Aaron Miller
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aaronmiller.info
Aaron Miller
@aaronmiller.info
Professor in BYU's George Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics, teaching public service/social impact students.

https://aaronmiller.info
https://how-to-help.com
Imagine being remembered both for DNA’s discovery and for being an intolerant, intolerable person.
The difference between “accomplished” and “good”
Imagine being remembered both for DNA’s discovery and for being an intolerant, intolerable person.
www.aaronmiller.info
November 8, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Plenty of industries are getting stalked by AI right now. But if AI is the lioness, universities are the already-sickly members of the herd lamely trying to outrun her.

(Also, I started a personal blog. It's 2008, apparently.)

www.aaronmiller.info/ai-is-coming...
AI is Coming for Universities, and Grades Are Why
Plenty of industries are getting stalked by AI right now. But if AI is the lioness, universities are the already-sickly members of the herd lamely trying to outrun her.
www.aaronmiller.info
November 8, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Evening light over an old dairy barn. Orick, CA

#landscapephotography #fujufilm
November 7, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The boss of Gold Bluffs

#fujifilm #naturephotography
November 4, 2025 at 11:42 PM
The end of the day. Trinidad harbor, CA

#landscapephotography #fujifilm
November 3, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Reposted by Aaron Miller
Remember those posts in the morning? I had AI read all 286 and come up with a philosophy: substack.com/@johnfdicker...
John Dickerson (@johnfdickerson)
For a few months I posted clippings from my morning reading. Passages that struck me or that I believed or that excited my imagination. I asked AI to combine them all and come up with a coherent philo...
substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Aaron Miller
I wrote about some good news: a UK charity that's combating homelessness with some extremely simple, straightforward interventions that use flexible, decentralized decision-making and treat people as people. Their approach showcases the importance of experimental and evidence-based public policy:
Should we just give cash to the homeless?
A new charity is tackling homelessness with a simple approach. Does it work?
www.forkingpaths.co
October 10, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Autumn mountain, blue sky (looking north from Mt Timpanogos, UT)

#fujifilm #landscapephotography
October 6, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Autumn layers (Mt. Timpanogos, UT)
#fujifilm #landscapephotography
October 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Two shots from Saturday night.

#iPhone17Pro #iPhonePhotography
September 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
You might have heard this before: “Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” I think that's wrong, and misleading. #fromclasstoday
September 25, 2025 at 11:08 PM
#fromclasstoday

In a dilemma, it feels like you're choosing from a list of premade options. But that's not how decisions really work. The given options can almost certainly be improved.

Making decisions means *making* them, like crafting an outcome that upholds what you value most.

September 22, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The 8x on the iPhone 17 Pro is pretty great
September 22, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Sea cave near Proposal Rock, Oregon.

#landscape #fujifilm
September 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
How much do you know about the original Polaroid? (More from my Helping class today.)

What most people don't know is that Polaroid was a pioneer in creating a workplace where people could flourish. These slides show the Two Aims of the company, and here's what these aims led to:
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Are you flourishing? Are the people in your life flourishing?

This week in my Helping Behavior class we're talking about how the only help we give that really matters is what helps someone flourish. So thinking about how people flourish makes us better helpers.
September 17, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Thinking today about this description of healing from trauma that Rabbi Myers shared on an episode earlier this year. His synagogue, Tree of Life, suffered from a mass murder in their spiritual home almost 7 years ago.
September 12, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Some of the best advice you'll ever get is to keep a list (in Notes on your phone) of people you go to for advice.

I've taught business ethics for 18 years now, and I still turn to the people I trust to help me figure out hard decisions.

We call it a CAM list: Counselors, Allies, and Mentors.
September 11, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Instead of calling it assassination, I wish we would just call it murder. Because it's murder.

- Melissa and Mark Hortman were murdered on June 14.
- Charlie Kirk was murdered yesterday.

"Assassination" amplifies the motive, urging us to pick sides. But the murderer is always on the wrong side.
September 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Aaron Miller
I'd planned to share something else from my classes today, but because of the murder of Charlie Kirk that happened at UVU (not far from BYU and where my son is a student), I thought I should skip ahead. Here's what I tell my students at the end of the semester.
September 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
I'd planned to share something else from my classes today, but because of the murder of Charlie Kirk that happened at UVU (not far from BYU and where my son is a student), I thought I should skip ahead. Here's what I tell my students at the end of the semester.
September 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
The biggest mistake made by generous people? It's not being too generous. It's caring too much about giving, and not enough about the impact of your gift.

Only 3% of donors actually research their giving. We make this mistake because giving feels good, so we focus on that instead of actual impact.
September 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
How do you find your own path to impact? I had the chance to talk about this question with my close friend and mentor Todd Manwaring on the Impact Innovations podcast.

Having done three seasons of my own show, How to Help, I've learned that each of us will do it in our own, unique way.
September 9, 2025 at 11:17 PM
More from class today (my Improving Helping Behaviors class):

There's a name for the good feeling we get from seeing someone act kindly or with courage. The feeling is called Elevation, and it's in response to a thing called Moral Beauty. (It's so handy when something has a good name for it.)
September 8, 2025 at 11:00 PM