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Seth's Blog
The NSE confusions “Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
“Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs this” is a trap. The work begins with finding the right somebodies, while ignoring the imaginary everyone. Scale is rarely the first signal of important work.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Tina Hagger I'm Tina Hagger, otherwise known as haggytea, a Printmaker based in Faversham, Kent, England. I have...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
I'm Tina Hagger, otherwise known as haggytea, a Printmaker based in Faversham, Kent, England. I have been making linocut prints for about ten years now, and have begun making Tetra Pak prints in the past two years. I make my own work to sell and I also deliver workshops.  I'm...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegibility Trading Secrets for Attention
5 months ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Idiot Plots Plus! Gavin's podcast, morning routines, and a good chickpea post
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Project ownership (equity and equity) Since the days of Atari and Apple, the culture of Silicon Valley has been based on the idea of...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Since the days of Atari and Apple, the culture of Silicon Valley has been based on the idea of programmers and early employees owning equity in the startups they took a chance on. The media is always happy to write about folks who took a shot on stock options and did very well...
Seth's Blog
The second time through One way to understand creative work is to think about the time and effort required to do something...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
One way to understand creative work is to think about the time and effort required to do something the first time versus doing it again. A novel might take five years to write. Retyping it takes a day. A company could easily expend 10,000 hours of effort before launching a new...
Seth's Blog
Picky or particular? A picky customer is oppositional. Whatever you offer, they want something (slightly) different. A...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
A picky customer is oppositional. Whatever you offer, they want something (slightly) different. A particular customer is easy to delight. They tell you what they want, and that’s what they want. We get to choose who we’re here for.
Seth's Blog
Maybe it’s in how you tell it The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three paragraphs. That’s not what made it one of the most revered movies of all time, and also one of the most difficult to make. Blurting out the plot of what we’re offering seems like the...
escape the algorithm
Have you tried unplugging and plugging yourself back in again? A conversation with David Zvi Kalman
5 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #136 Abundance, Nvidia GTC, Splashdown, Matic, Food Dyes, Biotech Commoditization
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Throat clearing Simply say it. The first minute of a speech, the first paragraph of a novel or the tuning of the...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Simply say it. The first minute of a speech, the first paragraph of a novel or the tuning of the orchestra before they begin… The performance improves if we skip that part. Sometimes, our throat actually needs clearing. But most of the time, we’re hooked on a ritual that doesn’t...
Infinite Scroll
Midweek Scroll: Woke Puritanism Slack Espionage, Evil Scientists, and RIP Hamster Forums
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Ways to alter the structure Cutting Growing Grinding Pruning Irrigating Sanding Cultivating Grafting Pressuring Polishing...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Cutting Growing Grinding Pruning Irrigating Sanding Cultivating Grafting Pressuring Polishing Shifting Feeding Bending Welding Celebrating Melting Burning It works better when we choose with intent.
Stat Significant
What's the Perfect Song Length? A Statistical Analysis Investigating the "ideal" song length, and whether such a thing exists.
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Waves and tides It’s easy to be distracted by the wave that’s crashing on the shore. On the other hand, the tide is...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
It’s easy to be distracted by the wave that’s crashing on the shore. On the other hand, the tide is inexorable. It’s the long-term trend, the one that is quietly happening, over time. Sometimes, a big wave comes along and we lose our focus. It’s urgent. But expecting and working...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fei Fei I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in the city.  I have a day job as a brand designer, and I use my spare time to grow my printmaking practice.  Describe your printmaking process. I start with simple sketches in my head...
Infinite Scroll
Podcast: Abundance ft. Derek Thompson My other job besides writing here at Infinite Scroll is hosting The New Liberal Podcast, and this...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
My other job besides writing here at Infinite Scroll is hosting The New Liberal Podcast, and this week I’m sharing an episode I recorded with Derek Thompson of The Atlantic.
Seth's Blog
Predicting the past It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the other insists it won’t. On the other hand, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It’s sunny, right now, you can tell. A weather service that said it was...
Seth's Blog
You are a media theorist If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive sense of where the ball is going to land requires having a theory about gravity. And if you’ve ever taken aspirin for a headache, you’ve articulated a theory about medicine....
Seth's Blog
Asking for directions It hadn’t happened in such a long time that I hesitated to respond. As I was walking through town, a...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
It hadn’t happened in such a long time that I hesitated to respond. As I was walking through town, a driver pulled up, rolled down his window and said, “is this the way to Irvington?” We now take for granted that we’re unlikely to ever again be in a car and not know where we […]
Seth's Blog
Bad design might simply be obsolete design Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a chance to mix them before you scald or chill yourself. It seems absurd that the folks who figured out the technology to build sinks with running water couldn’t be bothered with the last...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #135 Solar, LNG, SphereX, Newsom, Packy in Austin, TBPN
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Decoding the Knock Knock situation Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie,...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie, and you need to buy a ticket to see it. Jane Collins is an engineering professional and you need to pay to get their insight about how to fix your bridge. This 300-page...
Infinite Scroll
The Midweek Scroll Substack's growth, RedNote reversal, and MrBeast hitting the wall
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
The big sort The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the person you were seeking to reach. At about the same time, the department store arrived. You could actually have a shot at finding what you were hoping to buy. TV Guide was, at one...
Stat Significant
Which Movies Do People Love to Hate? A Statistical Analysis Which films and actors are famous for being bad?
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Two kinds of instructions The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do,...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do, what to do. The more essential and harder to create kind: Instructions for people who don’t know what to do. It’s a mistake to assume that just because you know all the steps, the...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Bethan Designs Hi! I’m Beth (Bethan) a printmaker who found a love for linocut relief printing. I’m based in a...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Hi! I’m Beth (Bethan) a printmaker who found a love for linocut relief printing. I’m based in a little village in the middle of Derbyshire.  Describe your printmaking process. My printmaking process probably isn’t as traditional as others, I draw my designs digitally and transfer...
Seth's Blog
Birthing tech No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or Esperanza Spaulding. You might grow up to be a genius, but the team that helped your mom give birth don’t have to be geniuses–they simply have to be pretty good at their craft. The same is...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Vance Memes Plus: Media Literacy (gone) and Production (still here)
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Freelancer as centaur Freelancers looking to build a career have two good options: The lousy options are to insist that...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Freelancers looking to build a career have two good options: The lousy options are to insist that you don’t use AI, but to be slower, more expensive and not as good as the AI option. Or to do tasks that an AI assigns you. Hiring an AI to work for you and getting very good […]
Seth's Blog
The tactics trap You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The dominant question is, “what do I do now?” Which tactic do we use? How do we get the word out? How do we close this sale, solve the problem and succeed? Perhaps we should look to […]
Seth's Blog
Worst possible While it’s tempting to compare suffering, inconvenience, unfairness or general no-goodness, it’s not...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
While it’s tempting to compare suffering, inconvenience, unfairness or general no-goodness, it’s not helpful. Someone else’s trauma doesn’t diminish yours. In fact, when we can find the space to see that others have their own mess to deal with, it opens the door for forward...
Anarchy Unfolds
Is anarchy compatible with modern society? Problems of scale and shape in imagining the futures
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
“I don’t care” This is difficult. Care requires time and effort, and we can’t care about everything, all the way,...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
This is difficult. Care requires time and effort, and we can’t care about everything, all the way, all the time. If you’re prepared to care about every element of your work, then you also have to decide to not care about something else. Because caring equally about everything...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #134 Blue Ghost, Starlink, Roche’s SBX, Wooly Mice, Female Brains, Tardigrades
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Specific It’s one thing to say that 7,000,000 people will die next year from smoking cigarettes. It’s a...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
It’s one thing to say that 7,000,000 people will die next year from smoking cigarettes. It’s a totally different thing to list those folks by name. When we confront risk, two things make it seem less real: We’re not sure who, and we’re not sure when. If you want to clarify our...
Infinite Scroll
Trapped in the Platforms Platform lock in and the Open Web
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
You might not get a third chance The first impression is vitally important. It positions us, establishes the tone of our relationship...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
The first impression is vitally important. It positions us, establishes the tone of our relationship and earns trust. But we’re human, and it’s unlikely that every first impression will be as useful as we’d like. Fortunately, people can speak up and let us know, particularly if...
Stat Significant
Which Songs Are Frequently Featured in Film and Television? A Statistical Analysis Which songs have become staples of film and television?
5 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Primer: From Software to Schools Watch now (47 mins) | To fix the school system, build schools
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
The opposite of a good idea… might also be a good idea. The hard part isn’t finding proof before you begin. The hard part is...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
might also be a good idea. The hard part isn’t finding proof before you begin. The hard part is beginning, knowing you might not succeed.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Angela Chalmers Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with cameraless photography techniques and the cyanotype process producing 2D and 3D artworks on paper and textiles. Cyanotype dates from the early days of photography and produces beautiful...
Seth's Blog
Across and within Media theory pioneer Harold Innis saw it 70 years ago: Some cultures and ideas are built to spread...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Media theory pioneer Harold Innis saw it 70 years ago: Some cultures and ideas are built to spread across SPACE. And some spread across TIME. It’s the tension between space and time that lead to the rise and fall of societies and cultures, and they’re worth understanding. Clay...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Striking Out General strikes, Opinion Blunders, and Yassified Shrek
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
… or the highway Our instincts might not be as good as we hope. Going with your gut is thrilling. It’s personal,...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Our instincts might not be as good as we hope. Going with your gut is thrilling. It’s personal, vulnerable and brave. And if it’s getting you what you seek, keep at it. But often, our instincts are a way of hiding, undermined by a lack of knowledge. If you haven’t done the...
Seth's Blog
Seeking metaphor This is how we learn. An apple is a lot like an orange, but you can eat the skin and it’s not as...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
This is how we learn. An apple is a lot like an orange, but you can eat the skin and it’s not as sweet. If you know what an orange is, you’re most of the way to understanding an apple. But the indoctrination of school pushes us to be literal. When people talk about apples […]
Seth's Blog
March is strategy month January feels like the start of the year, but there’s always a hangover from the holidays. In the...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
January feels like the start of the year, but there’s always a hangover from the holidays. In the northern Hemisphere, February is dark and dreary and we’re mostly hunkering down waiting for the short month to end. But March? Around the world, March can be a chance to get down to...
Seth's Blog
The Ikea metaphors
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
But where are the secret recipes? Over the years, I’ve been sharing recipes as pages here on the blog, but never posting about them…...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Over the years, I’ve been sharing recipes as pages here on the blog, but never posting about them… you only got the link if I sent it to you. Well, your wait is over. For those seeking non-obvious but delicious and light-on-their-feet recipes, here you go: (two new ones added,...