This Hollow Earth

36.12 - MU Podcast - The Skill Trap | Outsourcing Ourselves

Mysterious UniverseSep 25, 2026

Hosts Joe Hodgdon and Brandon Thomas finish their look at Matt Beane's 2024 book The Skill Code, which argues that AI and automation are quietly removing the apprenticeship experiences that turn beginners into experts. Through stories of warehouse workers, salespeople, bankers, surgeons and bomb technicians, they explore how efficiency gains can cut off the next generation's learning. Along the way they tangent into Hollow Earth entrances, red-light camera legality and the alleged '20 and back' secret space program as a possible model for downloading skills.