🤔 Only the Curious Will Be Amazed 🌈
Seven Things — #45 — 4 February 2021
👋 Howdy!
Following the tech news is always entertaining, yet usually, of little consequence to most. Between each stage, from the initial reporting on a new technology, to it being talked about in growing communities, to finally reaching a level where one might interact with it as part of their every-day, there tends to be a drawn-out and rigorous filtering process.
Then, every so often, I’ll experience a version of such a novelty in a way which makes me believe that its spread and application on a larger, societal scale is relatively imminent.
They’re quite hard to not dismiss too early, these moments of wonder, as you could be forgiven to think, oh, here’s another underwhelming rendition of a chatbot, or, this VR experience is cool, but it still requires far too much computing power to be feasibly used by consumers. Sometimes, it is worth actually making an effort to remain curious.
Here are the Seven Things I was curious about lately.
AI: I’ve been talking a fair bit to my replica.ai bot - the first one I tried that’s powered by GPT-3. Reading back through the chat script, it’s hard to tell who is who, that’s how human-like she talks. The story behind this project is interesting too and sounds like straight out of a Black Mirror episode.
Design: How seemingly small design decisions can have an enormous impact on user's lives through the application of behavioural science to gambling software.
Design: Pros and cons of different UX team structures
Design/DataViz: Adobe’s guide to colour for data visualisation
Internet: Data privacy laws and ads have given us an almost unusable web browsing experience. Use Hush to get back to normal.
Art: Running out of Netflix, I got started on watching documentaries about contemporary photographers. I can already tell you that Koudelka Shooting Holy Land is beautiful. In no great Hurry is up next.
Art: Did you also binge on The Queen's Gambit and couldn’t stop pondering some of its interior design moments?
🤝 Please forward this newsletter to a friend. 💪 It’ll help me keep going.
✍️ If you haven’t yet, subscribe here.
💌 Thank you for being curious with me.
Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of any current or previous employers.