Betterment

“If it breaks, we’ll know how to fix it.” Old cars had an oil light, and that was about it. Often, we build things hoping they’ll work. But complex systems are more resilien…

Typesetters did not like the laser printer. Wedding photographers still hate the iphone. And some musicians are outraged that AI is now making mediocre pop music. One group of esteemed authors is d…

There two different times that we need to prioritize work and we should be using completely different approaches to that prioritization, for each stage.

This series of posts explores how we can rethink the intersection of AI, creativity, and policy. From examining outdated regulatory metaphors to questioning copyright norms and highlighting the ris…

Spend enough time inventing possible futures in your head and you won’t have any time to build the future we will all share. Time to get to work.

Game theory has a lousy name. When most people think of games, they think of commercial stuff for kids, like Chutes and Ladders or possibly Monopoly. But a game is simply a system where humans, fac…

Email is your most important online account, so keep it clean.

A sea slug sees far more colors than you do, and you probably see more than a profoundly color-blind person. Who’s right? We each carry our own version of reality, our own story about what ha…

Imagine you’re on a third date with someone you really like. You’ve taken her to your favorite restaurant – the one you take your mom to when she’s

That’s a complete reversal of how it used to be. Colleges used to be measured by how many books they had in the library. Access to courses was restricted. If knowledge was power, controlling …

At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees C. It doesn’t matter how much more heat you use, steam is what you get. It turns out that water this hot makes lousy coffee. Tea too. And an amp turne…

Verbosity is the new brevity. Google felt like a miracle. We could type just a word or two (“blog”) and it would magically guess what we wanted and take us there. This shortcut spread f…

This week, we announced the winners for the previous Pet Hacks contest and rang in our new contest: The One Hertz Challenge. So that’s got me in a contesty mood, and I thought I’d share a little bi…

Cynthia Kurtz has been working hard at distilling and releasing her body of work in Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) for the past few years. Her collection of four books on working with storie…

The outcome of our work can be easy or difficult to predict. It’s not hard to determine if a bridge is going to fall down or if code is going to compile. The scientific method and statistics …

Join The Offline Club's global movement towards a more humane world. We host offline events and retreats for you to unplug and connect, community-style.

From an excerpt of his new book, It’s Only Drowning (Amazon), David Litt writes about the frustrating and humiliating experience of learning how to surf at the age of 35. Yet I didn’t quit. I returned to the dog beach twice more the week of m

Without really meaning to, this week I’ve posted a few related articles around the theme of how to survive the next four years of the new oligarchical, authoritarian regime here in the US. I thought it would be helpful to compile them into one post,

The advent of A.I. has shocked me into questioning my relationship with art. Will humans still be able to draw for a living?

This is a thoughtful piece from artist & illustrator Christoph Niemann about how he’s come to use AI (tactically, sparingly) in his work: Sketched Out: An Illustrator Confronts His Fears About A.I. Art. Creating art is a nonlinear process. I star

Most of the pitch and the demo is all about how terrific our plans are, and how well our gadget works. But if we hope for resilience, perhaps it makes sense to show off how gracefully the system br…

Growing up in the 60s or 70s meant coming of age in a time of rotary phones, backyard adventures, station wagons, and a whole lot of independence. Things weren’t always easier back then, but I’ll say this much—we sure picked up a set of life lessons that don’t seem to get passed down much anymore. … Continue reading "If you grew up in the 1960s or 70s, you probably learned these 10 life lessons rarely taught today"

No.362 — Future Art Ecosystems ⊗ AI scraping bots are breaking open libraries ⊗ Building a sustainable forest ecosystem ⊗ Why people are turning to bibliotherapy

Nothing is perfect… But everything can get better. There’s never enough time… But there’s time enough to make a difference. Someone will always be opposed to the change we s…

Even at a distance, we can sometimes tell if someone is educated, rich, powerful or physically attractive. But that doesn’t always correlate with smart, kind or honest. Strong signals might n…

We don’t get a chance to do yesterday over again. The best reason to think about the past is because it gives us the opportunity to improve the future. Because we don’t get tomorrow ove…

Please who? If you’re on a social media network, are you seeking to optimize for the algorithm, the owners of the tech stock or your personal goals? If you’re publishing a book, are you…

Tenneson Woolf reminds us that we can always start again: “We learn, we humans. I’m so impressed by the courage that people have. To stay the course. To let go the course that doesn’t serve. …