## Notes from 21 April 2025 [[2025-04-20|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2025-04-22|Next note →]] Read a study about how job [skills are nested](https://santafe.edu/news-center/news/nested-hierarchies-in-job-skills-underscores-importance-of-basic-education), with advanced abilities building on layers of more basic ones. It gave me mixed feelings when thinking about civil service. At higher levels of government, usually there’s a tradition of rotation across departments. In theory, this could help build strong foundations. But it’s rarely structured to actually develop a clear sequence of skills. Just moving people around isn’t enough... and quick training courses probably aren’t either. At the same time, we urgently need more specialists (in project management, user experience, data, ethnography, AI) areas that could really transform public services. The study made me think: if advanced skills depend on careful layering, then specialization needs deep roots, not just exposure or short-term fixes. We need to rethink how we balance breadth and depth inside government careers. Came across [Metagov](https://metagov.org/) today, a lab focused on building tools and communities for self-governance online. It started around Harvard and MIT but now runs independently as a nonprofit, working across research, community building, and organizational infrastructure. Through them, I also found the [Public AI Network](https://publicai.network/), a coalition trying to build AI as public infrastructure... more like libraries or parks than private platforms. They frame public capacity in AI as a missing piece, and Metagov has supported some of their work. Saved their white paper to read later, curious to see how these initiatives connect to broader debates on state capacity and institutional design.