Adaptive Curiosity

How Humans Find Purpose in the Age of Intelligent Machines
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-394-45517-1
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 476 g

Find direction and meaning when AI reshapes your career and identity

In Adaptive Curiosity: How Humans Find Purpose in the Age of Intelligent Machines, behavioral scientist and Fulbright Specialist Dr. Diane Hamilton provides a structured method for rebuilding direction when automation displaces the roles, routines, and identities that once organized professional life. Drawing on her Curiosity Code Index® and research across thousands of organizations, Hamilton shows how curiosity becomes a stabilizing force during disruption.

Hamilton identifies four FATE inhibitors—Fear, Assumptions, Technology, and Environment—that block reinvention and offers a repeatable process for overcoming each one. Readers learn to select meaningful pursuits, use intelligent tools as creative partners, and build contribution through learning, relationships, and community. The book moves beyond diagnosis to practical life design in an AI-driven world.

Readers will also find: - A validated framework for diagnosing the specific psychological barriers that prevent individuals from engaging with new opportunities
- Practical strategies for converting curiosity into sustained direction, contribution, and purposeful action during career transitions
- Methods for using AI and intelligent tools as collaborative partners rather than threats to professional identity and relevance
- Guidance for managers and executives leading teams through technological disruption, forced transitions, and organizational restructuring
- Techniques for rebuilding identity and meaning when traditional career structures no longer provide a clear forward path

Ideal for professionals navigating automation-driven career shifts, mid-career adults reassessing direction after disruption, managers guiding teams through technological change, and students preparing for a non-linear workforce, Adaptive Curiosity delivers a practical system for turning uncertainty into purposeful reinvention.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hamilton, Diane

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Informatik Künstliche Intelligenz
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Biologische Psychologie, Neuropsychologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction xi

Part I When Identity and Occupation Separate 1
Chapter 1 What Do You Do? 3
Chapter 2 The Stability People Expected 13
Chapter 3 When Expertise Feels Uncertain 21
Chapter 4 The Problem of Too Much Free Time 29
Chapter 5 When Distraction Replaces Satisfaction 37
Chapter 6 What Is Adaptive Curiosity? 45

Part II The Human Need for Meaning 51
Chapter 7 Why Information Is Not Enough 53
Chapter 8 The Importance of Contribution 61
Chapter 9 Recognition Without Titles 67
Chapter 10 Participation as the New Signal 73
Chapter 11 How Meaning Actually Forms 77

Part III Why Reinvention Is Difficult (FATE) 81
Chapter 12 Fear 83
Chapter 13 Assumptions 89
Chapter 14 Technology 95
Chapter 15 Environment 101

Part IV Developing Adaptive Curiosity 107
Chapter 16 Learning Again as an Adult 109
Chapter 17 Artificial Curiosity and Working with Intelligent Machines 115
Chapter 18 The Real Reason You Don't Start Anything New 123
Chapter 19 Overcoming Avoidance 129

Part V The Four Paths of Meaning 133
Chapter 20 Four Paths: The Meaning Alignment Profile (MAP) 135
Chapter 21 Exploration 141
Chapter 22 Connection 149
Chapter 23 Creation 155
Chapter 24 Influence 161
Chapter 25 Intelligent Machines and the Four Paths 167

Part VI A New Form of Contribution 175
Chapter 26 What Changes Over Time 177
Chapter 27 The Noisy TV Problem 181
Chapter 28 Preparing Future Generations 187

Conclusion 191
Appendix: The Meaning Alignment Profile (MAP) 195
About the Author 203
Index 205

Über Autor(innen)

DR. DIANE HAMILTON is an internationally recognized behavioral scientist, global keynote speaker, author, and Fulbright Specialist whose work focuses on curiosity, human behavior, and organizational performance. She developed the scientifically validated Curiosity Code Index, which identifies the factors that inhibit curiosity, and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar as one of the leading minds in management and leadership. She serves on the faculty of Duke Corporate Education and previously served as MBA Program Chair at the Forbes School of Business & Technology. A Forbes contributor, her articles have generated more than two million views, and her work has appeared in Inc., Investor’s Business Daily, SHRM, and other leading business publications.