Category: Books

STOP PRAYING TO ALGORITHMS

I see this so much on Substack Notes: “I wish the algorithm…”

STOP! Stop wishing a computer in the cloud is going to deliver your new favorite band, some cool new writer – the algorithim can only process 1s and 0s, and by doing so turns all “content” into 1s and 0s, so just stop with this belief that if only the algorithm were better you’d be able to know about better stuff.

It’s all bullshit. Don’t rely on computers to discern editorial quality, or help you discover.

Don’t let AI take these jobs of editors, curators, DJs, writers, and various other conveyors of taste and fine art.

Via Stephen Moore’s Trend Mill:

“A lot of people seem to actually enjoy AI-generated content, and are ready to eat up more. We should have seen that coming. There’s a simple explanation — too many people have become so lost in platforms, so dictated to by algorithms, ‘for you’ feeds and suggested content, that we’re collectively losing our taste.”

Everything has been reduced to bits. Cleaned up, covered with a vanilla scent, and optimized to keep you tied into whatever platform you think is somehow “good.”

Friends are filters. People are guides. Pick up something in print that still requires some editorial discernment, or find your local college radio station. Email the writers of the newsletters you like. Go find some blogs again.

Moore is right, we’re collectively losing our taste, and we’re become helpless babies being spoon fed whatever media someone else wants us to consume.

MAKE REAL STUFF

From Joshua Heath Scott:

“As artists and creatives, we face the challenge of standing out against the digital tide. Han explores the importance of making real, physical art that holds emotions, memories, and true community value, unlike the fleeting nature of digital information.”

This really makes me want to start putting together a print version of Social Media Escape Club. Of printing photos every month. Of making newspaper projects with Newspaper Club.

Via Zach

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Finishing a half-marathon has made me curious. If you would have asked me back in 2016 if I would have signed up for running for over two hours, I would have said heck no! But I did it, at a pace I didn’t think I could maintain. I used some tricks from ‘Endure,’ namely smiling.

Yes, somehow smiling tricks your brain into thinking things are alright.

I mean, you still need to train. I still needed to put in the work, and eat right, and stretch twice a day, but in the middle of all that chilly, windy running, well… smiling helped.

Visualization was something I’ve been doing for awhile, too, something I picked up from Jen Sincero’s ‘You Are a Badass at Making Money‘ (maybe I’ll write more about that book later). I envisioned the last few miles, running a good, steady pace, and feeling good. I imagined smiling at mile 11, 12, and cruising into the finish – and it happened.

Like I said, you need to do the work, but this was a fun read. There’s a lot going on inside that brain of ours, and this book helps you unlock a bit of the mystery inside our heads. [Amazon]