Designing the Lost Apprenticeship of Adulthood

The provided text, an excerpt from Greg Twemlow’s thesis "Designing the Lost Apprenticeship of Adulthood," articulates the contemporary collapse of a "synchronised" pathway into maturity, arguing that this developmental structure, which provided clear milestones and societal rhythms in the past, no longer exists. Twemlow posits that this loss of scaffolding has caused a generational "drift" among young people (Gen Z and Gen Alpha), who are moving from a highly structured childhood into a chaotic, asynchronous adult world, often mediated by AI. To counter this, the author proposes a "Sovereignty Studio" metaphor—a new, deliberate, and co-designed developmental architecture built on five key principles, including Reflection, Orientation, Friction, Mentorship, and Threshold Sequences. The core argument is that adulthood is not a natural event but an induction, and that elders must now consciously build this "lost apprenticeship" alongside the young to ensure future generations achieve "co-agency"—mastery of the self in the presence of intelligent systems—rather than just following them. Read the article.

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