Summary
Jerry Michalski is an American technology consultant, futurist, and thought leader known for his work on the impact of technology on society and business, particularly in the areas of trust and relationships.
In essence, Jerry Michalski is a visionary who explores the profound ways technology shapes human interactions and societal structures. He challenges conventional thinking about consumers and trust, advocating for a future where relationships and genuine connections are central to a thriving economy and society.
Source: Gemini
OnAir Post: Jerry Michalski
About
Biography
Key Aspects of Jerry Michalski’s Work:
- The Relationship Economy: Michalski is a proponent of the “Relationship Economy,” a concept emphasizing the shift from a consumer-driven, mass-marketing approach to an economy built on trust, interdependence, and meaningful connections. He argues that the increasing connectivity through the internet and other technologies is facilitating this shift.
- Design from Trust: He advocates for “Design from Trust,” a principle that challenges the traditional design of institutions and systems based on mistrust. Instead, he explores the potential and benefits of designing systems that trust individuals.
- Technology Analysis: For over a decade, he worked as a technology industry analyst, including as the Managing Editor of Esther Dyson’s influential newsletter Release 1.0. This gave him a front-row seat to the emergence of the internet and other key technologies.
- REX (Relationship Economy eXpedition): He founded REX, a “think-and-do tank” focused on researching and promoting the transition to the Relationship Economy.
- Open Global Mind: He is the founder of Open Global Mind, a project aimed at building a collective memory to help humans make better decisions together.
- Jerry’s Brain: Michalski is famous for curating what is considered the world’s largest personal mind map using TheBrain software. This digital repository contains hundreds of thousands of interconnected thoughts and insights gathered over decades. He often shares access to his “Brain” publicly.
- Public Speaking and Consulting: He is a sought-after speaker and consultant, advising organizations on navigating technological and social change, fostering trust, and reimagining their relationships with stakeholders.
- Affiliation with the Institute for the Future (IFTF): He is listed as a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future, indicating his ongoing engagement with future-oriented thinking and research.
Source: Gemini
Web Links
ITDF Essay, April 2025
The Blurring of Societal and Cultural Boundaries Is Shifting the Essence of Being Human in Many Ways, Further Disrupting Human Relationships and Mental Health
Source: ITDF Webpage
“Multiple boundaries are going to blur or melt over the next decade, shifting the experience of being human in disconcerting ways. Among them:
The boundary between reality and fiction: Deepfakes have already put a big dent in reality, and it’s only going to get worse. In setting after setting, we will find it impossible to distinguish between the natural and the synthetic. In addition…
“The boundary between human intelligence and other intelligences: Parity with human thinking is a dumb goal for these new intelligences, which might be more fruitfully used as a Society of Mind of very different skills and traits. As we snuggle closer to these intelligences, it will be increasingly difficult to distinguish who (or what) did what.
As boundaries fall, they will tumble in the direction they are pushed, which means they will shift according to the dominant forces of our sociotechnical world. Unfortunately, today that means the forces of consumerism and capitalism. … We have such a screwed up society that we have to educate kids about empathy, a natural human trait, and AIs today can out-empathize the average human. It is my hope that some human traits will become more highly valued among humans than before the AI era. I’m hard-pressed to say which or why, but a real hug is likely to retain its value.
“The boundary between human creations and synthetic creations: A few artists may find lasting value by creating a new Vow of Chastity for AI, declaring that their creations were unaided. But everyone else will melt into the common pool of mixed authorship, with fairly unskilled artists able to generate highly sophisticated works. It will be confusing for everyone, especially the art industry. Same goes for literature and other creative works.
“The boundary between skilled practitioners and augmented humans: We won’t be able to tell whether an artifact was created by a human, an AI or some combination. It will be hard to make claims of chastity credible — and it may simply not matter anymore.
“The boundary between what we think we know and what everyone else knows: Will we all be talking to the same AI engines, commingling our ideas and opinions? Will AIs know us better than we know ourselves, so we slip into a ‘Her’ future? Will AIs know both sides of disputes better than the disputing parties? If so, will the AIs use that knowledge for good or evil?
“I bet you can think of several other boundaries under siege. As boundaries fall, they will tumble in the direction they are pushed, which means they will shift according to the dominant forces in our sociotechnical world. Unfortunately, today that means the forces of consumerism and capitalism, which have led us into this cul-de-sac of addictive, meaning-light fare that often fuels extremism. Those same forces are fueling AI now. I don’t see how that ends well.
“In this crazy mess of shifting boundaries, AIs will successfully emulate core human traits, such as empathy. We have such a screwed-up society that we have to educate kids about empathy, a natural human trait, and AIs today can out-empathize the average human. It is my hope that some human traits will become more highly valued among humans than before the AI era. I’m hard-pressed to say which, or why, but a real hug is likely to retain its value.
“How much AI did I use for this short essay? That’s for me to know, and you to guess.”
This essay was written in January 2025 in reply to the question: Over the next decade, what is likely to be the impact of AI advances on the experience of being human? How might the expanding interactions between humans and AI affect what many people view today as ‘core human traits and behaviors’? This and nearly 200 additional essay responses are included in the 2025 report “Being Human in 2035.”
More Information
Wikipedia
Jerry Michalski is an American technology consultant. He is the former managing editor of Release 1.0, a technology newsletter. He is the founder of Sociate.com and ReX (Relationship Economy eXpedition).
Education
Jerry Michalski graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.[1] He received a master in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[1]
Career
Michalski served as the managing editor of Release 1.0, the newsletter published,[2] and originally written and edited solely by Esther Dyson.[3]
Michalski is the founder of Sociate.com. He is also the founder of ReX (Relationship Economy eXpedition).[4] He has given lectures about the “economy of relationships” in front of think tanks like the Institute for the Future, where he argued that the thriving economies of the future will rest upon relationships.[4]
Michalski is considered to be one of the Digerati.[5] Michalski is one of the earliest users of the TheBrain[6] mind mapping and personal knowledge base software, having amassed more than half a million nodes [7] in 26 years of use.
Boards
Michalski is a board member of Zev Shapiro‘s organization TurnUp
References
- ^ a b “Jerry Michalski”. Sociate.com. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ Lewis, Peter H. (June 19, 1994). “Getting Down to Business on the Net”. The New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
In some cases, they won’t have much choice about participating in some fashion,” said Jerry Michalski, managing editor of Release 1.0, a computer industry newsletter in New York.
- ^ Lih, Andrew (2009). The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World’s Greatest Encyclopedia. London: Aurum. p. xi. ISBN 9781845134730. OCLC 280430641.
Jerry was a prolific fellow, having served as the first editor of Esther Dyson’s legendary Release 1.0 newsletter, and was holding an exclusive freeform technology “unconference.”
- ^ a b Doyle, C. Andrew (2015). A Generous Community: Being the Church in a New Missionary Age. New York: Morehouse Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 9780819232304. OCLC 903675344.
- ^ Donatiello, Nick (January 5, 1997). “README On the bookshelves of the digerati”. Wired. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ WagstaffThe, Jeremy (April 12, 2004). “Article about Jerry’s usage of the Brain”. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
- ^ Michalski, Jerry. “Jerry’s Brain”. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
