The Signal and the Learning

The Signal and the Learning

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The New Altars That Ask Nothing of Us

The friction we optimized away might have been the point.
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Welcome! This space explores how AI is shaping learning, focus, and human connection. Subscribe to get new essays and talks that help you see where the world is heading and how to stay fully human through it.

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Who Do You Turn To?
A small experiment in asking each other first.
 • Mandy McLean
The New Public-Health Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight
Please read and sign our Open Letter to Protect Kids from AI Companions, and share it widely across your networks to help build public pressure before…
 • Mandy McLean
From the Attention Economy to the Attachment Economy
When machines learn to simulate care, what happens to the people who start believing them? How does something that initially seems so harmless turn…
 • Mandy McLean
Six weeks back. Five capacities down.
The question isn’t whether AI can save us time (it can), it’s whether we’re efficiency-ing away the hard things that actually matter for kids’ growth.
 • Mandy McLean
Hope in the Pushback Against Harmful Tech
From VR to AI companions, the risks are real but so is the momentum for guardrails that put kids first
 • Mandy McLean
The slippery slope of treating AI like a person
Why I won’t be gifting my kids a Curio AI stuffy for Christmas
 • Mandy McLean
Why I’m Paying Attention to AI Companions
A re-share of my After Babel article on AI companions, co-published with Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch
 • Mandy McLean
One Nation, Many Feeds
How GenAI takes the algorithmic echo chamber to the next level and why it matters for how we understand each other
 • Mandy McLean
The Schools We Build Reflect the Future We Believe In
In an age of AI, polarization, and personalization, school may be the last place where we learn to live together
 • Mandy McLean
AI Companions Are Replacing Teen Friendships and It’s Time to Set Hard Boundaries
From sexually explicit bots to school-burning pandas, AI “friends” are already chatting with 72% of teens. Here’s what parents and educators need to…
 • Mandy McLean
They Know More About AI Than We Do
Why the AI cheating crisis is really a motivation crisis and what schools can do about it
 • Mandy McLean
The Erosion of Deep Thinking And What It’s Doing to Our Kids
How tech-driven attention habits are reshaping learning, reasoning, and the future of civic engagement
 • Mandy McLean
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