Graham Hillard reflects on how AI (especially ChatGPT) is reshaping teaching, learning, and the future viability of higher education and related careers.

Guest bio:

Graham Hillard is a writer and former university English professor with 15 years of teaching at a liberal arts college in Nashville. He now serves as an editor at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and contributes to the Washington Examiner, focusing on higher education policy and cultural commentary.

Topics discussed:

• Detection and dynamics of AI-assisted cheating in student work
• Professors’ ability (and limits) to identify AI-generated prose
• Institutional responses: from forbidding tools like Grammarly to blue-book handwritten exams
• The changing value of credentials versus genuine learning
• The economic sustainability of universities amid credential inflation and AI-driven skill parity
• Online teaching during and after the pandemic, and its impact on learning quality
• AI’s broader hype versus realistic technological progress, including medical and labor implications
• Future career advice in an AI-augmented world: trades, human services, and unknown new fields
• The role of regulation and government in preserving work and shaping educational demand
• Higher ed’s internal contradictions: tenure, adjunct exploitation, large endowments, and political perceptions

Main points:

AI tools create an “arms race”: savvy students can evade detection, while professors can often sense AI-generated text but struggle to prove it.

• Widespread AI use threatens to blur the line between college graduates and non-graduates, undermining credential value and potentially the economic model of many institutions.
• Some traditional fixes (e.g., handwritten exams) may work briefly but are ultimately unsustainable as technology (wearables, implants) advances.
• Online teaching offers convenience but poses systemic hurdles to genuine learning due to asynchronous formats and loss of spontaneous interaction.
• AI hype often outpaces real innovation; many promised breakthroughs (e.g., new drugs, robot plumbers) face long timelines and practical constraints.
• Human roles in creative, critical, and certain service areas (nursing, veterinary care, regulation, oversight) remain essential, at least for the foreseeable future.
• Regulatory and political forces may slow or reshape disruption, but broken structures in higher ed (tenure imbalances, rising tuition, administrative bloat) leave it vulnerable to reform or contraction.
• Institutions once seen as unimpeachable (e.g., elite universities with massive endowments) face growing public skepticism and potential taxation pressures.
• Despite skepticism, many still plan to send their children to college, reflecting both habit and the current perceived value of the credential “signal.”
• Ultimately, AI is more nuisance than existential threat today—but its integration demands rethinking education’s purpose, assessment methods, and alignment with evolving career landscapes.

Top 3 quotes:

• “I would say that ChatGPT is doing better work than the stupid student, but worse work than the smart student.”
• “If college only indicates mastery of ChatGPT, I can assure all of our listeners that other cheaper means of demonstrating that mastery will arise. And then what’s the point of colleges?”
• “I persist in saying that this AI stuff is probably hyped overblown a little bit, but man, if any institution, if any sector of the economy is gearing up to be experiencing some pain, it’s higher education.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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A deep dive into Michael Heller & James Salzman’s Mine, exploring how modern “ownership engineering” shapes innovation, resource access, and societal outcomes.

Guest Bios

• Michael Heller: Vice Dean & Professor of Real Estate Law at Columbia Law School; economist and property theorist; author of Mine: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives; former World Bank advisor on post-communist property reforms.
• James Salzman: Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA & UC Santa Barbara; expert in resource management and property law; co-author of Mine; taught at Duke Law and advised on water policy and environmental regulation.

Topics Discussed

• Ownership gridlock in pharmaceuticals and biotech patents
• Copyright fragmentation (MLK speeches, music sampling)
• “Remote control” of behavior via ticketing (Duke basketball “camp-out”)
• Property conflicts: solar panels vs. redwood trees, adverse possession cases
• Digital ownership: AI training data, EV feature subscriptions, Amazon cart analogy
• Historical and international property transitions (post-Soviet housing reforms)
• Jurisdictional experiments in ownership law (state labs, South Dakota trusts, Puerto Rico tax incentives)

Three Main Points

• Ownership Engineering: Rights aren’t natural—they’re designed tools (“remote controls”) wielded to steer behavior, from seating fans to shaping markets.
• Gridlock & Fragmentation: Excessive, overly granular property rights (patents, copyrights) can stifle innovation and access—too many owners, too few outcomes.
• Digital vs. Physical Property: The shift to “ones and zeros” erodes traditional possession; corporations gain power to add or remove features, while users overestimate what they truly own.

Top Three Quotes

• “Possession plus time equals ownership—may not be just or moral, but it certainly is powerful.”
• “Savvy companies think of their ownership as a remote control: they press buttons to steer you without you even realizing it.”
• “In a world of ones and zeros, what you feel you own is often one-tenth of what you actually own—Amazon and Tesla already know this.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.

Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Mark Quann, founder of the Perfect Portfolio, discusses his "Buy, Borrow, Die" strategy for building wealth, legally avoiding taxes, and achieving financial independence.

Guest Bio:
Mark Quann is the founder of the Perfect Portfolio, a tax strategist, and the author of Top 10 Ways to Avoid Taxes and Be Smart, Pay Zero Taxes. With a background in finance and business, Mark teaches everyday people how to use the Buy, Borrow, Die strategy to grow their wealth while minimizing taxes.

Topics Discussed:

• The Buy, Borrow, Die strategy for building wealth and avoiding taxes.
• Real estate as a wealth-building tool and its tax advantages.
• Strategies for using margin and borrowing against assets to finance investments.
• The importance of financial education and raising your financial IQ.
• The limitations of traditional retirement accounts and their tax implications.

5 Main Points:

• The Buy, Borrow, Die strategy allows individuals to build wealth without selling assets or paying taxes, leveraging borrowed money to acquire more assets.
• Real estate offers tax advantages like accelerated depreciation and income generation through rent, while keeping taxes low.
• Financial advisors and traditional retirement accounts are not the best way to build wealth; they often lead to high taxes and minimal returns.
• Anyone can start with small investments, such as $100, and scale up by borrowing against assets to continue buying and growing wealth.
• Understanding the rules of the financial game, such as the Buy, Borrow, Die strategy, is key to financial independence.

Best 3 Quotes:

• "The rich get rich with inflation. The poor get poor. Inflation transfers the wealth from the poorest people on the planet to Wall Street and the people who understand Buy, Borrow, Die."
• "If you really want to be financially free, you need to stop doing what everyone else is doing. Start with a brokerage account, invest in assets, and borrow against them."
• "The system is rigged. If you don't use the strategies that the billionaires use, you’re the one who’s working until you die. The game is there to be played."

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.

Thanks for listening!