Joel Pearson - I Think, Therefore AI

Joel Pearson - I Think, Therefore AI

From The Imperfects by Hugh van Cuylenburg, Ryan Shelton & Josh van Cuylenburg

May 24, 2026 · 1h 29m · Season 8 · Episode 17

About this episode

Dr. Joel Pearson discusses the implications of AI on mental health and human connection.

In the age of AI, do you feel that your future is more uncertain? 💌Join 7,500+ people getting our takeaways and favourite moments from this episode in our weekly newsletter -  http://bit.ly/45NyQDy In today’s Academy of Imperfection, we’re joined by Dr Joel Pearson; a neurofuturist, whose work centres around predicting how AI will impact every aspect of our lives from now on. While many of us (us included) first and foremost imagine the impacts of AI in a tech-revolution-y, robot butler-y, terminator-adjacent way, this episode goes deeper. Joel discusses how young people are forming attachments with AI companions and how we might see, perhaps the first generation in known history with a lower IQ than the one beforehand. We talk about the tangible and interconnected mental health impacts that this major societal disruption will have, and Hugh and Josh ask how in the world can we broach this topic with our kids? BUT, this episode isn’t all doom and gloom. Joel is a tech-optimist, after all. We talk to Joel about how we can foster human connection, and continue to develop our critical thinking skills, whilst not turning away from AI altogether. Joel, this has…

People in this episode

Hosts: Hugh van Cuylenburg, Ryan Shelton, Josh van Cuylenburg

Guest: Joel Pearson

Topics covered

  • AI impact
  • mental health
  • human connection
  • critical thinking
  • technology optimism

Keywords

  • AI
  • mental health
  • neurofuturist
  • human connection
  • critical thinking
  • technology

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