#10 A piece of history
One with human psychology, history, and delights
‘In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the *new*. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.’
Anton Ego offers a remarkable hidden aspect of a critic’s duties to her art. She can act to play God, or give her best to show the mirror to the world. It’s not an easy job if you want to do it with full earnestness. Be a good critic. The world needs more of you.
And on that note, let’s dive in with this week’s recommendations:
1.
Noom is the poster boy for new age products that are changing the lifestyle improvement game. Millions of Noom nerds providing it with a thumbs up in every possible way is a clear sign that it is working. Taylor Majewski wrote a scathing post debunking some of Noom's claims. It's one of the rare contrarian views on Noom, focusing on possible reasons Noom is not as good as it claims. My two cents: take it with a pinch of salt.
2.
The Hustle shared a fun post covering two important economic principles - Goodhart’s law & Campbell’s law. Theory aside, it pointed out how targets and metrics can become harmful to your business. Access & misuse are not good. And this story proves just the same.
Andy Grove spoke of the concept of pairing metrics in his book "High Output Management". That can work well to prevent some of the fallacies mentioned in this article.
3.
Necessity breeds invention. Letterlocking is one such example. This fascinating article describes how a few clever folds, adhesive, and a lot of ingenuity enabled secure communication hundreds of years ago. Our history is filled with such stories & practices - many of them lost now. The people who spend their lives preserving historic objects deserve our respect. A couple of bonus material if you like this topic:
Story of Goa’s last typewriter repair shop
Documentary on the restoration of a defaced Rothko painting
4.
Some random goodness from the internet:
Web: Experience little moments of joy with NPR’s Joy Generator. I loved the visual magic playing on this page.
Instagram: Simplicity is a tough game. Visualize Value shares some of the most thought-provoking ideas in a minimalist way. Check it out, many aha moments guaranteed.
That's all, folks!
ps: Today's post is grade 5 as per https://hemingwayapp.com/.