YouTube — 2026-03-30#
Watch First#
AI in Education and the Workplace: A Case for Optimism Economist Tyler Cowen’s appearance at the Hoover Institution is a must-watch for anyone trying to navigate our new reality, brilliantly arguing that AI won’t lead to mass unemployment, but rather to a premium on un-routinized “messy jobs”. He also offers a radical, fascinating vision for higher education where students take entire semesters guided only by an AI tutor to master the indispensable skill of prompting.
Highlights by Theme#
News & Business#
In the business world, CNBC dropped a fantastic deep dive, How Footwear Companies Are Changing, chronicling Nike’s strategic missteps with direct-to-consumer sales and how agile challengers like On Running and Crocs capitalized on their abandoned wholesale shelf space. On the geopolitical front, the escalating situation with Iran dominated headlines; the FT provided rapid updates on Trump’s negotiations and Iran’s proxy backers, while LIFEANO CLUB’s 袁Sir聊海上封锁：伊朗靠什么封住霍尔木兹？ offers excellent historical context on maritime blockades dating back to the Peloponnesian War. Meanwhile, a fascinating FT short explains why Japan’s iconic vending machines are rapidly disappearing due to a combination of rising inflation and severe labor shortages.
Learning & Ideas#
Over at TED, an incredibly fascinating short talk, Have you heard of aphantasia?, explores the condition where people lack a “mind’s eye” and cannot visualize mental imagery, reminding us just how differently our brains process reality. For practical workplace psychology, TED’s How to Be a Great Listener introduces “adaptive listening”—the art of shifting your listening style between supporting, advancing, immersing, or discerning based on what your colleague actually needs in the moment. For the physics nerds, Khan Academy provides a characteristically lucid breakdown of the Angular momentum of rigid systems, drawing great analogies between linear and rotational motion.
Tech & AI#
Tencent’s documentary series released a stellar interview, 【扬声 第2季】第4集｜张扬对话王兴兴：机器人上春晚背后的AI浪潮, with Unitree Robotics CEO Wang Xingxing that offers a grounded look at the grueling reality of training embodied AI without massive pre-existing datasets. BBC News also touched on the darker side of AI’s cultural impact with an exposé on AI-generated fake influencers in 「查無此人」：揭露AI生成的虛假黑人女性網紅－ BBC News 中文.
Everything Else#
Tencent’s Yang Sheng series knocked it out of the park with 【扬声 第2季】第6集｜张扬对话石铭：当医生跨界打综合格斗, profiling Shi Ming—an incredibly disciplined woman who balances a demanding career as an acupuncturist/doctor with fighting in the UFC despite a massive reach disadvantage. For a dose of pure nostalgia, Gao Xiaosong’s latest, #高晓松|老北京饭馆…, is a delightful, rambling love letter to old Beijing’s culinary scene, complete with his strong opinions on where to find the best luzhu (pork stew) and chaogan (liver stew).