693. What’s Our Job as Humans Anymore?

It may just be being human. Stephen Dubner interviews A.I. performer Tilly Norwood to find out if we are as replaceable as we fear. (Part two of a two-part series (freakonomics.com/what-will-a-i-do-to-and-for-h…).)

• SOURCES:• Sean Astin (seanastin.com/biography), actor, president of SAG-AFTRA.
• Kevin Kelly (kk.org/biography), co-founder of Wired.
• Ethan Mollick (faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/emollick), associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Tilly Norwood, A.I. performer.
• Eline Van der Velden (linkedin.com/in/eline-van-der-velden-2ab8285a/…), founder and C.E.O. of Particle6.
• Joel Waldfogel (carlsonschool.umn.edu/faculty/joel-waldfogel), economist at the University of Minnesota.

• RESOURCES:• "Quiet, My Exoself (kevinkelly.substack.com/p/quiet-my-exoself)," by Kevin Kelly (KK, 2026).
• "How Large Language Models Are Reshaping the Book Market (nber.org/digest/202605/how-large-language-mode…)," by Imke Reimers and Joel Waldfogel (NBER, 2026).
• "Intellectual Property and Creative Machines (nber.org/papers/w32698)," by Gaétan De Rassenfosse, Adam B. Jaffe, and Joel Waldfogel (NBER, 2024).
• Digital Renaissance: What Data and Economics Tell Us About the Future of Popular Culture (link.amazon/B01UpvcEL), by Joel Waldfogel (2018).
• "The Random Long Tail and the Golden Age of Television (journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/688842)," by Joel Waldfogel (Innovation Policy and the Economy, 2017).
• "Quality Predictability and the Welfare Benefits From New Products: Evidence From the Digitization of Recorded Music (nber.org/papers/w22675)," by Luis Aguiar and Joel Waldfogel (NBER, 2016).
• "Copyright Protection, Technological Change, and the Quality of New Products: Evidence from Recorded Music since Napster (nber.org/index%2Ephp/papers/w17503)," by Joel Waldfogel (NBER, 2011).

• EXTRAS:• "How to Survive the A.I. Shock (freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-survive-the-a-…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2026).
• "Should A.I. Move to Space? (freakonomics.com/podcast/should-a-i-move-to-sp…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2026).
• "Are Thousands of Medical Cures Hiding in Plain Sight? (freakonomics.com/podcast/are-thousands-of-medi…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2026).
• "Can A.I. Save Your Life? (freakonomics.com/podcast/can-a-i-save-your-life)," by Freakonomics Radio (2026).

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