Week #22: Retro weather, Moral Ambition; Vibes all the way down
Week of May 26, 2025: Open tabs and links
WHAT IS THIS? A roundup of interesting stuff I read this past week. Maybe it’s helpful to you? Generally, they’re going to be related to leadership, food, culture, digital strategy, investing, fatherhood, writing and other stuff that’s interesting
Quiet week - We’ve been starting some very long-overdue house projects and I have been sort of blissfully unconnected these past few weeks. Spent a lot of time with cardboard boxes and wondering about the American garbage industrial complex.
Vibes and AI - If you watched the Jonny Ive/Altmann intro video (was it a coffee summit?) you could see them straining hard to create a Job-sian distortion field and NOT wave their wands at the future. But, we’re all a lot wiser now and this sort of buddy movie seemed like a parody. Who approved this? Do we believe these guys? What old guy isn’t going to say his latest work is his best?1 Dave Karpf, that irascible truth teller, had a good essay on OpenAI’s comms strategy this week and he nails it. It vibes crafting, they’re building the myth of Ive and San Francisco. They want us to need to believe. Kind of insufferable.
Moral Ambition - I listened to a couple interviews with Rutger Bregman and his argument for and about moral ambition. Basically, he makes the argument that not enough Americans are designing their careers to tackle hard, potentially world-changing problems. The implicit critique is that the best minds of the most recent and current generation only care about maximizing earning potential when they should be focused on alleviating suffering and higher “good”. Can’t disagree with his critique, but he’s a bit of a challenging messenger (he’s picking on tech and finance bros vs. explaining the value of a higher, more morally ambitious life). I like that he’s holding the mirror up to the country and asking “us” to do better in a literal sense.
Ethan Mollick and Work - I wonder about the size of his team (or how many TA’s he’s got to help in the classroom). How does he get so much good stuff out the door? Anyway, his essay this week on work… a little bit of a summary, a little bit of prognostication, and a model for how to think about “AI Transformation”. Key quote:
AI use that boosts individual performance does not naturally translate to improving organizational performance. To get organizational gains requires organizational innovation, rethinking incentives, processes, and even the nature of work.
Then he makes the argument that the organizational innovation muscles have “atrophied”. I’d disagree. I think it’s blocked, not atrophied. First, a lot of innovation budgets got cut because the earlier efforts didn’t really pay off. Second, I’d say that - after 10 years of “digital transformation” a culture-changing pandemic and political instability that has destabilized corporate planning - orgs are confused. They’ve been sprinting a marathon. And, they’ve underinvested in leadership skills and culture building. It’s going to be hard to get people to give a shit about another “transformation” when the last two are still taking hold. Ok, maybe “atrophied” is appropriate.
I like his model - Leadership, the lab and crowd - mainly because it’s really easy to grasp and aligns quite well with how a lot of us approached “digital” in the late 2000’s and 2010’s. More on this later, I suppose. But, I stand by what we wrote at Fahren in 2023 about how to design an AI program.
An OG Blogger Laments - I loved the original Blog era and I’m sad it’s gone for the most part. If you are old enough to remember, you’ll know why. But the company blog died a long time ago. Publishing stuff still matters a lot. This post from MKT1 (a great resource, by the way) was a good clarifier on how to think about where/when to publish. My project this week is to learn more about the emerging front of optimizing for LLMs. My go-to is Deb Carver and her work at Content Technologist (see this, for instance)
Retro Design Overview - Smart and fun overview of 90’s web design gurus. This article brought back lots of memories. Back then, I thought I was so far behind everyone else, when it turns out everyone was confidently making it up as they went. Invent on Tuesday, teach it on Wednesday, write the blog post on Thursday. I should have just continued with confidence. The same phenomenon is happening now with AI, too.
Keep the Web Weird / Retro Weather - Weather info on the web is sort of a hellscape. My trusty windy app aside, I usually stick with the Mac weather app. but, I’ll start using this one that gives me 2001 vibes.
Knowledge Work is Dying - Lots to consider here. Main takeaway: Focus on building wisdom. From the guy coaching the leaders at OpenAI and Alphabet.
Tariffs Are Illegal - Matt Levine is a national treasure. His overview of the Trade Courts ruling on Trump’s tariff shenanigans. Taco.
The Browser Wars are Coming Back - I like this smart post from Newton, but I think he’s wrong. I understand the purpose of Dia (I was an Arc user) and it makes a lot of sense. But, Google is already on it’s way there. And, I actually think we’ll see something new, an evolution of the chat interface we’re all learning to use from the LLMs. Are you old enough to remember when everyone thought the internet was going to come through your cable base because of the installed base?
Palate Cleansers
We’re up to our ears in cardboard boxes, as we get the house ready for the next phase, now that we’re empty nesters officially. Somebody needs to stop the efforts to rebrand “empty nester” btw:
Greil Marcus - I am reading the book History of Rock and Roll in 10 songs. Haven’t read much by Marcus, but it’s really great writing and right up my American Studies alley.
Hanif Abdurraqib - Maybe my new favorite essayist? He’d be my second call if I needed a road trip buddy. Can you imagine how much we’d cover? Picked this up because of the cover, but I'm loving it. Energetic, passionate and superb writing. Wish he had a newsletter. But, he does have this amazing project tracking music from ‘68 to ‘05.
Metal by The Beths - Sometimes you just need a straight shot of pop awesomeness right into your ears. She’s also a sneaky great lyricist.
Ghost in the Machine - Reading (or trying to read) McLuhan and it made me think of this great record from 1981. Coincidentally, I’ve rebuilt my (mostly) analog hifi and this record was recorded so well! Might rename this newsletter “Demolition Man”.
Hope your next week is great!
I’m an old guy. I can say it.
Great stuff as always!