What do we need- an engineer's or humanist mind?
Are Problems Better Solved with an Engineer’s Mind or a Humanist Mind? That question kept rattling around in my head as I listened to Trevor Noah interview Mustafa Suleyman, head of AI at Microsoft, about whether artificial intelligence will save humanity or end it.
Mustafa spoke with striking optimism about AI’s potential to engineer solutions far beyond human capacity—cheaper energy, cures for disease, more efficient farming. His confidence made me pause.
My mind drifted back twenty years to a course I took at Seattle University, where we discussed the book, The Political Economy of Hunger. The book’s central thesis: we cannot solve famine by simply providing more food. Without addressing the larger political context—who controls access and distribution—resources stall before reaching those in need. I thought of this because engineering abundance is only half the equation; unleashing its power to reduce suffering demands ethical distribution and thoughtful governance.
Mustafa acknowledged a similar tension. As AI puts immense power into more hands, how will we govern ourselves? What regulations—or shared values—will we agree to follow in service of humanity?
Are we shaping a future out of fear and division, or out of a vision that inspires hope for generations to come? It’s an ancient question: will we let love or fear be the operating system of our lives?
I think about old wisdom—indigenous ways of knowing grounded in connection to nature—and wonder how those teachings might weave themselves into a technological future.
While running and listening to the interview, I paused the audio, as I often do when I’m among the trees in Schmidt Park. A sudden scramble of claws revealed a family of raccoons clinging to the trunk of a massive Douglas fir. Later, along Alki Beach, I matched pace with a sea lion, paused to watch a blue heron perched on a light pole, and caught the quick flicker of an industrious rat darting across the path. Where, in all our technological advancement, is there room for attunement to nature and old wisdom?
This run wove together the different parts of me: the part attuned to the sacred interconnection of all living things and the part grappling with the magnitude of technological growth.
The future is evolving quickly. It asks us to evolve too—to meet the growing power of AI with creativity, hopeful imagination, and empathy. Only then can technological breakthroughs serve a future where generations to come can thrive.
How will you keep love and logic in conversation?
Stay Wild,
Meghan
