Oh hey đ. You look great. Thanks for dropping by. Still down about the rugby? Yeah, me too. Ah well. Sure look it. Oh yeah, can you give this a share đ. Right, letâs go.
âExplaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process.â
E.B. White
culture // optimised
Bio-hacking, cold showers, self help. Weâre living in an optimisation bubble of almond moms and Huberman husbands (see Andrew Huberman)? A culture where we believe there's always one item, one process, one routine with the capacity to blunt every cumbersome corner of our day. And if we amass or uncover or commit to enough of these hacks, our lives will become seamless, manageable, easy. But like all quests for optimisation, theyâre sinkholes. Perfect doesnât exist. And the other side of self-improvement and measurement, is a sense of measurable inadequacy and improving ourselves to death? We're also optimising ourselves to a standstill in the arts, and living in the most cultural stagnant century for the arts in 500 years. Somethingâs gotta give. But when we canât optimise our world, itâs easier to try to optimise ourselves.
brands // lonelybrands
A recent EU survey on loneliness found an average of 13% of people feel lonely most or all of the time, and 35% sometimes. Ireland had the highest levels. While 34% of US adults 50-80 feel isolated and lonely some or most of the time. Loneliness isnât good. Itâs like smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So, enter the growing loneliness economy to tackle (cash in on) the problem. Last week we shared the breakfast app (Tinder for breakfasts). Add to that Othership, for guided sauna sessions, ice baths, emotional wellness classes, or a growing list of AI companions like PI or Replika, or Tab. Or what about brands like SoulCycle, CrossFit or Barryâs that have scaled (a church like) sense of belonging. Or Peoplehood or Remedy Place for social wellness gatherings. In an increasingly lonely and institution-less world, maybe brands will have a much bigger role to play.
creativity // time wasters
Good marketing is creative. Itâs busy too, but itâs also creative. Joining dots. Imagining. Taking leaps. Sense making. Ideas are creative. Briefs should be creative (just a couple of words). Creative people are important. Not everyone needs to be. But a few. And they need to explore and feed their creativity. Research from the University of Arizona found that creative people use their downtime more effectively by letting their thoughts flow freely and associatively. They also found that preserving and utilizing idle time in an increasingly busy and digitally connected society, is important as it offers room for creative thoughts. Creativity needs to be fed, with enough idle time to creatively eat. Just like research, as Amos Tversky once said âThe secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.â
technology // analog desires
Hereâs a video of someone designing and building a website for an electric bike company in 1 hour. The assets are created with mid journey and an AI site builder, which generates a sitemap, wireframes, & copy. It's good. And scary. Itâs part of a future that a16zâs Marc Andreessen wants to un-scare, which he outlines in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto. He evangelises tech as a panacea. Light, heat, cold, poverty, isolation, happiness, equality. You name it. He says that "Techno-Optimists believe that societies, like sharks, grow or die." And that "everything good is downstream of growthâ. But, is the purpose of society growth? Sounds like a virus. Tech sometimes feels like itâs happening to us, maybe not for us. Like yeah, you can have a digital view from a fake window, but do you want it? Thankfully thereâs a growing appreciation for analog desires. Actual IRL things. Theyâre great. Letâs not forget it.
five random (ish) things:
Norwich FC on mental health đą.
Live 3D map of Tokyo's subway đ.Â
Accenture life trends 2024 đź.Â
10 charts for a changing world đ.
TikTok - $6bn profit in Q1 & $20bn in â22 đ±.
listening // freedom:
Feels important. From the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976. Every word, feels important.