The Bucket Brigade and the Algorithm: What Firefighting Teaches Us About AI and Jobs

October 14, 2026 Steve Roberts

One bucket, 25 people It once took a line of 25 people to get a single bucket of water onto a fire. That was the bucket brigade. Neighbors lined up from the nearest water source to the burning building and passed buckets hand to hand. […]

Guests and Dead Fish Begin to Smell After Three Days

June 8, 2020October 15, 2026 Steve Roberts

In 1736, Benjamin Franklin printed a line in Poor Richard that every host already knew: “Fish and Visitors stink in 3 days.” That is a host talking, and the visitor never gets a vote. Businesses sit in the host’s seat every time they call the […]