Nostalgia is a gateway
When I was a kid, books were always my escape and my comfort. All sorts of books, from mysteries to science fiction to historical novels to comic books. My special fortune growing up was to have a large walk-in closet in my bedroom with lots of shelves on the wall. A space that was my library and large enough for me to sit on the floor and read for hours.
Like most kids do, I developed specific interests and favorite books and characters and series. At some point, I discovered the Doc Savage pulp adventures, being reprinted in paperback by Bantam Books. That discovery became my favorite character, my touchstone. There is a lot to unpack in why this was the case, and I will leave that for another day.
Nostalgia is a funny thing, and although I have long ago left reading Doc Savage behind (have I though?), every now and then he pops up in my mind.
Which brings me to AI.
I have been spending a lot of time with AI tools, focusing on how I can improve the marketing work I and my teams do. Looking for ways to be more efficient, scalable, and effective in my daily work, and testing the limits of what AI can do. For the most part, I have been very successful in using the tools to really accelerate and augment some standard processes (e.g., repetitious content creation, research, analysis) and have been honing my prompt skills a lot.
The power of a modern LLM is all about the prompt (ignoring Agentic AI for the moment). The better the prompt, the better the results. I have found time and again that specificity is key to getting what I want.
Last night I was just thinking of random things and gave Claude (my AI of choice) a random prompt:
Go find out something interesting about the fictional character “Doc Savage” and then use that fact to illustrate something relevant about the 21st century.
Of course, nothing is totally random, is it? Doc Savage is always lurking somewhere in my brain, and I was just playing around.
The answer surprised me a lot. Why? Because it was the first time I actually experienced an “aha!” and “oh my!” moment in my interactions with AI. Having Claude generate a solid marketing survey from my detailed prompt is cool, but I understand how LLMs work and expect good output. Having it make interesting connections (even though I STILL know how LLMs work and why this was the response) is a moment of true surprise and clarity for me.
I say time and again, the quality of the questions asked drives the value created. This made it clear to me that great questions can take many forms.
Here is Claude’s response to my prompt:
I'd be happy to search for information about Doc Savage and connect it to our modern world. Let me do that for you.
Based on my search, I've discovered a fascinating aspect of Doc Savage that connects perfectly to our 21st century world: his approach to self-improvement and human potential.
Doc Savage was a fictional character created in 1933 who, unlike superheroes with magical powers, was simply raised from birth by his father and scientists to become "one of the most perfect human beings in terms of strength, intelligence, and physical abilities." In essence, he was the ultimate self-improvement project, designed to reach peak human potential through deliberate training and education.
What makes this relevant to our 21st century is our cultural obsession with optimization and self-improvement. Today, we live in an era where:
Optimization Culture: Just like Doc Savage's rigorous training regimen, which included "two hours everyday working on his mind and body," we now track our steps, monitor our sleep, optimize our diets, and quantify every aspect of human performance. The modern "biohacker" and "productivity guru" are essentially trying to achieve what Doc Savage's creators imagined nearly a century ago.Multidisciplinary Excellence: Doc was described as "a physical giant and protean genius" who "mastered all worldly subjects" including medicine, neurosurgery, engineering, and countless other fields. Today's emphasis on T-shaped skills, continuous learning, and career pivots mirrors this ideal of broad competence across multiple domains.Ethical Technology: Doc used advanced technology like "night vision goggles, electromagnetic rail guns, and hand-held automatic weapons," but his weapons fired "sleep-inducing 'mercy bullets'" rather than lethal ammunition, honoring his "firm code against the taking of human life." This mirrors our current struggles with ethical technology development and responsible innovation.Self-Improvement Promises: Where superheroes represented "god-like level of power," pulp heroes like Doc Savage showed "the best of what a person can be." Today's self-help industry sells this same promise—that through dedicated effort and the right methods, we can become exceptional versions of ourselves.
The irony is that while Doc Savage was presented as a pulp fiction fantasy, our modern world has embraced his ethos as an aspirational lifestyle. From Silicon Valley productivity hacks to the quantified self movement to online learning platforms promising mastery in any subject, we've created a culture that treats human potential like Doc Savage—something to be systematically optimized, measured, and maximized.
Perhaps the most relevant lesson from Doc Savage for our age is not just the pursuit of excellence, but his accompanying ethical code. In a time when optimization often focuses on individual achievement at all costs, Doc's commitment to using his abilities "for the good of all mankind" reminds us that the ultimate purpose of self-improvement should be service to others rather than just personal advantage.
We are in unprecedented times.