feeling compelled to post this new yorker reject from years ago, for some reason

Hallucinations compound: 1) A worker uses an LLM to generate a report. 2) A manager uses an LLM to extract insights from the report. 3) An exec uses an LLM to turn the insights into a memo. 4) Another manager uses an LLM to summarize the memo. Each person human-washes the text for the next person.

What rules do you live by? I want to know. This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be help you. Thanks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I want YOUR life philosophy. Will you share it with me? This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be useful to you. Thanks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #rulestolive

I want YOUR life philosophy. Will you share it with me? This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be useful to you. Thanks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #rulestolive

If you're free in 4 hours, join me live to talk about how to live well and why most books on this subject don't help much.

What rules do you live by? I've asked dozens of people this question and most of the answers are the same. People quickly say "be kind". "Follow the golden rule." Nice, but obvious. It gets trickier when I ask a tougher question: when do you break your rules?

I just finished the first draft of my 10th book and I'll be on Zoom talking about it - you should come 🙂 Tentatively titled Rules To Live By, it's a better way to think about self-help and philosophy. It will be fun & as interactive as you like. Hope to see you. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Scott Berkun on unlearning the false design beliefs that are holding you back. https://ow.ly/zcwZ50XGlNr

Scott Berkun on avoiding the five habits of the worst designers. https://ow.ly/56fK50XtxYK

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” –Wendell Berry

“People will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985)

There are activities in life where the goal is to be perfect. And there are activities where the goal is to express who you are and your personal experience in being you. These are rarely the same activities.

What is the best creative work you have done in your career? Here is a test you can take about great work and what it really means. whydesignishard.substack.com/p/the-greatn...

Incredible productivity hack that will save you way more time than integrating AI into your workflow

Here @berkun.bsky.social does a great job of collecting thoughtful questions proposed by Neil Postman that every designer needs to consider before launching a new project: https://scottberkun.com/2016/the-7-questions-for-any-technological-idea/

For those in the South Seattle area I'm coming your way tomorrow.

Need an excuse to buy more books? Now you have one! Saturday is Indie Bookstore Day! Show your favorite indie some love.

Tomorrow is Independent Bookstore day. I love locally owned bookstores and try to support them whenever I can. Most of my books are available through @bookshop.org, which is a great way to get books and support independent stores. bookshop.org/lists/scott-...

Here's my list of inventions I wish existed. scottberkun.com/2008/ten-inv...

My dream invention is a hypocrisy detection machine that continually informed people of their double-standards. Whenever we start saying something that conveniently contradicts a stated belief, it would start beeping and get louder and louder until we stop.

"All of life’s problems arise from trying to do other people’s tasks for them, or trying to get them to do yours." - Oliver Burkeman

The quality of cockpit design has more to do with crashes than pilots' skills. whydesignishard.substack.com/p/rethinking... by @berkun.bsky.social I'd add the detrimental effect of detailed up-front specifications on design as a major root cause (exemplified by the F-35 story).

Is there any tech bro out there who has not wildly misunderstood every Philip K Dick book they read when they were 15?

You have GOT to be kidding.

”[it’s] the insecure client who depends on informal office surveys and pseudo-scientific research to deal with questions that are unanswerable and answers that are questionable.” - Paul Rand

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people: 18f.org

All of the clocks have changed, but my microwave still knows the truth.

When the data says no, but the people paying for the report say yes

“Those who lack courage will always find a philosophy to justify it” – Camus

“In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.” - William Bernbach

It's more than diabolical. It's triabolical.

If I won the lottery, I wouldn't tell anyone, but there would be signs

Checks & Balances & Santa Clause.

“You’ll end up agreeing with me because you’re smart and I’m right.” – Charlie Munger

Working on a new book about rules to live by. Advice on how to live a good life. Here's rule #6. rulestolive.substack.com/p/rule-6-emb...

Hiya - Tomorrow at 9am PST I'll answer any questions you have about anything. The good folks at the Design Better podcast are hosting. it's for subscribers only but it's a great podcast and if I can help u discover it, cool beans. designbetterpodcast.com/p/ama-scott-...

“MY emotions are LOGIC, YOURS are HYSTERIA” is the most aggravating type of guy and there are just so goddamn many of them

"Cynicism isn't wisdom - It's a lazy way to say that you've been burned" - Nana Grizol

every example of how AI could be useful is like “if you were eating cereal, AI could tell you what cereal you were eating”

“I once thought that truth is eternal, that you understood something once and it was with you forever. I know now this isn’t so, that most truths are inherently unretainable, that we have to work hard all our lives to remember the most basic things.” - Lucy Grealy

THIS. One of my coaching clients introduced me to the concept, in his company, of a Failure Cake. When stuff doesn’t work out, they sweeten the retro with a few spoonfuls of sugar. It’s a phenomenal idea.

So many possible metaphors here.

UX has different levels of quality. Everything has an experience. Everything is designed. It just matters how well and what the investment was. As @berkun.bsky.social says, designers are in the quality business.

“Designers are scoundrels, allied with capital.” — Enzo Mari

Design is optimism. That’s the best single word. Design is believing in ideas, no matter how small or strange, and knowing that big ideas come from little ones, but only if we tend to them and help them grow. whydesignishard.substack.com/p/design-is-...

@berkun.bsky.social on why design is optimism. ow.ly/ri6B50UEkF6

The perfect transit ad? When the Accordion World Cup came to Norway.

"Your style is formed by what you can't do." - Larry Gelbart