Diversity matters if you want good decisions
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Let’s start with the point that Steven Johnson makes over and over in Farsighted, if you want to make good decisions the diversity in background, gender, all other factors…matters. Homogenous groups – whether they are united by ethnic background, gender, or some other worldview like politics – tend to come to decisions too quickly. They…
Dehumanizing Safety Gear
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Two friends got run over by a car this week while riding their bikes. One is doing fine, the other was likely on his last ride. I’ve been on the radio this week and talking to a number of my non-cycling friends about bike and pedestrian safety this week and I wanted to share a…
The Burnout Society – Dense, Distant, and Occasionally Brilliant
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Next month’s book is Farsighted by Steven Johnson, join the Book Club to get all of the content. I’m on vacation next week out of internet range so there will be no post which gives you two weeks to get started on the book. This month we’ve read The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han which…
Tranquility Over The Trend of Complexity
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Next week is vacation so I doubt I’ll be writing anything. Instead I’ll be enjoying a cabin in Northern BC. In Search of Novelty There’s another reason simplicity offends. It’s boring. And boredom is culturally taboo in high-status circles. – The Cult of Hard Mode I think about this idea regularly, we look for new…
iPadOS 26 – Mostly Hype Some Substance
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If the internet hype is to be believed iPadOS 26 will solve most of the problems that caused your iPad to not become your computer of choice. If you believe the hype that is. I’ve been using iPadOS 26 for a few days and while it does improve the window management issues in Stage Manager,…
The Invisible Violence Behind Overwork
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I’m late in Burnout Society now and I think that the author is missing a key turn in his arguments. He recognizes that many activities in the modern world are being reduce from expert positions to mere labour but then goes on to say that burnout is the result of voluntary self-exploitation. Exploitation framed as…
Thinking in Edges – Boundaries for the Modern Mind
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Adding Edges to Consumption Caitlin Dewey spent this great article exploring how to have guardrails on media consumption. Social media sites aren’t going to do it for you. The algorithms on Facebook and X and Reddit are designed to keep feeding you shit that keeps you interested by focusing on stuff that makes you emotional.…
Hire Smart People—Then Distract Them into Mediocrity
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For years now multitasking has been one of the “key” elements on many job descriptions. It’s often seen as the only way someone can get by in today’s frenetic world, with so many notifications, emails, and other interruptions coming our way. Even outside of the things that push their way into our attentional space, we…
Building Better Systems by Owning What You Want and How You Work
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I’m spending next weekend away racing bikes. Don’t expect an email but have an excellent weekend. Notebooks for Coders I learned very early on in my career that I’m not very good at thinking when I’m at a computer. When I have my code editor open, I’m in a “function mode” where I write stuff…
What Lou Likes in a blog
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Lou wrote a list of what he likes in a blog and I agree with them. I’d add that while I don’t want to hear about how bad things are all the time, I also don’t want fanboy blogs either. There are a number of Apple centric sites that I stopped following because they were…
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