Art censorship; Next big things; Poor in tech
Milk, No Sugar #281
💡Think
This week’s topic is the concept of “groupthink”, a phenomenon whereby people within groups desire that close tribal connection to the point where they will sacrifice truth.
If you’re striving for unity and closeness, your opinions can merge even if it’s harmful, as it’s the togetherness that prevails.
This happens all the damn time in working teams. Just think about when projects blow out of scope and it’s not until you ship a poor, dysfunctional product that you realise it was because you were supporting each other to fail rather than succeed.
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ Silicon Valley’s obsession with “the next big thing”
This should come as no surprise, given the amount of super-duper-next-big-thing apps that have been launched in the past year or so (Dispo and Clubhouse, anyone?), but it’s an indication of just how mad the venture capital world really is. It turns out that it’s mostly 50 year old venture capitalists, hiring 30 year old CEOs, to develop products for preteens. This article does a much better job at explaining it than I could.
—
❷ Should we censor art?
This is a long one, but a good one. Famous artists throughout history have at the same time been awful people, yet we continue to celebrate their work. At the same time, we have developed a liberal culture that almost swings so far in one direction that we can’t or don’t talk about these topics. Should art be separated from the artist, or should context be provided alongside great works, or…something else? This is a great deep dive on the philosophical challenges with sensitive art.
—
❸ Being poor in tech
This is actually more of a poem than an article, and would normally be part of my “bonus round” section, but I found it too powerful not to include here. It’s a series of statements where someone comes to terms with just how much wealth there is in the tech industry, and the harsh realisations you have to face when you’re not from that background.
—
Bonus round
Why is the business side of design always hidden?
I asked Twitter for some podcast recommendations this week if you’re looking for something new
I interviewed Gitlab’s Nadia Sotnikova this week about her design career
🎧 Listen
Simon Sinek - Discovering your why
This is a podcast version of a TED Talk that Simon Sinek delivered where he took a look at leadership, friendships, and working out how we can find real value in both aspects of our lives; particularly right now.
Listen to this podcast (16 minutes)
🙌 Share
I’d really appreciate it if you would share my tweet, or forward this to a friend.
If you’re really enjoying it, purchasing a subscription would let me know I’m producing quality.
🙏 Thanks
Have a great week,
Luis Ouriach
@disco_lu
Founding member special shoutouts:
Kevin Fernandez (@kvnfz)