Futile Blog → Look Anew

The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:30:05 -0600

The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas:

Mary Catt for Chronicle Online (via Gina Tripani):

To uncover bias against creativity, the researchers used a subtle technique to measure unconscious bias — the kind to which people may not want to admit, such as racism. Results revealed that while people explicitly claimed to desire creative ideas, they actually associated creative ideas with negative words such as “vomit,” “poison” and “agony.”

Music From a Dry Cleaner

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:30:05 -0600

Music From a Dry Cleaner:

Diego Stocco:

Almost everyday, on my way to a local bakery, I walk in front of a dry cleaners. When they have the front door open, I hear a lot of interesting sounds coming from their work equipment. Eventually, the different mechanical and steam sounds sparked something in my mind, so one day I asked the owners if I could record a piece of music by using their machines as musical instruments.

"[…] we’re all lobbyists now, and that’s just as it should be. This movement didn’t need..."

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:30:05 -0600

“[…] we’re all lobbyists now, and that’s just as it should be. This movement didn’t need influence peddlers. It didn’t need political commercials. It didn’t need media. It needed only citizens who give a shit. Democracy.”

- Jeff Jarvis, We are the Lobbyists

How must it feel to be Rafa Nadal today?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:30:05 -0600

How must it feel to be Rafa Nadal today?:

The epic warfware of tennis’ big three

Brian Phillips for Grantland:

The cruelest thing about this glutted golden age of men’s tennis is that it keeps producing astonishing matches, matches that actually expand your idea of what sport can be, and someone has to lose all of them.

This is a great story about the golden age that is currently unfolding in men’s tennis and why it is so epic. It’s hard to decide who to root for anymore, but its incredibly easy to be a fan. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic will easily in the top five of the all-time greats once their careers are over, if they aren’t already, and they’re battling each other in the same era of the sport.

"Keep in mind that Apple’s penalty for losing the PC war in the 1990s is that it is now the most..."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:34:05 -0600

“Keep in mind that Apple’s penalty for losing the PC war in the 1990s is that it is now the most profitable PC maker in the world.”

- John Gruber, Daring Fireball

"What’s satisfying about Apple’s current success is that it’s proof that you can succeed wildly by..."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:33:05 -0600

“What’s satisfying about Apple’s current success is that it’s proof that you can succeed wildly by focusing first and foremost on making great products. That design does matter.”

- John Gruber, Daring Fireball

"Plants, animals, and minerals are not the only natural resources we have. We’re killing minds before..."

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:11:06 -0600

“Plants, animals, and minerals are not the only natural resources we have. We’re killing minds before they’re able to blossom.”

- Vahid Yamartino, Resource

New Learning Tools

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:17:00 -0600

New Learning Tools:

Last week Apple introduced several new things related to education including iBooks textbooks, iBooks Author, and iTunes U (for all entities, not just colleges).

All of these are significant, and the potential for these tools is exciting. The video they presented (7:21) at their event does a good job of illustrating why what they are doing is important to them and for students and teachers. Something one of the educators they interviewed said stuck with me:

There is no reason today to assume that kids have to use the same tools they did in 1950; in fact, to do so is to prepare them for a world that’s already passed.

Six decades is obvious, but I would say tools one decade old are easily too far behind. To not take advantage of the newest tools possible is to leave kids behind, in part because it affords new ways of engaging, interacting, and ultimately learning. If you do any kind of work that deals remotely with using computers, it is imperative that you know how to stay current. What is cutting edge today will be commonplace five years from now (remember, the iPhone was introduced in 2007, and the iPad in 2010).

To me, part of learning is being able to take new things — information, tools, people, ideas — and integrate them into your life or work. To allow students to use technology that is outdated is to set them up for failure down the road. It’s possible that Apple will actually alleviate some of this by continuing to make iDevices ever easier to use, but they will keep changing. Students must be prepared by being used to the pace of change.

Technology plays a more important part in our lives every day and this is a trend that will only continue, even accelerate. A child entering kindergarten today has never known a world without iPhones in it. High school freshmen do not remember the introduction of the iPod. These are not novelties or marvels to them, they are simply a thread in the fabric of modern life. To pretend otherwise is to do a disservice to them.

"What’s going to kill movies and TV is what’s already killing them: better ways to..."

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:33:05 -0600

“What’s going to kill movies and TV is what’s already killing them: better ways to entertain people. So the best way to approach this problem is to ask yourself: what are people going to do for fun in 20 years instead of what they do now?”

- Y Combinator, Request for Startups 9: Kill Hollywood

"If Hollywood was smart, they would get in front of this change. They would use the Internet as the..."

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:11:05 -0600

“If Hollywood was smart, they would get in front of this change. They would use the Internet as the most effective way to distribute their killer content. Every day they don’t do this, they risk the content flowing to consumers through other means.”

- MG Siegler, Kill Hollywood, Not Movies

Thank you for protecting Wikipedia. (We're not done yet.)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:54:05 -0600

Thank you for protecting Wikipedia. (We're not done yet.):

Wikipedia, SOPA initiative:

SOPA and PIPA are not dead: they are waiting in the shadows. What’s happened in the last 24 hours, though, is extraordinary. The Internet has enabled creativity, knowledge, and innovation to shine. And as Wikipedia and other websites went dark, you’ve directed that energy to protecting it.

We’re turning the lights back on. Help us keep them shining brightly.

We cannot assume everything will be okay now. The next SOPA must be stopped. The root of the problem must be fixed. I won’t shut up about this because not enough of you have contacted your congresspeople yet. Do it. It’s easy!

Perfect Expectations

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:41:27 -0600

As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.

— Samuel Johnson

It sometimes seems as though life can become defined by expectations — whether it is what you expect of yourself, of others, or what others might expect of you. When you think about it, most expectations are unrealistic, because you are making an assumption about at least one thing that you either do not control or do not fully understand. Granted, it may be reasonable to expect a minimum of someone, but that’s not what I’m getting at. What interests me are the unspoken goals we give ourselves and others that drive our decisions, our thoughts, our actions, and ultimately our lives.

Why do we allow our lives to be dictated by such an invisible force? What is to be gained by it? What does it matter if an expectation is met or not?

You may have heard the expression “it is what it is” at some point. Well, unless you are lucky enough to live completely free of expectations, that’s not the case. Everything is given context by someone because it is either the same as or different than what they wanted, predicted, desired, needed, or relied upon happening. It is only human to look to the future and the past, but I find it bizarre that we perpetuate this vicious cycle of putting unnecessary weight on almost everything we do.

For some, expectations are an excellent motivator. They strive to meet them, push beyond them, and create ever more challenging scenarios in which to put themselves. Others are crippled by expectations. Pessimism and cynicism alone do not account for this. The weight we give this pressure to make something happen is so heavy that it can prevent attempts at meeting expectations from even being made.

Perhaps the most common occurrence of expectations playing a role in how things happen is in perfectionism. Attempting to attain perfection is a completely self-defeating goal. Yet, once this pattern becomes ingrained as a habit, it’s almost impossible to see the world in any other way. Anything short of the very best, or a little better, seems unacceptable. “Failure is not an option.” It’s bullshit.

There is so much beauty in what lies outside of perfection. Art is in some ways the very antithesis of this idea: denying judgement, achieving a solitary existence outside of what anyone thinks it ought to be. When something stands completely on its own, regardless of influence, it becomes something that cannot be tainted by these outside forces.

Art doesn’t give a fuck if you approve of it; it doesn’t spare a thought as to whether or not it is good enough; it doesn’t question its motives or its impact. Art simply is. Why should we expect anything different of ourselves?

Roswell Park Launches Landmark Immunotherapy Vaccine Trial

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:33:05 -0600

Roswell Park Launches Landmark Immunotherapy Vaccine Trial:

Dendritic cell vaccine, manufactured in unique RPCI facility, trains body’s defenses to remember, destroy cancer cells

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (via Mike Rundle):

The Center for Immunotherapy at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) has launched a phase I clinical research study of a dendritic cell vaccine designed to both eradicate cancer cells and prevent disease relapse.

It’s a trial, but still — wow.

It uses the body’s immune system, treating cells which then “recruit an army of killer immune cells that seek out and destroy cancer.” It’s both fascinating scientifically and promising medically.

Please support research if you can.

"This is my political credo: I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human..."

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:11:05 -0600

“

This is my political credo:

I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man’s ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves.

”

- John F. Kennedy, Acceptance of the New York Liberal Party Nomination, September 14, 1960.

I reiterate my wish for nationalism to someday be worldism.

(audio) Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 — John F....

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:54:05 -0600

(audio)

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 — John F. Kennedy:

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

"No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This..."

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:57:00 -0600

“No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This nation is great because we worked as a team. This nation is great because we get each other’s backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.”

- President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 24, 2012

I hope the day comes where these words can be spoken, but instead of referring to national greatness, they can refer to worldly greatness. I am proudly American, but I look forward to a day when being a citizen of Earth is something to hold dear. The same way that our fifty states can be united, I hope the nations of the world can one day unite.

"Such ridiculous, destructive bills should never even pass committee review, but we’re not addressing..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:10:40 -0600

“Such ridiculous, destructive bills should never even pass committee review, but we’re not addressing the real problem: the MPAA’s buying power in Congress. This is a campaign finance problem.”

- Marco Arment, The next SOPA

"Your family does not need to be on a social network in order to be a family. It’s okay if your..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:30:05 -0600

“Your family does not need to be on a social network in order to be a family. It’s okay if your family does stuff that other people don’t see. In many cases it might be preferable.”

- Merlin Mann, Back to Work #48: An Abrupt Existential Jerk 0:43:47

(watch flash-free) KO Computer Wikipedia goes dark for 24...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:33:00 -0600

(watch flash-free)

KO Computer

Wikipedia goes dark for 24 hours in protest of SOPA, raising the question: do they expect us to go to the library like a common masturbator?

Humor is an incredibly effective weapon in fighting horrible legislation such as SOPA and PIPA, and Jon Stewart wields it like a master swordsman.

"A comment is a view or an opinion; it’s inherently of a person. […] Everything anyone ever..."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:35:13 -0600

“A comment is a view or an opinion; it’s inherently of a person. […] Everything anyone ever says is attributable to the person who said it. It’s not possible to separate authorship from the words.”

- Matt Gemell, Authorship