This time a conversation with Nicholas DeMille on the “engineering/architecture” of narrative. 

We discussed salons and coffee houses as “social technologies” that emerge across history after technological shifts, and how social engineering (temperance/prohibition) and PR (Bernays using Freud) show the dangers of manipulation. 

We explored AI as a sparring partner that accelerates thinking but can crowd out the slower creative process, contrasting dictation, notebooks, and writing by hand with AI-generated drafts that feel sanitised.

We argued that human creativity involves exchange, lived experience, discretion, curiosity, and word-of-mouth trust, while AI boosts derivative output, discovery, and playful creativity for non-experts, yet risks noise, job losses, and reduced learning and curiosity.

00:00 Welcome to the Salon

01:15 Salons as Social Tech

02:05 Social Engineering Cautionary Tales

04:47 AI and Creative Space

07:11 Writing by Hand Flow

09:59 Mean Creativity and Jobs

13:42 Human Voice and Culture

16:13 Discretion Over Efficiency

18:06 Creative Constraint and Notebooks

20:58 Tech Panic and Perspective

24:28 Learning and Human Connections

32:24 Discovery and Word of Mouth

38:44 Kids Curiosity and Education

42:17 Find Your Verse