Category: Book Club
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
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
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
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
Reading Against the Scroll – Reflections on The Siren’s Call
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This is the monthly wrap-up of book club get it, along with all the posts for the month, in your inbox for free by clicking that link. Next month I’ve got a busy month of travel so we’re reading a shorter book, The Burnout Society (Amazon). Early in The Siren’s Call Chris Hayes, makes a
The Attention Arms Race – When AI Both Protects and Pollutes
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You go to Google to screen out irrelevant information and to reliably focus on the output of Googles information processing system. This gives Google exclusive access to the most precious resource, which is your attention. And since they have your attention, they can sell your attention to interested parties. – The Sirens’ Call – Chris
From Billboards to Big Tech: When Will We Draw the Line on Attention Theft?
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In Paris at the turn of the twentieth century, commercial artists began putting up posters around the city advertising venues and shows and the like. It was so effective that soon posters were covering every surface of the city, leading to a concerted push by Parisians to regulate and rein in what had become visual
The Siren Caught Me Scrolling
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This is our first look at Siren’s Call by Chris Hayes, and it’s a bit of a confession from me. Hayes hit me pretty hard by page 4 when he equated the world around us, particularly the online platforms, to the Sirens from the Greek myth of Odysseus. Online platforms called to me via Facebook,
The Courage to Rethink – Lessons from Think Again
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This is our final look at Think Again. Next month we’re reading The Siren’s Call which is all about attention. If you’re not signed up to get the book club emails in your inbox, it’s free. Subscribers get a weekly post about the book for the month. I first read Think Again in 2022 and