“So, are you sure you want to know everything?” Theresa Caputo, psychic medium, asks every client before a reading. After all, dead people can be just as blunt and insensitive as living ones, especially with fewer opportunities to talk. Caputo, star of the new Lifetime show "Raising Spirits," brings her signature long fingernails and impossibly tall (and potentially flammable) hair, and folksy Long Island charm to those seeking healing, hope and advice.
Watching Caputo is incredibly entertaining, mostly because if this is how it’s done, I may have the gift too. “I’m sensing a presence — did someone you know cross over? Did they have a vowel in their name or a nickname that ended in 'y'? Does 'white' or 'red' yarn mean something to you, to them, to anyone in your family?” Some of her observations, often supported by eagerly disarmed clients, are spot on: “Yes, grandma had white hair, loved sweaters — red ones — and she did have a cat named Mittens."
A cynic might even think Theresa did online searches beforehand. I wouldn’t blame her after I finished reading "Mindmasters: The Data Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior," the insightful new book by Columbia Business School Professor Sandra Matz. Turns out, we generate millions of digital footprints within hours of waking up through our texts, posts, fitness trackers and the way we move around the world. That data, aided by the magic of AI, easily can comprise an instant, accurate psychological profile of any one of us, defined by personality, political ideology, sexual orientation, moral values, mental health and more. This can be a good thing, Matz explains, if technology can empower us to make healthy choices; less so if we are targeted and manipulated, as allegedly happened in the 2016 US presidential election. AI is rapidly making hyper-personalized content easier, and we need innovative policy choices — such as trusted, managed data co-ops — to give us more individual and collective autonomy over our own data.
In fact, AI is coming after Caputo and her transcendent competitive advantage. Last year’s Sundance Film Festival featured "Eternal You," a documentary chronicling the work of AI startups creating digital avatars of deceased loved ones. Imagine if you could converse again with grandma, now reanimated via large language models that follow her speech pattern, vocabulary and other characteristics? Better yet, Storyfile, a California-based AI company, could enable you to interact with mourners at your own funeral. “I’m so glad that all of you showed up, especially you, Cousin Sal. You owe me money.”
For eons, everyday people and even business and political leaders, have consulted psychics, seeking advice, direction, or approval from those on the other side. Psychology expert Stephanie Harrison, author of "New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong," would advise those same people to stop reaching beyond and to start focusing within, and more specifically, on their own happiness, purpose and meaning. This fun, engaging book examines how the forces, expectations and pressures of modern life can combine to alienate us from our families, colleagues and our own true selves. That difficult boss, grumpy work colleague, impatient customer — even that guy who gave you a one-finger salute at the red light — may be just unhappy.
I have a special fondness for these kinds of books in business and in life. With empathy in seemingly short supply these days, Harrison’s thoughtful questions will force you to see yourself and others in a healthy, whole new light.
Still in need of otherworldly answers? I may be able to help. But please have your credit card on hand. These mystical messages of help and healing can be difficult to discern — and none of them come cheap.
Read in the Boston Business Journal
Larry Gennari is a business lawyer and chief curator of Authors & Innovators, an annual business book and ideas festival. Watch recent interviews with authors here. Gennari also teaches Project Entrepreneur, a business fundamentals bootcamp for returning citizens, at BC Law School.