Ben’s List 14
What good would this list be without some articles about problem solving and forecasting skills? Until we get a chip in our brains, it’s all about training your skills and rewiring your behavior for better performance.
BCAlso see more startups coverage: /category/startups/
This week’s reading list included a monkey playing Pong directly with his mind, thank you Neuralink for the goosebumps.
Meanwhile, Clubhouse is losing momentum and everyone around me tells me that online events aren’t performing as well as they used to… not surprised to be honest.
So let’s get back to serious business: building community to survive the next lockdown is on our to-do; we’re exploring fundraising in B2B; we’re building a decent media here with Selected.
We’re also looking into the place of women in the workplace in 2021 – although there’s clearly still so much work to be done.
Fundraising
The B2B Marketplace Funding Napkin 2021
- medium.com/point-nine-news/the-b2b-marketplace-funding-napkin-2021-f5aca6b53b23 :: Julia Morrongiello
Community
Communities at Scale
“If starting a community is like gardening, building a community at scale is like maintaining a fan base. There are many moving pieces, and it can sometimes feel like a championship is at stake.”
How To Discover Your Ideal Internet Community
“Ask a thoughtful question or contribute to the discussion with something relevant, you may find the community is better than expected. You can’t understand if a community is a good fit for you until you engage with it.”
Marketing
Will Clubhouse be a Habit or Has-Been?
“Very few products get better the more you use them. Most products get worse: clothes, cars, kitchenware, and most other products depreciate with wear and tear. But habit-forming products should appreciate. They get better with use based on your investment into the platform.”
Human Resources
Top Workplaces for Women: 2021 Edition
- elpha.com/resources/workplaces-for-women-insights :: Elpha
Media
Monocle’s digital decency manifesto
“View our manifesto for a more dignified relationship with all things digital and learn to be a little kinder and more cautious online.”
Psychology
Adding is favoured over subtracting in problem solving
- nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00592-0 :: Tom Meyvis + Heeyoung Yoon
How to See The Future Like a Superforecaster
Synthesis is its own superpower. Synthesis is the ability to take multiple points of view and pieces of data and merge them into ‘a single vision as acute as that of a dragonfly’ as Tetlock puts it in Superforecasting. When you put the inside view and the outside view together with differing opinions and counterpoints, you should be able to come up with a well informed, thoughtfully calculated prediction.”
Literature
Against Cynicism: Isaac Asimov on the Case for Optimism about the Human Spirit
“It’s insulting to imply that only a system of rewards and punishments can keep you a decent human being. Isn’t it conceivable a person wants to be a decent human being because that way he feels better?”
Science
A Tiny Particle’s Wobble Could Upend the Known Laws of Physics
Even though I missed the event announcing the discovery, it’s definitely worth checking out!
Neuralink & Monkey MindPong
Tools
Free Your Thoughts
- supernotes.app/ (my referral code: Z5rAhZ)
