Se7en

Learning never stops

Friends,

We have our own journeys.

Seven years ago, I was returning from my last trip to China. We had been looking at partnerships as part of my startup. The China tech industry had been a jolt to my system, a wake-up call. And, to be brutally honest, I was apprehensive about my relevance to the world, to my career and what I would do next. Shanghai - had futuristic startups and was powered by one power-app. Startups and ecosystems were changing how the country operated. It was a glimpse into what the world would become. It was exciting - and scary.

I felt ill-prepared for the technology-driven world that was to come.

That world is now here.

This week marks the 7th anniversary of this newsletter. That's about 350 emails to you all. Nearly every Sunday morning. Even I am shocked that I have committed to this for such a long time. It’s kind of become routine for me, occasionally to the chagrin of my family.

To those of you who have been with me from the beginning, thanks for being on this journey with me - and for those of you who are new - I hope you find value in the curation and recommendation, by a human, in an algorithm-driven world. There are other newsletters out there -many with in-depth editorials, with expertise, but I hope that my view of the now and the next makes opening and, at least, skimming worth it for you - and that it keeps you in the know, every Sunday.

I started this newsletter to support my own learning - for me to commit to reading and curating the right articles to help others to learn. I wanted to stay ahead of the world and be on top of my thinking - and this was a way that I would commit. And somehow, I just kept showing up - building learning to my workflow, shifting tools as my life changed and as technology changed. And so here we are. Many, including many of you have your own workflows to keep yourselves up-to-date. If you are reading this, I’m glad to be part of it.

I ask new readers how they found me, and who recommended this newsletter to them. A new reader, this week, Mac, pointed me to 8 Newsletters Like The Hustle Worth Subscribing to in 2024 where Box of Amazing was cited with Morning Brew, NextDraft, TLDR, Techcrunch & Benedict’s Newsletter - all multi-hundred-thousand reader newsletters. Esteemed company indeed. I’m much humbled.

This newsletter has got me opportunities - speaking gigs, meetings with celebs (who shockingly read this newsletter) and getting the early scoop on what’s happening in tech. I also get a lot of spam. And some occasional hate mail.

Sometimes I get asked to write elsewhere.

Last month I got asked to pen my thoughts on the edtech industry in 2024 for CXO Magazine. You’ll find a somewhat serious-looking version of me in the article. My family have asked that I not use this picture ever again!

I tell you this less as self-aggrandisement, but more to point you to a journey coming from a place of disorientation to a place of clarity, of commitment and contentment.

If you love this newsletter, please forward this email to your team, colleagues, friends, peers, enemies and family. If you can and are willing, you could share this email post (click “view in browser” at the top of this email) or my signup URL on your LinkedIn or social media channel of choice - and say some nice words. But no pressure. Something like this. Or this. Or even this.

As for my commitment - maybe I’ll commit to this newsletter for another 7 years. Who knows? What I do know is this - learning never stops. Especially in this world that has changed so much. So, whether you stay with me over the coming years, or decide it’s time to unsubscribe, please commit to your own learning and personal growth.

Commitment to learning is a fundamental aspect of personal and professional development. Research indicates that individuals who exhibit a strong commitment to learning tend to achieve higher levels of success in their careers and personal lives. According to a study by Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University, the concept of a "growth mindset" plays a crucial role in this commitment. Dweck's research suggests that individuals with a growth mindset, who believe their abilities and intelligence can be developed over time, are more likely to persist in the face of challenges and embrace lifelong learning. This attitude towards learning not only enhances skill acquisition but also fosters resilience and adaptability in an unknown world.

I’ll leave you with this:

“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”

― Zig Ziglar

Stay Curious - and don’t forget to be amazing,

Rahim

Here are my recommendations for this week:

Now

1. AI gave Education a “glow up” - The education industry is an indicator of what is going on in AI - but edtech is not just about AI and Education is not just about AI - There is other innovation happening - These are my 10 Predictions for EdTech in 2024.

2. Undergraduates’ average IQ has fallen 17 points since 1939. Here’s why.

   College students once stood out from the pack on IQ tests. Today, they're about average. A recent meta-analysis found that undergraduates' IQs have steadily fallen from roughly 119 in 1939 to a mean of 102 in 2022, just slightly above the population average of 100. "The decline in students' IQ is a necessary consequence of increasing educational attainment over the last 80 years," the researchers commented. "Today, graduating from university is more common than completing high school in the 1940s." The decline in undergraduate IQs might just be another indication that the worth of a college degree has been hollowed out over time. Ironically, as it became a baseline for employment, a degree has become increasingly meaningless, as more people have one.

3. Who is etiquette for? Etiquette is about respect, not table manners. Throughout history, there have always been rules — both implicit and explicit — dictating socially acceptable behavior. You could really say the 10 Commandments is etiquette. Advice columns have occupied newspaper inches for centuries, including modern iterations Miss Manners and the New York Times’ Social Q’s. Women’s magazines long educated readers on “dos” and “don’ts” of fashion, sex and dating, and domestic life. Curiosity about proper etiquette extends beyond Gilded Age table manners and how to make small talk at parties. Today’s populace looks for advice on group chat best practices, on whether it’s okay to come to the office with a cold in a society still reeling from a worldwide pandemic. No one knows how to behave at weddings or concerts or movies or in public in general, and an authoritative voice is needed. And advice comes from experts and lay people alike: TikTok creators dole out instructions on how to behave in virtually any situation, while the popular subreddit Am I the A$$hole’s express purpose is to parse whether posters have acted appropriately. Many contemporary etiquette discussions are litigated online where social media commenters are quick to criticize anyone who doesn’t adhere to their personal standards. Somewhat related to societal change: The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now with 121 menus from restaurants. Together, they offer a glimpse into the tastes and values of today. Also: General Tips to succeed in Behavioral Interviews

4. How to spot a liar: 10 essential tells – from random laughter to copycat gestures: Watch for self-soothing gestures, Probe areas where you detect psychological discomfort, Don’t take obvious gestures at face value, Look for mismatch, Learn to receive, not transmit, Get them to tell their side of the story, Listen for tenses and dissociation, Be alive to odd noises or random words, Ask character questions, Ask yourself: are you looking through the right end of the telescope? Many people have to lie for their jobs. Navarro mentions spies and doctors, but makes the broader point that we all use lying “as a tool of social survival”. Inevitably, some of us will end up quite good at it. But what are we trying to survive? We want to remain members of the group and we fear expulsion. In a culture where lying is prized – politics, The Traitors – the act of lying might make you come across as more confident, rather than less. So, if you cross-referenced the verbal and non-verbal cues, then reverse-engineered the tests to become reasonably good at identifying an honest nervous person, you could figure out who was lying by a process of elimination; even if they were psychopathically good at it, that wouldn’t matter. Somewhat related: A Leaked Memo From Google CEO Sundar Pichai Comes Amid Employee Discontent. No CEO Wants This for Their Company

5. A primer on dopamine: Genius curation of thoughts and notes with the TLDR: Desire is generated when we are repeatedly teased with something valuable, work a little bit to resolve it, and discover something even more valuable than we expected. Related: I think I might get addicted to this - Disney offers an elegant solution to VR’s movement problem. Also: I was Hypnotized as a Teen. Was it Dangerous?

Next

1. Brain-GPT - Mind-reading AI hat translates thoughts into text so people can read what others are thinking - Researchers from the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Center at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed a portable and non-invasive mind-reading AI hat called BrainGPT that can decode and translate silent thoughts into readable text. The wearable technology keeps people who are unable to speak due to illness or injury, including stroke or paralysis, in mind when they developed the device, allowing them to communicate with people using data, AI, and a smart device. GPT related: Self-driving as a case study for AGI

2. A Minimal Phone: The Minimal Company introduces the Minimal, a compact phone with a tactile keyboard and E-ink display that can still run selected third-party apps, including ride-sharing and GPS navigation. Phones with E-ink displays are slowly popping up, hoping to hush down the hustle of the digital screens along with the eye strain and sleep disruption that the bright and vividly coloured displays feed the users. The Minimal Phone aims to give users better visibility and battery efficiency but with added touchscreen functionality.

3. The secret to Netflix's total dominance: Netflix’ churn rate is only 2%

   

   Fun related: The Tremendous Yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024

4. The start-ups making robots a reality: Is it harder for machines to mimic the way humans move or the way humans think? If you had asked Gates this question a decade ago, his answer would have been “think.” So much of how the brain works is still a mystery. And yet, in just the last year, advancements in artificial intelligence have resulted in computer programs that can create, calculate, process, understand, decide, recognize patterns, and continue learning in ways that resemble our own.

5. Can autoimmune diseases be cured? Scientists see hope at last: For decades, immunologists have hoped to restore what’s known as tolerance — the immune system’s ability to ignore antigens that belong in the body while appropriately attacking those that don’t. In some cases, that means administering the very antigens that the rogue cells are trained to attack, a strategy that can deprogram the cells and dampen the autoimmune response. Other researchers are trying to selectively wipe out the problematic cells, or to introduce suppressive immune cells that have been engineered to target them. One approach that relies on engineered immune cells was used to treat 15 people with lupus or other immune disorders with surprising success. One participant has been symptom-free for more than two and a half years. Research related: China’s new dark-matter lab is biggest and deepest yet

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