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.
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
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.
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
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.
© 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:
You really can change the world if you care enough.
© 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.
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.
Design is intelligence made visible.
© Noga Erez (via YouTube)
© Noga Erez (via YouTube)
© Noga Erez (via YouTube)
Recently rediscovered Noga Erez through her relatively current single Nails (feat. Missy Elliott) and I can’t fathom how nonfamous she still seems to be despite her obvious talent.
Just listen to the new song and those amazing performances of ‘Views’ and ‘End Of The Road’ from her 2021 Album ‘Kids’ —which is still available as limited coloured vinyl:
I don’t know what I’m doing. And if you don’t know what to do, there’s actually a chance of doing something new. As long as you know what you’re doing, nothing much of interest is going to happen.
