The Algorithms of Nostalgia

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Nostalgia has become a template for the serial production of more content, a new income stream for copyright holders, a new data stream for platforms, and a new way to express identity for users. And there’s so much pop culture in the past to draw from, platform capitalism will seemingly never run out. We’re told our data is collected in an attempt to predict what we want, but this isn’t quite true. In attempting to predict our tastes, streaming services work to produce them in its image. Since algorithms are trained on the past, they aren’t merely transmitting nostalgia through neutral channels; they’re cultivating nostalgic biases, seeking to predispose users to crave retro. 

Even as Silicon Valley positions itself as progressive, its algorithms are stuck in the past.

Grafton Tanner, writing in Real Life Magazine

Data Science articles from Jan 2022

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CDC announces plan to send every US household pamphlet on probabilistic thinking & Bayesian inferences

Using machine learning models & clustering network embeddings to get meaningful insights into social network ecosystems

Many PhD candidates are willing to publish findings based on fraudulent data based on some less familiar Bayesian methods

Scientists make first detection of exotic “X” particles in quark-gluon plasma

2022 Trends in Semantic Technologies: Humanizing Artificial Intelligence

NRO Selects 5 Companies for Commercial Radar Development Contracts

Tiny machine learning is bringing neural networks to microcontrollers

Why very few machine learning models actually get deployed

Remote Sensing: Deep Learning for Land Cover Classification of Satellite Imagery Using Python   

Hands-on data visualization for interactive storytelling in Python

The goal of a recommendation algorithm “isn’t to surprise or shock but to affirm. The process looks a lot like prediction, but it’s merely repetition. The result is more of the same: a present that looks like the past and a future that isn’t one.” https://bit.ly/3HW7Ior

The algorithmic feedback loop: "If you want to freeze culture, the 1st step is to reduce it to data & if you want to maintain the frozen status quo algorithms trained on people’s past behaviors & tastes would be the best tools..."

What patent trends can tell us about next gen of AI Tech

Stop talking about “statistical significance and practical significance”

Defending old ways of doing business

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I learned the danger of excessive caution long ago, when I consulted for huge Fortune 500 companies. The single biggest problem I encountered—shared by virtually every large company I analyzed—was investing too much of their time and money into defending old ways of doing business, rather than building new ones. We even had a proprietary tool for quantifying this misallocation of resources that spelled out the mistakes in precise dollars and cents.  Senior management hated hearing this, and always insisted that defending the old business units was their safest bet. After I encountered this embedded mindset again and again and saw its consequences, I reached the painful conclusion that the safest path is usually the most dangerous. If you pursue a strategy—whether in business or your personal life—that avoids all risk, you might flourish in the short run, but you flounder over the long term.

Ted Gioia writing in The Atlantic

Escaping from Group-Narcissism

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You can’t force everyone to see the value in your group, just as you can’t force everyone to see the value in you as an individual. But you can control how you see yourself, and the narrative you tell yourself about your group and the world. The only way out from the group-narcissism trap is up, by transcending your group’s feelings of entitlement and connecting with fellow humans—even when it’s easier to believe that you’re special. 

Scott Barry Kaufman writing in The Atlantic

The Leadership Context

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The attributes which make for effective leadership depend on the situation and which the leader is functioning. There are no traits that guarantee successful leadership in all situations. the leader of the University faculty may have quite different attributes from the commander of a military attack team. the qualities required of a legislative leader are not those required of a religious leader. This is not to say that the setting or context is everything and the attributes of the individual nothing. What produces a good result is the combination of a particular context and an individual with the appropriate qualities to lead in that context.

John W. Gardner, On Leadership

Why are some people compelled to cheat?

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The fear of losing something appears to be a greater motivator to cheat than the lure of a gain.

Kerry Ritchie, who researches how to improve teaching at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, says the majority of academic cheating is conducted by high-achieving students, (60% of offenders earned grades 80% or more). While cheating in education is not the same as cheating during play, if there are similarities it's that those at the top feel a pressure to maintain their status. Players are more likely to behave dishonestly if they can say that it benefits other people as well as themselves.

William Park writing in BBC Future

A Social Media Makeover (part 1)

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(Answer the questions in blue)

PERSONAL BRANDING: A SOCIAL MEDIA MAKEOVER (PART 1)

Your online reputation is your reputation. Taking these steps will give you control of your social media brand. Companies want personal brands that run parallel to their own, not brands that compete with their social media reputation.

Google magnifying glass

 WHAT DOES GOOGLE KNOW?           

The first thing a prospective employer may do is Google you. So let’s find out who Google thinks you are.

Open an incognito browser window (so that your Google search is free from any personal customizations or saved search elements) and search for:

·       Your name, first and last (or the name of your business)

·       Variations of your name

·       Your full name, nickname, middle name, etc.

·       Any misspellings of your name

·       If your name is common, add other elements that might help define you like your occupation, your employer, your school, etc.

Are there inappropriate photos, rants, politically divisive or offensive items that do not fit with the brand you want to offer to the public and particularly to potential employers, clients or customers? This includes negative opinions about a company you’re about to interview with.

Tools to help you clean up your act (or keep it clean): Google Alerts and Socialmention. 

 YOUR NICHE

SET YOURSELF APART

What sets you apart from others? Here are some ways to get to an answer: 

·       What is the “one thing” that everyone says you rock at?

·       What are your passions and interests?

·       What do you read about most often online?

·       Will you still be interested in this particular area six months or a year from now?



YOUR HEADLINE

Keep it to 160 characters so it will fit into your Twitter bio.  For examples of what not to do (because some descriptions have been overused), check out the canned (and funny) TwitterBioGenerator.      

Think of it as a headline that would go on an ad for “Brand You.”  But remember: People want to connect with people, not a brand. It might be catchy and unique. Some examples:

 Consider loading it with keywords. Example:

Innovative CMO, Extensive retail experience from start-ups to major global brands. Fluent English, French, Mandarin

It might be a power statement that defines your personal brand. Example:

Helping Companies Find Breakout Ideas and Transforming Them Into Global Technology Brands

The best profiles tell a story, a career story or a personal story. Something that ties all the pieces of your journey together in a narrative.

If you are focused on job hunting, look at job descriptions of the positions you’re after. Look for keywords and treat them like your resume.

Aim at somewhere between 450 and 650 characters.

Walk the reader through your work passions, key skills, uniqueness.  Include the skills you want to be known for.

Consider including:

·       One professional description (your bio should be accurate)

·       One word that is not boring (your bio should be exciting)

·       One niche descriptor (your bio should be targeted)

·       One accomplishment (your bio should be flattering)

·       One hobby (your bio should be humanizing)

·       One interesting fact or feature about yourself (your bio should be intriguing)

·       Your company or another social profile (your bio should be connected)

       Avoid:

·       Insider jargon

·       Clichés

·       Overused buzzwords (such as creative, driven, innovative, hardworking etc.)

·       General statements (Be specific. When possible, include numbers and case studies that prove success)

Write as if you are having a conversation with someone. Inject your personality.

          

MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS 

Slides, videos, infographics, photos--photos you have taken or photos of you doing things?

If you’re in a creative field, there’s no better way to flaunt your personality, design aesthetic, and vision than through a personal social media profile.

Ask yourself this: Based on what I post, do I look like I’d be awesome to work with?  

Estranged

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Whoever protects himself against what is new and strange and thereby regresses to the past, falls into the same neurotic condition as the man who identifies himself with the new and runs away from the past. The only difference is that the one has estranged himself from the past, and the other from the future. 

CG Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

How your Attitude about Age affects your health

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Recent findings suggest that age beliefs may play a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Tracking 4,765 participants over four years, the researchers found that positive expectations of ageing halved the risk of developing the disease, compared to those who saw old age as an inevitable period of decline. Astonishingly, this was even true of people who carried a harmful variant of the APOE gene, which is known to render people more susceptible to the disease. The positive mindset can counteract an inherited misfortune, protecting against the build-up of the toxic plaques and neuronal loss that characterise the disease. 

David Robson, The Expectation Effect: How your Mindset Can Transform Your Life