---
title: "AI humility, artisanal intellectuals, and Reid Hoffman's Superagency"
subtitle: "Some of the highlights in this week's episode of Modem Futura"
author: "Andrew Maynard"
date: 2025-02-11
original: https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/ai-humility-artisanal-intellectuals
mirror: https://text.futureofbeinghuman.com/substack/ai-humility-artisanal-intellectuals.html
---

# AI humility, artisanal intellectuals, and Reid Hoffman's Superagency

*Some of the highlights in this week's episode of Modem Futura*

By Andrew Maynard · February 11, 2025 · [Original post](https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/ai-humility-artisanal-intellectuals)

---

*[Image: Image: Midjourney — [view image](https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3889703c-62d2-4006-9f7a-973f889adeb6_2912x1632.png)]*

If you read my recent posts here on The Future of Being Human Substack you’ll know that I’ve been playing with how far I can push OpenAI’s new model Deep Research.

My co-host Sean Leahy and I talk about this in the [latest episode of the](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artisanal-intellectual-a-response-to-openais-deep/id1771688480?i=1000691037686)*[Modem Futura](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artisanal-intellectual-a-response-to-openais-deep/id1771688480?i=1000691037686)*[podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artisanal-intellectual-a-response-to-openais-deep/id1771688480?i=1000691037686), which we recorded just as I was beginning my latest experiment on trying to get Deep Research to write a complete PhD dissertation — at the time I wasn’t even sure this was possible.

Listen to the complete conversation below (or watch the video) — we touch on a wide range of cutting edge AI topics, including whether AI will give rise to “artisanal intellectuals,” Reid Hoffman’s new book Superagency, the connections between Martin Heidegger’s 1954 work “The Question Concerning Technology” and AI, and much more:

*[Spotify audio: <https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b>]*

Just some places you might want to dip into the conversation, but there are plenty of others:

[10:15](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=615): The value of OpenAI’s $200 a month plan

[17:00](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=1020): OpenAI’s Deep Research as an on-demand research analyst

[29:00](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=1740) The artisanal intellectual as someone who thinks without using AI

[34:00](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=2040) Heidegger and AI (this is infused through the conversation

[43:30](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=2610): Reid Hoffman’s book Superagency

[44:15](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=2655): The Quantum Mechanics Theory of Super Agency

[48:00](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=2880): Humility and AI

[52:00](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=3120): What do we stand to loose with advanced AI?

[55:45](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tQIQxINY3E5NsF8f2Re3b?t=3345): What is the value pf a PhD?

You can also watch us recording the show on YouTube:

*[YouTube video: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMo2zH-It4>]*

If you’re enjoying these conversations on *Modem Futura*, please don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts so you get new episodes delivered as they’re released.

And, of course, every rating or review helps us get better at what we’re doing — thanks in advance 😊

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*This Markdown file is a text-only version of “AI humility, artisanal intellectuals, and Reid Hoffman's Superagency” by Andrew Maynard, from The Future of Being Human (<https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com>). The original post at <https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/ai-humility-artisanal-intellectuals> is the canonical version. Images, video, audio and interactive elements are indicated inline and available in the original. © Andrew Maynard.*