("JP")

As we are fed more content, we are pushed deeper into algorithmic niches. In return, we are encouraged to engage with more extreme and polarizing identifiers because it is more labelable, more indexable by the machine — the creation of the “Island". On this island, the slang, in-jokes, and archetypes which emerge as a community develops in isolatio... See more

Identity wants to emerge

Over the long run, any stable joinable key becomes an identity as it accumulates more correlated information about you.

We see this today in the ads ecosystem, where data brokers and cross-site advertising networks use data joining to correlate information about you and track you around the internet. Email addresses, cookies... See more

Babelification

Language, as a social instrument, is more than its content. It’s also a signifier defining the speaker. Therefore language, whether expressed as slang, dialects, patois, or accents, is a marker of cultural identity. The language you use signals to other people: am I like you? Do we come from the same place? Do we share perspectives? I... See more

I am also a fan of prediction markets, which can help identify the significance of events in real time , before the dust settles and there is consensus on which direction is which. The Polymarket on Sam Altman is very helpful in giving a useful summary of the ultimate consequences of hour-by-hour revelations and negotiations, giving much-needed con... See more

I’m thinking about how malleable the world is, and how easy it is to forget that. The world has, many times throughout history, reconfigured itself around strong visions.

Our desires, motivations and behaviors are constantly being shaped by incentives and systems we aren’t even aware of. So much genius and money has gone into a metaphor that assume... See more

In a class called Social Software, which I taught last fall, the students worked in small groups to design and launch software to support some form of group interaction. To anchor the class, I required that whatever project they came up with be used by other ITP students. This first order benefits of this strategy were simple: the designers came fr... See more

While in theory the notion of Quality might appear rather philosophical and idealistic, in practice it could not be more pragmatic. One can think of Quality as simply the highest -leverage input into a system. F or illustrative purposes we could envision a continuum of layers starting with a company’s high -level outputs: financial figures and key ... See more

A few months ago I was at a conference where Robin Hanson spoke about prediction markets.[1] He argued that given how much of companies' outcomes are driven by who they choose to hire, and how non-rigorous the process of selecting employees and revisiting those selections is, there's a literal trillion-dollar opportunity in getting it right. Predic... See more

Stewart Brand ties the concept of "subconscious milieu" with architecture in his book "How Buildings Learn" by emphasizing the importance of designing buildings that are responsive to the needs and experiences of the people who inhabit them. He advocates for creating environments that consider the social milieu and the sensory experiences of the oc... See more