Six Ideas That Made Us Think

1. The End of History Majors

Since the 1970s, fewer people in the US have majored in history. The website Scholars Stage examines the prevailing theories that explain why, but then offers a more compelling reason: the dramatic pivot in how American culture regards the past. In place of history, we turn to data – and a new set of intellectuals:

This group is comprised of psychologists, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, data scientists, statisticians, economists, quantitative sociologists, geographers, anybody who uses the word “computational” in front of their job description, and anybody whose main method of public engagement is a dynamic data visualization. Data is the watchword of these folks, empiricism their vocation, science their title…At its best, the rise of this intellectual style led to the creation of entire new fields of intellectual inquiry (such as the marriage of evolutionary anthropology, cross cultural psychology, quantitative sociology now called “cultural evolution”). At its worst, the rise of this intellectual style led to your great aunt’s favorite Ted Talk.

2. Did Science Fiction Predict the Future?

Holden Karnofsky has written a remarkably detailed assessment of whether the most famous science fiction writers of the 1950s and 1960s predicted the future. His conclusion: they weren't far off. Here, for example, is Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, writing in 1964:

[Communications satellites] will make possible a world in which we can make instant contact with each other wherever we may be. Where we can contact our friends anywhere on Earth, even if we don’t know their actual physical location. It will be possible in that age, perhaps only fifty years from now, for a [person] to conduct [their] business from Tahiti or Bali just as well as [they] could from London.

Karnofsky has also created a Google spreadsheet that catalogues three major science fiction authors, their predictions, and whether the predictions came true.

3. The Value of Mindfulness

Carolyn Chen’s new book describes how Buddhism has “found a new institutional home” in the Silicon Valley corporation. She views the development with skepticism:

Why meditation? Why mindfulness? When I looked at additional research, I learned that gardening can produce similar health outcomes to decrease your stress. Or just sleeping more! But nobody promotes those practices in the same way or to the same scale because there’s nothing to gain there. Several meditation teachers I interviewed told me that meditation is really hard and difficult to sustain, but here are all these companies touting it and claiming it’s making people more productive and improving their mental health. Yet there are all these other things that could be equally beneficial that people can do if they just get more time off work.

4. Viva Italia!

Matthew Yglesias points out a paradox with modern Italy: despite its persistently failing government and sluggish economy, life keeps getting better. What gives?

Despite zero measured economic growth, Italian living standards really are rising in a number of important respects. And in light of the narratives kicking around the United States about “deaths of despair,” the fact that sluggish growth isn’t leading Italians into heroin addiction or suicide or a violent crime surge is noteworthy...The consensus seems to be that the gap comes down to “lifestyle” factors rather than the superiority of the Italian healthcare system. Italians are less likely to be murdered or to die in a car wreck, but they also seem to maintain healthier diet and exercise regimes that generate less obesity and heart disease.

5. The Golden Age of Sports Profiles

Gary Smith is one of the most storied writers of the sports profile. Sports Illustrated looks back on his work, focusing on how he drew psychological insights from his subjects, including Mike Tyson, Andre Agassi, and Tiger Woods. But the best part of the piece is the description of how the SI newsroom responded every time Smith submitted a new article:

The bullpen, the cluster of offices where the fact checkers sat, overflowed with young reporters dreaming of bylines in the feature well. A bloated story from an old hand would elicit eyerolls; a masterly piece was a reminder that most writers never reach that peak. And yet, every three months, when the first draft of the new Gary Smith feature arrived on the ancient Atex computer system, the entire office would go silent. “Word would go around that Gary’s story has landed. Everybody would get on their Atex terminals and read it and then gather in the hallway to kind of marvel.”

6. High Lantern Group: Making Communications Matter

A new white paper by High Lantern Group argues that many organizations have failed to prepare leaders for their most important task: communicating clearly. The paper elaborates:

The hard truth is that, in many companies, most employees have no natural gifts for public speaking or sharing ideas. Nonetheless, many of these employees lead critical business functions, oversee large teams, and often present high-stakes decisions to senior management. What matters most in these situations is not “stage presence,” but the ability to advance ideas in plain, jargon-free language with a clear flow and strong logic. Efforts to turn leaders into Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs are misplaced.

We invite you to find “Making Communications Matter” on our website and share with your networks.

Websites Worth Reading

The Customer is Always Wrong: Classic retorts from business owners to customers

August Crime Reads: Description of best “impossible crime” mysteries

Failed Architecture: Exploring how urban spaces fail people

Feeds We Follow

@TimothyDSnyder: Putin's rule is weakening

@KemiBadenoch: Future UK PM

@longnow: Long-term thinking foundation