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I asked Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an expert on digital technology, about our preparedness for what’s about to happen. He responded in pungently non-technical terms. “We should be doing a better job of preparing ourselves. Instead, we’re impoverishing ourselves. It’s a shameful public-policy failure.”

 

My day job has me thinking about the impact of AI on jobs, and our lack of preparation for it, so I wrote a newspaper column on the topic. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Doug Clark had a couple of questions when I filed this week's newspaper column: Why did I not use the name of Jeff Hyde's ally, and how important was it to include the URLs of the blogs mentioned?

My answers: Although the name is public and easy to find on blogs, including this one, it's not of great importance to this analysis of the story, the guy's not running for office, and leaving it out it seemed a simple kindness to the family; I told Doug I'd discussed this with a trusted adviser (thanks, Mom) and it seemed worth the clunky prose. The web addresses, I conceded, look terrible in print -- even moreso on the new, narrower pages -- but I think linking out is just the way we journalism now.

Thanks to Doug for listening. This concludes today's tour of the sausage factory. You can read the column  -- it's about the contest within the Guilford County Republican Party and its echoes of national politics -- after the jump.

We remember the integration of sports the way we remember a lot of history, as a highlight reel of breakthroughs and milestones and hard battles won...

But history is more than a series of dates and a roster of famous names...along that journey there are false dawns and cul de sacs and individual stories that tend to be forgotten as we who come after celebrate the big victories.

My newspaper column is about Bill Buford of Greensboro, one of the men who helped reintegrate the NFL decades after the first black players were forced out of the league.

"Yes, I just used air quotes."

My newspaper column imagines Obama speaking straight in his upcoming 2011 State of the Union address. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

My letter to Santa is in this morning's newspaper; you can read the whole thing after the jump.

Channeling my inner Cliff Clavin, and other thoughts on Thanksgiving.

Irony points galore if Arnold, a career foe of public spending, gets the job, and points for whatever lies beyond irony if the bankrupt real estate developer is put in charge of the county’s real estate dealings.

Cronyism is one of the topics discussed in today's newspaper column, along with library filters, Breitbarting, and the ineffectiveness of building a campaign on the slogan "saner than Boehner."

The whole thing can be read after the jump.

"Go Tar Heels. Just go in the right direction."

My newspaper column is fan mail, of a sort, for UNC atheltics:

Our flagship state university pledged to do things differently from the notorious football factories it set out to emulate, and in a way it has made good on that promise: Other schools tend to attract scrutiny and sanctions after they start winning big on the field.

Let Southern California worry about tainted championships and giving back the occasional Heisman Trophy; the Tar Heels have managed to skip straight to the problems without even waiting for gridiron glory.

You can read the whole thing after the jump.

An underinformed council thus voted to impose a solution that may not work very well on a problem that may not be very big...

...The report on existing policies and possible alternatives that Neerman delivered to the city manager and council members last week should have been solicited before the vote. Let’s hope the council plays catchup as well as it plays politics.

My newspaper column starts with the library fiasco, meanders past a college-bound kid and the not-quite-at-Ground-Zero Islamic center, and ends with a quick remembrance of a friend.

My newspaper column recounts our journey to Foamhenge, with shout-outs to Raquel Welch, Yogi Bear, Confederate soliders, Merlin (left) and Spinal Tap, among others.

As with a previous travelogue, I was most excited to see my photograph published in the newspaper.

After that, things get a little murky, despite the fact the incident was captured on video. Or maybe because it was captured on video. A Modern Media Moment that began on Greene Street has taken on a life of its own.

My newspaper column tracks the punch heard 'round the nation, from Mel Watt's office to cause célèbre.You can read the whole thing after the jump.

There are two possibilities behind Mayor Bill Knight’s decision to add public prayer to Greensboro City Council meetings: either he does not understand that it’s a divisive move, or he does not care.

Neither one bodes well for a city in need of strong, unifying leadership.

You can read my newspaper column after the jump.

As it turns out, "worst financial crisis since the '30s" and the "Great Recession" were more than glib phrases...

My newspaper column is about optimism on the economy, and some of the hurdles still in our way. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Faster Internet service is a goal in itself, and also a symbol of where Greensboro needs to go and how we might get there.

My newspaper column is about the changes the Google campaign is bringing to GSO, and the need to maintain momentum for change whether or not we land the project.

An early deadline meant Guilford County commissioner Kirk Perkins didn't get due credit for his role in making that board's resolution happen.

Also, Roch goes old media with a column on the benefits of broader broadband.

Confused about the proposed downtown hotel project? That just shows you've been paying attention.

My newspaper column recaps the hotel situation to date. You can read the whole thing after the jump. 

Another column on the same topic, by A&T economics professor Lawrence Morse, starts out well enough, with arguments about income and wealth disparities and the benefits of economic stimulus. Nothing about the viability of this project, or the process that got us here, but, hey, he's feeling a different part of the elephant.

Then he derails: "Some people may be concerned because the neighborhood empowering itself is predominantly black."

Which people? Random assholes, which would be unfortunate but part of real life, or the people asking questions about the project and the process in public? Because if it's the latter, let's see some evidence, and then let's consider whether the questions themselves are worthwhile in any case.

Next Morse is on to race riots in Atlanta 104 years ago, fomented by incendiary newspaper coverage, which is supposedly similar in some way to N&R coverage of this story. So there you have it: question the project and the process, and you're the next thing to a lynch mob. 

Let me reiterate for Prof. Morse my support of economic stimulus, my anti-racist values, my respect for the the Ole Asheboro neighborhood group (I work in the neighborhood, fwiw), my interest in overcoming disparities in income and wealth, and my endorsement of a viable downtown hotel approved by a transparent process.

Now, Professor -- what about this project and this process?

In my newspaper column, celebrating the Civil Rights museum and pondering the overdue demise of "the post-civil rights era, pre-civil rights museum ways" of racial politics.

You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Last year, one of my favorite columns: "The pole stars were Christ and Gandhi. Closer to home, Martin Luther King Jr. was showing how the strategy could work."

"Sometimes the future is easier to predict than the present."

In my newspaper column, trying to figure out when a decade ends and what happened while it lasted.

My newspaper column continues the occasional Thanksgiving tradition of listing, alphabetically, things and people for which I give thanks.

Standing in Beijing, thinking about Greensboro:

I don't expect Rashad Young to spend a lot of time reading blogs -- he's getting paid to manage the city, not surf the Web. But I do want him to pay attention to what people are talking about, and to avoid sweeping statements that alienate those citizens who use the Web to exchange ideas on local politics.

He could learn something from the respect the Chinese pay to the social media they fear.

My newspaper is about government and the voice of the people, here and there. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

UPDATE: Robbie Perkins, on Facebook: "I believe [Young] will be scanning the blogs in a month or two..."

"The economy does not in any way excuse the crooks. They bear full responsibility for their actions, but the break-ins are a reminder that the Great Recession is manifesting itself in all kinds of uncomfortable ways." My newspaper column is about crime, recession, and local government. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Challenging corporate power and standing up to the corporate wing of the Democratic Party is no easy thing, and it shows. Obama has made noises about transparency and lobbyist reform, but the lobbyists are thriving and the insurance companies are licking their chops over health care reform, on which the pharmaceutical industry already cut itself a nice deal behind closed doors. Maybe some of that is necessary horse-trading, but it smells like horse-something-else.

The New Normal feels too much like the Old Normal, says my newspaper column, all of which you can read after the jump.

Now, after a generation in which the clout of big business has grown enormously, and respect for the useful machinery of the marketplace has mutated in some quarters into something close to idolatry, we need to rethink the common belief that says government is always the problem.

My newspaper column is about healthcare, big business, and threats to liberty. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

In my newspaper column, reflecting on the ways 9/11 changed everything:

Can you imagine the outcry if the biggest story of the summer just ended had been, say, the death of a pop star? We wouldn't stand for it, not anymore...What if borrowing money to buy McMansions and giant trucks had been the post-terror vogue, rather than the ethic of service and simplicity that has defined the era?

You can read the whole thing after the jump.

If Mike Easley, the jet-setting former governor, was dropped into a Borges story where he met an earlier iteration of himself — Mike Easley, the tough prosecutor — well, that would sure be an interesting story to read. One of the random thoughts collected in today's newspaper column.

"It's hard to be part of the avant garde when you're old news in Greensboro."

My newspaper column is about blogging and the perils of popularity. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

My first newspaper column on the subject of blogging ran in 2002, back when we still had to stop to explain what a blog was. Found it while thinking about my upcoming column. We've come a long way, baby.

Father's Day. I wrote a Father's Day column. Which you can read after the jump if you wish.

Through the magic of the interwebs: Yesterday's newspaper column, today! You can read the whole thing -- about my long marriage to a publicity-shy person -- after the jump.

"Politics should be a means to an end, not a sporting event in which you root for one team and against the other." I am confident that my newspaper column will completely change the dynamics of American political discourse.

Above, Jordan Whiteley outside the old Proximity Print Works plant, photographed  by Lisa Scheer. The picture appears in an exhibition now hanging at the Greensboro Historical Museum, and also runs with my newspaper column this morning, which you can read after the jump.

My newspaper column is round-up of recent stories, including the tax-day Tea Parties and Time-Warner's tiered-pricing plan.

My newspaper column is about Time Warner Cable's tiered pricing plan -- what it means for Greensboro, and what we might do about it.

My newspaper column offers reasons to be cheerful. Read the whole thing after the jump, and feel free to add your own.

"It's not that the principles of limited government and a market economy have lost their value; both remain foundational to American life. But the time for blind worship of the machinery of the market has passed, along with blanket condemnation of the public sphere."

My newspaper column is about bank nationalization and the end of a political era. You can read it after the jump.

Two ways of addressing the recession, neither of them good: panic and denial.

Things did not have to happen the way they happened. Events that seem in retrospect to have been inevitable were contingent as they unfolded. Choices were made. We remember the Greensboro Sit-ins for what transpired here, but how things happened is important, too.

My newspaper column is about the four young men who started the Greensboro Sit-ins 49 years ago today, and the way they did what they did.

You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Photo by Lisa Scheer; click to enlarge.

"My hope, modest as it sounds, is that Barack Obama will bring us a reality-based administration."

My newspaper column is about an important way the next few years might differ from the Bush era. Read the whole thing after the jump.

My newspaper column updates the previous article on Ms. Pinnix and Trooper Alexander from the Union Cemetery, courtesy of the crowdsourced reporting done by readers.

"The history of a place is chiseled into the plinths and weathered monuments of its boneyards, and this place that we live in is no exception."

My newspaper column picks up on a couple of recent blog posts about graves in Greensboro's old Union Cemetery, and the questions they leave unanswered. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

UPDATE: Additional info on both Harrett Pinnix and Thomas Reese Alexander added at bottom of the column, courtesy of alert readers.

What do I expect from the Obama administration? I expect to be frustrated and disappointed by the failings of human beings and human systems, and to see slow progress at best against the very large problems we face as a country. That's life in the real world, even a real world that seems a little brighter now than it did before Tuesday night.

I end my columnular look back at the election with a look ahead. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Funny how "change," once derided as an empty slogan of the Obama campaign, has become a mantra for both candidates. "The last eight years haven't worked very well, have they?" says John McCain in a video at his Web site, promising "a new direction." No matter who wins, I think most Americans are ready for that.

My column this week is a collection of semi-random thoughts on the long campaign. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

My newspaper column is a one-act play about assigning blame for the financial meltdown. It's billed as A Tragedy Played as Farce. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Thrift, that once-great American value, passed away at roughly the same moment as my father, one of its most fervent practitioners, who died in 1987. Just a coincidence, of course, but one that struck me as the world copes with a financial crisis that stems in some large part from our thriftless culture.

My newspaper column is about the death of thrift. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

My newspaper column is about socialism in these United States. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

This is good news: "North Carolina A&T State University has been awarded an Engineering Research Center (ERC) from the National Science Foundation...The ERC is considered the 'crown jewel' among NSF awards.  In the past 25 years, only about 30 ERCs have been funded by NSF."

Commercial possibilities: "More than eight companies in the nanobio market will be associated with the ERC to provide input for the direction of research as well as a conduit to transfer the technology to the real world."

More: "NC A&T will also start a new department of bioengineering in conjunction with this ERC. The department will offer BS, Masters and PhD degrees in bioengineering."

Jagannathan Sankar will lead the ERC, which will focus on next-generation implantable medical devices and sensors.

The nano aspect reminds me of a column I wrote eight years ago. It has  little to do with the good news from A&T, but you can read it anyway after the jump.

We are sinners, each of us, but very few of us run for president while actively engaged in the cover-up of a still-smoldering adulterous affair, during which we might well have fathered an out-of-wedlock child and used campaign funds as hush money. Extra points for cheating on a widely popular, cancer-stricken wife, who got dragged into the mire when it turned out she knew about the affair during the campaign.

My newspaper column is harder on John Edwards than it is on the press. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

My newspaper column rounds up a few stories, including the unfair exclusion of Mike Munger from the gubernatorial debates and the Hagan campaign's online lag. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Five years ago, a call for more liberty on Independence Day: "Liberty is going to have to mean letting other people do things you don't approve of. If you want to smoke dope and your neighbor wants to smoke cigarettes and the guy across the street wants to give a gun to his boyfriend as an engagement present before their lavish church wedding,  nobody can be telling the others what they can and can't do. Respect everyone's privacy and maybe you'll end up treating everyone with respect."

Read the whole thing after the jump.

I watch television with my laptop open, check e-mail and surf the Web during phone calls. I like to think of this behavior as "multitasking" or Continuous Partial Attention, because that makes it sound like I'm doing it on purpose, but I know that's not really the case.

My newspaper column starts with Nick Carr's essay, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," and kind of meanders from there.

You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Many religions reserve a special enmity for nonbelievers. In recent years, nonbelievers have returned the favor with a series of belief-skewering books. Now comes Justin Catanoso, ambling onto the scene with an open heart and a reporter's notebook, to offer a different take on faith and skepticism.

My newspaper column is about Justin's book, My Cousin the Saint.