lucas did this

February 4th 2023
filed under hyperlinks

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

Cory Doctorow about Tiktok’s enshittification and how (social media) platforms die. I really do like the sentiment the subline of this blog conveys, too: “No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don’t collect or retain any data at all ever period.”

pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
February 4th 2023
filed under hyperlinks, articles

When a person aspires to be a brand, they forfeit everything that is truly glorious about being human. Building any brand requires consensus. When we position ourselves as a brand, we are forced to project an image of what we believe most people will approve of and admire and buy into. The moment we cater our creativity to popular opinion is the precise moment we lose our freedom and autonomy.

Designer and brand consultant Debbie Millman about The personal brand paradox and how social media (with its followers, likes and click-throughs) is pushing the long-lasting concept of the ‘personal brand’ at the present time.

wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/personal-brand-paradox-debbie-millman
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful … be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.

— William S. Burroughs on building a good name, filed under well said, February 4th 2023
January 25th 2023
filed under hyperlinks, videos

They found that when people made a very subtle shift moving from ‘What should I do?’ to ‘What could I do?’ they generated many more solutions and better solutions.

This is how to solve problems more effectively with one simple change by Daniel H. Pink.

danpink.com/pinkcast/pinkcast-4-31-this-is-how-to-solve-problems-more-effectively-with-one-simple-change
January 25th 2023
filed under hyperlinks, articles

Design has shifted more toward manufacturability and appearance than functionality, when it should be a balance of all three. Arguably, it’s nearly impossible for corporations to avoid participating in the trend cycle as long as consumers have an appetite for more — whether it’s a predilection for cooler clothing or whatever new incremental yet buzzy technology just came out. At the same time, the blame does not lie on consumers’ shoulders; corporations are responsible for creating and stoking the ‘new and more is better’ culture we have today.

Izzie Ramirez sums up why Your stuff is actually worse now, especially in the fashion and the tech industry. What has happened to “less but better”?

vox.com/the-goods/23529587/consumer-goods-quality-fast-fashion-technology
January 25th 2023
filed under hyperlinks, articles

Our current ideal of beauty, specifically in Western culture, specifically at this time in history, means being as divorced from your humanity as possible,” beauty culture critic Jessica DeFino told Jezebel. “These AI drawings have almost no humanity in them: They’re cartoon, digital renderings, created by artificial intelligence without a human hand involved in the making of it all. It just feels very depressingly on track for what our culture considers beautiful.

Lensa AI and the Trap of Otherworldly Beauty by Emily Leibert.

jezebel.com/lensa-ai-images-beauty-trap-1849875644
Spinning on turntable
Vinyl’s warm sound fills the room
Analog magic

Vinyl’s crackle and pop
A symphony of sound waves
Forever in groove

Vinyl disc spins slow
Echoes of the past come alive
Music timeless flows

— Haikus from the ChatGPT AI about vinyl records, filed under well said, January 14th 2023
When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.

— Ram Dass on turning people into trees, filed under well said, January 12th 2023
December 30th 2022
filed under hyperlinks, videos

© Jody Mac (via YouTube)

The reality of your life is always now.

The backgroundmusic is quite corny and the clips are mainly stock material, but I still really like the video Jody Mac put together using excerpts from the amazing talk “Death and the Present Moment” by Sam Harris. His entire talk (about an hour) is on Youtube, too, if you want to start your year with some excellent food for thought:

youtu.be/ITTxTCz4Ums
You really can change the world if you care enough.

— Marian Wright Edelman on change, filed under well said, December 29th 2022
December 27th 2022
filed under hyperlinks, videos, films and series

© Obsidian Ross (via Youtube)

Producer Jesse Eisenberge talks about the documentation The World Before Your Feet which follows Matt Green walking every part (8000 miles in the last six years) of New York City. I love the premise of this.

imdb.com/title/tt7844450/
December 12th 2022
filed under hyperlinks, articles

But this new crop of generative AI technologies seems to possess qualities that are more indelibly human. Call it creative synthesis—the uncanny ability to channel ideas, information, and artistic influences to produce original work. Articles and visual art are just the beginning.

Derek Thompson from The Atlantic on why the rise of AI is the most important story of the year.

theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/12/why-the-rise-of-ai-is-the-most-important-story-of-the-year/672308/
December 12th 2022
filed under hyperlinks, videos

© Apple (via YouTube)

I don’t own any Apple devices besides a very old iPad, but I love this.

youtu.be/8sX9IEHWRJ8