost what makes GPT-4 so special... Its ability to feel emotional nuance with users" post by alan1cooldude
• "Did Women Ruin Everything?" on In Bed With The Right

• (00:00) - Rage Bait Strikes Again
• (02:24) - The Great Feminization
• (05:44) - Exploring the Great Feminization
• (08:49) - Mark Zuckerberg and Masculine Energy
• (11:36) - AI & The Great Re-Masculinization
• (17:02) - Mind-Body Dualism
• (20:37) - The Backlash
• (26:17) - Conclusion: Embracing a Balanced Intelligence

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What is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.