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It’s been difficult to think and write clearly these last few days. My heart goes out to all the people in the Ukraine. I’m rooting for peace, always. Please be extra cautious and diligent when consuming and sharing news. If you haven’t done so already, please also consider donating to humanitarian relief efforts.
Since I didn’t get around to it late last year, instead of an essay-type intro, here are some personal highlights from the last twelve months or so (~50 issues) of DD:
In DD134, I touched on the concepts of individualism and interdependence, highlighting the fact that self-reliance is an illusion and that we rely on each other more than ever.
In DD139, the week of my 40th birthday, I talked about internal remodelling and how periods of feeling upset and fearful can obscure important personal growth. You generously answered my call to help plant trees for my birthday, raising close to $4000 and funding 400 native Australian trees as a result!
In DD141, I shared my feelings of disillusionment with the tech world and why I believe that – despite our proclivity for tech-solutionism – there are few, if any, technological fixes to social problems.
In DD142, I went back to one of my favourite topics (striving for a life of sufficiency) and talked about how we can avoid ‘the upward creep of material desire’ by, for example, using budgets to help us live simply.
In DD151, I quote from and discuss Jeremy Lent’s thought-provoking essay on The Ideology of Human Supremacy, concluding that our anthropocentric views of ‘nature’ are immature and not fit for purpose.
In DD155, I share a compelling quote by Ezra Klein who views individual action as a node for social contagion, offering a great frame of reference for the impact individuals can have when it comes to systemic issues.
In DD158 – easily the issue with the most audience responses so far – I summarise my experience dealing with chronic pain (RSI) and finding a quick and unexpected recovery in The Mindbody Prescription. (I wrote a follow-up in DD159)
In DD165, Devin Kelly’s heartfelt piece I Miss It All reminded me of the many little inconveniences that come from surrounding ourselves with other people and why we should see them as opportunities for connection, not barriers to productivity.
In DD171, I share one of my favourite recent reads: Returning the Gift in which Robin Kimmerer beautifully describes the system of reciprocity that underpins all life, a system that urgently requires our undivided attention.
If there is a past issue that you really enjoyed or that had a particular effect on you, please share it with me in the comments. I’m compiling a ‘best of’ for new subscribers and would love to hear what you think deserves a mention. – Kai
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Become a Friend of DD for $1.80/month →
With a modest yearly contribution you’re not only helping keep Dense Discovery going, you also receive special discounts and get access to the DD Index, a searchable catalogue of past issues. (And it removes this message.)
You receive this email because you subscribed to Dense Discovery, a weekly newsletter at the intersection of design, technology, sustainability and culture. Writing to you from Melbourne is Kai Brach. Do you have a product or service to promote in DD? Sponsor an issue or book a classified.
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Pocket Business MentorSPONSOR
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Save 10% on paperback and ebook options
This is a business book you’ll go back to over, and over, and over. This week only, DD readers can get their own copy (or gift one to a friend) for 10% off in pocket-sized paperback or ebook formats. Use code DISCOVER during checkout.
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Apps & Sites
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Reinventing email, attempt #92684: Shortwave takes your Gmail account and turns it into a more actionable inbox that treats emails like to-dos and conversation threads like Slack chats. There are some neat ideas to make email easier and more fun, though some of the features require others to use Shortwave, too.
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It took me a while to figure out what Padlet is/does – their website is annoyingly vague. What hides behind the nondescript marketing pages is a collaboration platform for uploading, organising and sharing different content (links, videos, images, documents) to virtual bulletin boards called ‘padlets’. Because of its many sharing and collaboration options, it’s apparently very popular among teachers and students.
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Open-source, web-based presentations
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With a great (cheeky) name, DeckDeckGo provides an open-source, web-based alternative to Powerpoint and Keynote. Slideshows work on any device and allow live audience participation. The ‘remote app’ lets you control the slideshow from a mobile device.
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After expressing my rekindled love for learning chess here, some of you pointed me to this free, open-source alternative to chess.com. The name Lichess is “a combination of live/light/libre and chess. It is pronounced lee-chess. Live, because games are played and watched in real-time 24/7; light and libre for the fact that Lichess is open-source and unencumbered by proprietary junk that plagues other websites.”
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Worthy Five: Tom Greenwood
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Five recommendations by sustainable designer and plant food eater Tom Greenwood
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A video worth watching:
In this debate on whether we can fix capitalism, Yanis Varoufakis argues that we are entering the era of ‘tech feudalism’ and reflects on whether we are at risk of becoming ‘tech peasants’. As big tech becomes ever more powerful, it’s a question that we surely need to stop and ask.
A book worth reading:
Ultrasocial by John Gowdy makes a compelling argument that the invention of agriculture turned humans into a superorganism on an unstoppable mission to generate an economic surplus. Read this if you want to understand the root causes of everything from inequality to environmental destruction to capitalism.
A question worth asking:
‘Is this dead time or alive time?’ I like to carry this stoic question with me through my day. It breaks me out of the unhealthy mindset of choosing between busyness and boredom, and helps me think about whether I’m actually spending my time well.
A piece of advice worth passing on:
Put a timer plug on your WIFI router to switch it off an hour before bed until just after breakfast. Scheduling this time away from the online world will not only save electricity, it will help you feel better too.
An activity worth doing:
Barefoot running will feel uncomfortable at first, but let yourself ease into it and soon you’ll be grinning from ear to ear. Our feet are designed to touch the earth, and your body and mind will thank you for it.
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Books & Accessories
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How capitalism shapes architecture
A book that explores how finance capitalism dramatically alters not only architectural forms but also the very nature of our cities and societies. I came across this intriguing-sounding title through Regine Debatty’s review. “In this book, Matthew Soules argues that, since the early 1980s, the function of buildings as profit-generating investment assets has increased at the expense of buildings’ other roles: shelter and culture. This turbo-acceleration of architecture as wealth storage has an impact on the design, management and use of buildings.”
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Podcasts in a magazine
Published from Melbourne, The Podcast Reader is a dense, quarterly magazine that puts the most interesting podcast conversations into a readable format – in print and digitally. “A new publication for the intellectually curious and those open to new ideas, featuring selected transcripts of the world’s best longform podcasts.” Friends of DD enjoy a free digital copy of issue 5.
Become a Friend to access specials like this.
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Overheard on Twitter
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Like to think I lead complex emotional life but then the sun comes out and I am happy. I am functionally no different from a big leaf.
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Food for Thought
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Another excellent, thought-provoking post by Simon Sarris, making a case for what he calls ‘long distance thinking’. Sarris believes we’re becoming too reliant on ‘over-summary’, of boiling down knowledge to just a few simple sound bites that appeal to our lives filled with busyness; and by doing so, we miss the nuance and depth required to make sound decisions. “By constant simplifying, we may be lulled into abridging our own ideas a little too much, and sooner or later our audience – or ourselves – might come to expect only these truncated thoughts. What is easy to explain is not necessarily what is best. What is easy to understand is not necessarily what is true.”
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Arthur C. Brooks explores the science behind ‘want’ and why satisfaction is such a fleeting experience. “As we grow older in the West, we generally think we should have a lot to show for our lives – a lot of trophies. According to numerous Eastern philosophies, this is backwards. As we age, we shouldn’t accumulate more to represent ourselves, but rather strip things away to find our true selves – and thus, to find happiness and peace.” Towards the end, he offers three simple pieces of advice, one of which I found particularly compelling: make a reverse bucket list. (Possible soft paywall)
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Shane Parrish with an insightful post about the complexity of tools/software and why complexity in design is such a difficult thing to get right. I shared this before, but it’s a great article to read again since we’re faced with new complexity all the time. “Complexity is like energy. It cannot be created or destroyed, only moved somewhere else. When a product or service becomes simpler for users, engineers and designers have to work harder.”
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Aesthetically Pleasing
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Plein air painter Jeremy Sams captures everyday landscapes in acrylic. The photographs of the final work set against their backdrop takes the eye a moment to untangle.
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Enrique Bernal adds an atmospheric dimension to his stencil drawings with digital fluorescent light effects.
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This wonderful renovation of a 1900s workers cottage in Australia involved downsizing it to its original size of just 28 square metres (around 300 square feet).
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Okay! Serif is “a loud display serif that comes in a single weight with matching italic style, but appears to have many different tones. It has a personality that bursts with strong attitude, tropical warmth and sweet aftertaste.”
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Did You Know?
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The world record for holding your breath under water is close to 25 minutes.
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Last year, a 56-year-old freediver from Croatia, Budimir Šobat, broke the world record for ‘longest time breath held voluntarily’ with a time of 24 minutes and 37.36 seconds, surpassing the previous record by a full 34 seconds. For reference, that’s longer than an episode of The Simpsons or Seinfeld.
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Classifieds
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I thought MSG was an additive like Red 40, that junk food co’s were too lazy or callous to replace it. Turns out it’s more like salt: good luck taking that out your Cheetos.
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TeuxDeux is a to-do app that makes it easy for you to get, and stay, organised.
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The Week in a GIF
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Reply or tweet at DD with your favourite GIF and it might get featured here in a future issue.
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