Charlie Gedeon
@charliegedeon
Reflecting on how learning and creativity are shaped by technology and our interactions with it. Co-founder of Pragmatics Studio, a small digital design studio in Montreal.
charliegedeon.comCharlie Gedeon
You Are You. We Live Here. This is Now. - Freddie deBoer You Are You. We Live Here. This is Now.
freddiedeboer.substack.comProvocative Teaching Advice and Raising Thoughtful & Curious Kids
Incredible article about the state of the digital world and the necessity for kids to know who they are in the world.
What would a healthy culture and caring parents do for those kids? They would be pulled aside and told: you are you, and you will always be you; we live here, on this planet, in this culture, as this species; you live in the times you live in, and you will never live anywhere else. There’s no escape, for any of us. The world gets better and it gets worse. Your life gets easier and it gets harder. Progress happens. Happiness is possible. But the world is an irredeemably broken place, tragedy is the endowment of our bodies and our gods and our world, and you will always, always, always be you. You can hide in your room, but you’ll still be you. And you’ll still be you when you head off to college and make brand new friends, and you’ll still be you after you come out to your parents, and you’ll still be you after you get that job or that promotion or that raise, and you’ll still be you after you lose those last 10 pounds, and you’ll still be you after you fall in love, and you’ll still be you after the AI revolution or the socialist revolution or the love revolution or any other revolution. The only sensible path forward is to learn to accept the brokenness of human life, to develop resilience in the face of its petty cruelties, and to learn to live with yourself.
Being a cozy futurist is being aware that even when indubitably science & technology are cool, we can't forget about the lives of the users of said technology; the goal is a nice future, not just a technically advanced future.
José Luis Ricón (Artir) • Cozy futurism
Learning means being able to use new information. The basic process of learning consists of reflection and feedback. We learn facts and concepts through reflecting on experience—our own or others’. If you read something and you don’t make time to think about what you’ve read, you won’t be able to use any of the wisdom you’ve been exposed to.
Rosie • How to Remember What You Read
Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.
Elizabeth Gilbert • Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
If you're small, you're in a position where it's to your advantage to be weird—you can have a point of view that the big tech companies never could. In the world of chairs—you're not going to build a cheaper chair than Ikea. Why not build something they couldn't—like a more interesting one?
(Not Boring) Software Inc. • No More Boring Apps | (Not Boring) Software
The problem is no longer getting to express oneself but finding moments of solitude and silence in which one might eventually find something worth saying. – Gille Deleuze
The power of a good rule — Priya Parker
priyaparker.com
Learning Effectively: Science, Insights and Techniques
Rules for communities that prioritize intention and thoughtfulness. Though mentioned in context of community building, these can be very effective for managing a classroom or learning environment:
An artful rule protects what's precious.
An artful rule draws helpful (and sometimes controversial) distinctions.
Artful rules are shared at the threshold, before anyone enters.
An artful rule thinks three steps ahead of the guest.
An artful rule is culture-creating.
If you’ve ever felt that you can’t focus on a task when you’re hungry — or that all you can think about is food — the neural evidence backs you up. Work from a few years ago confirmed that short-term hunger can change neural processing and bias our attention in ways that may help us find food faster.