I just finished reading an incredibly timely, terrifying, and yet hopeful (I hope) article by social entrepreneur Dan Koe in which he writes: "You have about 36 months to make it."
Here’s what Koe means:
“AI is and will continue to replace jobs no matter how much people fight against it. Money as we know it will change or even cease to exist because millions of ASIs (artificial superintelligences) will rapidly execute tasks beyond human comprehension, dictating humanity’s future”
I wrote about this very thing in a previous Insightful Educator newsletter article in which I looked at the research related to the coming explosion of AI, and, in particular of the rapid move from AGI to Superintelligence
Here are a few quotes from that article:
“The AGI race has begun. We are building machines that can think and reason. By 2025/26, these machines will outpace many college graduates. By the end of the decade, they will be smarter than you or I; we will have superintelligence, in the true sense of the word”
“AI progress won’t stop at human-level. Hundreds of millions of AGIs could automate AI research, compressing a decade of algorithmic progress (5+ OOMs) into ≤1 year. We would rapidly go from human-level to vastly superhuman AI systems. The power—and the peril—of superintelligence would be dramatic.”
“Once we get AGI, we’ll turn the crank one more time—or two or three more times—and AI systems will become superhuman—vastly superhuman. They will become qualitatively smarter than you or I, much smarter, perhaps similar to how you or I are qualitatively smarter than an elementary schooler”
What Koe is seeing as a social entrepreneur, what Aschenbrenner warns us about, and what I am seeing as an educator and school leader, is that the clock is ticking
To put it simply:
Artificial intelligence is already beating human intelligence in many categories…and it is just getting started.
Soon, if the predictions hold, AI may very well outpace human thinking in ways we cannot wrap our heads around
As Koe says: “I do not think you have 36 months to make it. Instead, I think you have 36 months before the definition of “making it” is radically transformed”
That is the conversation I’d like to revisit today, as it seems to be more pressing and more urgent for education, schools, and leaders now than ever before
In another Insightful Newsletter article, I wrote that the future of education and even humanity itself will belong not to the students who grew up (like I did) in the Memorization Model of schooling
But to those who grow up in a newly reimagined Innovation Model of schooling
In the Innovation Era, new technologies are coming at us not in years or months, but literally in nanoseconds
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing everything…from cars to coins…and many of the jobs we take for granted are in fast danger of becoming automated or, for humans, even obsolete
Everything from writers to lawyers, market analysts to health care professionals, accountants to yes, even teachers, are all in danger of seeing their roles diminished or replaced altogether
There is literally no telling what the job market holds for our students once they graduate, but I am pretty certain they will not be prepared for it by cramming more content, taking more tests, and doing more worksheets
If schools are going to prepare students for life in the Innovation Era, Koe’s warning that we have “36 months” needs to be taken seriously
Koe writes that:
“There will be a clear distinction between those who will thrive and those who won’t.
A clear distinction between doers vs directors. Employees vs entrepreneurs. Low-agency vs high-agency.
Those who assign work rather than having work assigned to them.
Those who pursue their interests and do many things.
Those who don’t need permission to solve a problem, and those who do
Those who prepare themselves to solve the problems of the future, even when nobody can possibly know what those problems can be, will win. Plain and simple”
If we are to best prepare students for this brave new world, then:
We must prepare students to be designers, creators, innovators, thinkers, storytellers…in short, meaning makers.
As Koe writes: Machines are for speed, repetition, and necessity. Humans are for story, novelty, myth and meaning.
"Those who lean into their humanity will thrive. Those who can't stop identifying with mechanical living will not."
What's Left When Machines Do Everything Else
Koe offers us this vision:
"As mechanical work gets replaced, what's left is meaning. To figure out what you want in life, choose something you deeply care about, dissect it ruthlessly, and shamelessly share your story, values, vision, and accompanying life's work in public to form an artisan-esque lifestyle with a small tribe of people who support what you do."
I’ve written about this for so very long:
Education without meaning is just memorization without purpose
It is why students ask “When will I ever use this?”
Why they disengage from the learning
Why passion, play, imagination, wonder, discovery, and true joy are sorely lacking from so many of our learning environments
If schools are to prepare our students well for life in the Innovation Era, they must be Hubs of Meaning
Mind you, I am not talking merely about an elective class or an after school program
I am talking about wholesale, fully transformed schools placing innovation and creativity front and center in who they are and what they do
We cannot continue to offer our students a “traditional” education and expect them to flourish and thrive in the bold new Innovation Era they stand to inherit
If we truly care about our students and their place in the world, we owe it to them to transform schools to be places that are meaning-full
Meaning-Full Education
If Koe is right, that what gets left when machine thinking becomes dominant is human centered meaning, then we may really only have “36 months” to get our tails in gear and reimagine education through the lens of meaning-full experiences and opportunities.
To be places rich in meaning, schools must be places that reimainge what learning looks like
Students in meaning-full math classes would use geometry to design and build tiny homes
Students in meaning-full botany classes would grow edible gardens, using their own vegetables to host a neighborhood feast
Students in meaning-full literature classes would publish their own graphic novels and bind their own books of original poetry
Students in meaning-full history classes would create life sized, walkable museum exhibits depicting the Battle of Bastogne or the Freedom Riders bus
Students in meaning-full fashion electives would create beautiful designs of up-cycled clothing, making them available to those in need in their local community
Students in meaning-full entrepreneurial classes would see their own ideas for products, businesses, or nonprofits come to life in real time
Students in meaning-full schools would
create design briefs for local non profits
3D print models of working prosthetic limbs
build hydroponic greenhouses in blighted neighborhoods
give spoken words on the Black female experience
perform original music related to the impact of elders in Indigenous cultures
use their mathematical abilities to design more walkable cities
host movie nights to show the original films they made before sending them off for consideration in local festivals
Students in meaning-full schools would engage in Mastery projects of their own choosing, combining rigorous scholarly research with hands on practical apprenticeships in such areas as: marine biology, mechanical engineering, filmmaking, social anthropology, cognitive science, criminal psychology…whatever their heart desires!
**For a full breakdown of how we pursue meaning making at Odyssey Leadership Academy, check out our model
The Bottom Line
You have about 36 months.
Not to "make it" in the old sense—where schools optimize for test scores and college acceptance.
But to reimagine what "making it" means in the Innovation Era.
Koe writes about this inevitable onslaught of technological transformation: "Zoom in and it's scary, zoom out and it's wonderful."
Yes, the transformation ahead is turbulent. But it's also liberating.
Give your students that liberation.
Transform your school into a place rich with meaning
Cultivate your students’ humanity
Help them become philosopher-builders who forge their own path.
Prepare them to orchestrate AI rather than compete with it.
That's how we educate for a future we can't predict.
The 36-month countdown has begun.
What will you do with the time?
When You’re Ready For Transformation, Here’s How I Can Help:
→ Check out the work we are doing at Odyssey Leadership Academy:
If you would like to see a model of schooling that has completely shaken the Etch-a-Sketch to transform what schools could be, we would love to have you check us out! Everything we do is centered around fostering innovation and meaning.
→Let me work with you:
I am passionate about helping schools, school leaders, and educators reimagine learning environments where everyone flourishes
I take all the wisdom, experience, struggle, knowledge, and expertise I have learned over my 30 years as a thought leader in reimagining education and bring it all to YOU!
From one-on-one coaching sessions, to consulting with your team, to sharing at your site, I am passionate about helping you make a difference in your learning community.
