Masters of Scale Arthur Brooks on how to build a meaningful life
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Mar 26, 2026 
Arthur Brooks, bestselling author and Harvard professor studying happiness, offers a concise mini-bio and big ideas. He explores the modern collapse of meaning, three channels of well-being, and how tech and boredom shape creativity. He discusses love, risk, friendship types, leadership ethics, and how to anchor capitalism in moral purpose.
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Tech Mediation and Pandemic Deepened Meaningless Life
- Technology, political polarization, and COVID responses reshaped social habits and pulled people apart.
- Brooks links mediated relationships via smartphones and pandemic isolation to a rise in meaninglessness.
Tech Pushes Us Into Left Brain Problem Solving
- Left hemisphere solves complicated problems; right hemisphere handles complex, meaning-filled questions.
- Modern life and tech push us left-brain, preventing engagement with complex questions like marriage or life's purpose.
Schedule Tech Free Dawn Walks To Reboot Creativity
- Protect blank space by scheduling tech-free zones and times to let your default mode network run.
- Brooks prescribes a dawn walk (Brahma Mahurta) and morning device-free routines for 30 days to reboot creativity.
