Connection Problem S03E16: The Craftsman
Sitrep: It's cold outside. Like really, really cold. It's so cold that at home, in our house that was built around 1890 and towards the street has the original vintage box-type double windows, the outer panes are frozen over which makes for beautiful light. Combined with a nice cup of green tea this makes for the loveliest of winter feels.
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As always, a shout out to tinyletter.com/pbihr or a forward is always appreciated!
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Zephyr: Pants by and for Craftsmen & Craftswomen
The brilliant and kind Gianfranco Chicco writes a super lovely monthly newsletter called The Craftsman. For it, he meets and interviews craftsmen (and women, obviously) around the world about their projects, products, and passions.
I'm super happy, and very much humbled, that Gianfranco approached us to feature Zephyr Berlin in the March edition (read issue #006 on Medium).
Zephyr Berlin is very much a passion project of Michelle's and mine, and we dug deep into the craft aspect when working with our designer Cecilia. Also, I loved that he gave a shout-out to our iterated designs that feature extra deep pockets, the model we internally nick-named The Deep-Pocketed One.
I also took this opportunity to give my media page a long since overdue overhaul. What do you think? Is this workable for journalists?
Bonus: In this installment of The Craftsman, Gianfranco also introduced me to ネコ家具 — Kagu Neko or Miniature Furniture for Cats: "Okawa in Fukuoka Prefecture decided to promote their craftsmen's furniture-making skills". For obvious reasons I could not have possibly withheld this from you. I mean, it's a cat, on cat-sized furniture! Come on!
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Welcome to the Post-Social Media Era
I've been watching closely (both professionally and out of personal interest) how social media has been impacting our lives and societal structures, our culture and media and institutions for the last 10-15 years or so. I'm convinced that currently, we're headed into a social media winter. The combination and scale of fake news, harassment, and intransparent platforms with their black box algorithms are killing social media as we know it. I'm convinced that public social media has peaked, and that in its place small, private groups (like you can run on Whatsapp et al) thrive. You can find the piece on Medium. It's a quick read.
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A story of two blockchains
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... So! Blockchains. A few interesting bits that crossed my radar this week, and in super mainstream places, too!
(1) Porsche introduces blockchain to cars: "Transactions based on this technology are both secure and can be processed far more quickly than anything that has come before. The applications tested include locking and unlocking the vehicle via an app, temporary access authorisations and new business models based on encrypted data logging. This could be developed further, for example, to improve autonomous driving functions." (emphasis mine)
This strikes me as... odd? Maybe a little cargo cultish in the sense that Innovation Department Needs To Be Innovating, Or Else. Citation* needed, I guess?
(2) Blockchain technology is on a collision course with EU privacy law, according to Jan Philipp Albrecht, the member of the European Parliament who shepherded the GDPR through the legislative process. It's an angle I honestly hadn't considered before:
If...
- Blockchains are immutable (blocks can't be altered once they verified) and...
- GDPR requires user-related data to be edited or deleted at the user's request under certain conditions then...
- Blockchains might be in violation of GDPR
I mean, this gift just keeps on giving, doesn't it?
(3) Women in Cryptocurrencies Push Back Against ‘Blockchain Bros’ [New York Times]: This article on the bro culture in crypto currency circles is as disheartening as you'd imagine, but this quote by cryptocurrency investor Arianna Simpson about impostor syndrome is a true gem:
“Women always question if they’re qualified,” she said. “But look at these clowns around us.”
I'd say it might be healthy to keep a distance—or at least be very selective about where and with whom to engage—from that crowd, no matter the gender. But hey, that's just me.
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"Look me in the AI" (#sorrynotsorry)
Two things about AI and the way we look at the world, both literally and metaphorically (and a bonus one about listening):
(1) Google's new AI algorithm predicts heart disease by looking at your eyes [The Verge]: Google has used machine learning to find a new, much less invasive way to predict patients' cardiovascular risks with about the same accuracy than current leading methods.
This is the type of AI-driven discovery I'm personally most fascinated by: "It points the way toward a new AI-powered paradigm for scientific discovery. While most medical algorithms are built to replicate existing diagnostic tools (like identifying skin cancer, for example), this algorithm found new ways to analyze existing medical data. With enough data, it’s hoped that artificial intelligence can then create entirely new medical insight without human direction."
(2) The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains [New York Times]: There's something pretty interesting going on with Google Clips, Google's foray into subtle cameras with AI (run on the edge, right on the device itself). I haven't had a chance to play with these, but here are two excerpts from a New York Times review that I find pretty illuminating:
"It’s one of the most unusual devices I’ve ever encountered. The camera is about the size of a tin of mints, and it has no screen. On its front, there’s a lens and a button. The button takes a picture, but it’s there only if you really need it. Instead, most of the time, you just rely on the camera’s intuition, which has been trained to recognize facial expressions, lighting, framing and other hallmarks of nice photos. It also recognizes familiar faces — the people you’re with more often are those it deems most interesting to photograph. (...) it's all A.I."
The article continues:
"Aesthetically, these pictures aren’t masterworks. Emotionally, they’re on a higher plane. Clips caught moments of my kids goofing off and fighting in Disney’s endless lines, playing catch at home, dancing like adorable maniacs — moments too spontaneous or seemingly slight for me to have caught with my camera, but that will probably paint a more accurate and edifying picture of our lives in 30 years."
It's the kind of product that's hard to conceptually grasp, I think, that you'd just really understand the implications and impact of once you spend some time with them, like a week or so at last.
With AI, we'll see more things pop up in this category, things that are harder to evaluate in the straightforward way we evaluate, say, a phone or a camera. It might just feel different in unexpected ways.
(3) "Alexa, call the police!" Voice assistants are always listening. So why won't they call Police if they hear a crime?, asks The Register and comes out with the hypothesis that voice assistants should call the police when they hear a crime. This is just... mind boggling. They appear to actually promote full-on audio surveillance. WTF?
But!
There's this lovely turn: "How closely these devices listen is a design choice." And that's undoubtedly true, and always an interesting thing to consider.
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China, updating now.
I was invited to speak about our experiences in Shenzhen, China, last year at a few places. The last of them was in the fall, just about 6 months or so after our most recent trip to Shenzhen, and drawing on two trips within about 12 months. I was just invited to do a repeat session at one of these places and realized: It's impossible. It would feel fraudulent. By the time the event takes place in the fall it'll have been 18 months since last time I have been in China, and oh boy is that ever too long a time frame to still give any insight on this fast-changing place at this point in time. Something to keep in mind. (Needless to say, I canceled the event; however, I wouldn't mind going back to China soon!)
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On a whim, I may have spontaneously sent out a book pitch the other day. Please don't judge me.
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As always, a shout out to tinyletter.com/pbihr or a forward is always appreciated!
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Have a great weekend.
Yours truly,
Peter
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