Welcome back to Book Overflow. Today we’re diving into the first third of Steven Levy’s In The Plex, where Carter and Nathan explore how two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, sparked the search revolution. As Levy writes, their breakthrough was a new way to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” They called their algorithm PageRank, and it didn’t just count keywords—you could say it “understood” the importance of each link. Early on, they embraced a simple motto: “Don’t be evil,” a promise to keep their growing empire honest. From cramped dorm rooms to multi-billion dollar headquarters, Page and Brin stayed true to one core idea: search could change the world. Tune in as Carter and Nathan unpack how Google went from a research project to a global force, redefining how we find—and trust—information online.
Link to Article

Welcome back to “Beyond the Essay,” where we explore how technology reshapes learning. Today, we dive into a surprising shift in college humanities classes: students openly using AI to write their papers—and arguing it’s not cheating.

One student told me, “If you can hire an editor or look up sources online, why not use ChatGPT?” They see AI as just another tool for brainstorming or refining language, much like spellcheck or Google. At first, I bristled at the idea. Isn’t writing supposed to be a measure of original thought?

But the more I listened, the more their point sank in: “Everything we write is derivative,” one student pointed out. AI simply accelerates a process we already practice. This doesn’t mean abandoning rigorous inquiry. Instead, we might shift assignments toward critical evaluation—asking students to analyze ChatGPT’s output, challenge its biases, and integrate it thoughtfully into their own arguments.

Perhaps the real skill isn’t writing alone, but guiding AI, assessing its strengths and blind spots, and crafting ideas that stand on human insight. That’s a conversation worth having. Thanks for listening to “Beyond the Essay.”
Link to Article