What AI Can’t Teach You About Feeling Human Again w/John R. Miles | EP 687

Nov 7, 2025

Explore the power of emotional awareness in an age dominated by AI. Discover why emotional skills are crucial for love, leadership, and creativity. Learn about 'high-functioning despair' and how it impacts connection, especially among men. Gain insights into building emotional agility with practical daily exercises. Hear powerful personal stories illustrating the journey from numbness to presence. Realize how emotions can be a source of strength and human connection, preserving what truly makes us irreplaceable.

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INSIGHT

Recognition Vs. Resonance

Algorithms can predict emotion but they cannot feel or mean care.
The gap between recognition and resonance is where our humanity remains.

INSIGHT

Presence Traded For Productivity

We traded presence for productivity as tech delivered speed but not rest or meaning.
Outsourcing tasks extended to outsourcing our inner life, creating emotional displacement.

INSIGHT

Emotional Lockdown's Cost

Emotional lockdown teaches people to perform strength and avoid naming feelings.
Silencing emotion severs connection and fuels a hidden mattering crisis.

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What if the most advanced intelligence on Earth isn’t artificial, but emotional?

In this opening episode of the new Passion Struck series, The Irreplaceables: Rediscovering Human Worth in an Age of Acceleration, host John R. Miles explores the rarest skill of all in the age of AI: how to feel.

We’re racing to make machines seem human while forgetting how to be.

Through powerful storytelling and science-backed insights, John reveals how we’ve optimized ourselves into emotional flatlines—mistaking numbness for strength and speed for progress.

Drawing from leading experts like Dr. Zac Seidler, Dr. Zelana Montminy, and Dr. Susan David, this episode unpacks:

Why emotional awareness is the root of every good thing—love, leadership, creativity, and connection.
How “high-functioning despair” is stealing purpose from millions (especially men).
The neuroscience behind emotional agility—and how to build it even if you’ve been numb for years.
Simple Agility Reps you can practice daily to feel human again.
Why the true danger isn’t AI replacing us—but us replacing ourselves.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re running faster yet feeling less, this episode is your call to pause, breathe, and remember what makes you irreplaceable.

Read the full show notes here:

Listen + Watch + Go Deeper

All episode resources—including my books You Matter, Luma and Passion Struck, The Ignited Life Substack, and the Start Mattering store—are gathered here:

👉 linktr.ee/John_R_Miles

To go deeper, download the free companion guide:

The Emotional Agility Toolkit — available now at https://www.theignitedlife.net/p/what-ai-cant-feel-and-why-im-scared

Inside, you’ll find prompts and “Agility Reps” to help you rebuild emotional awareness, reconnect with your values, and reclaim your humanity in an automated world.

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Everyone deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter.

Show it. Wear it. Live it.

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