The standards have changed a lot in the last few millennia:
The big man said it.
The book said it.
The newspaper said it.
I saw a photo.
I saw it on TV.
I read it on the internet.
That’s what the AI said.
There has always been room for doubt. But the last century has been about doubt at scale, due to mismatched incentives and the impact of media and tech.
84% of the statistics we read are manipulated for impact. And every story, every narrative, every photo is curated and edited. The map is not the territory, and the map maker has a goal. It might be the same as yours–but it might not be.
One danger is that a story not worth believing lets us off the hook. The other is that it manipulates us into taking action we’ll regret.
It’s impossible to function in society without consuming stories. You’re never going to the moon, and the only way it’s possible to know it’s not made of green cheese is to find a story you can inspect and trust, one that, if you drill down far enough, is based on things you can engage with in real life.
People in society are often driven by the desire to believe what everyone else in their circle believes–people like us do things like this. But the change agent has the desire to be early in embracing ideas that others don’t believe (yet).
The difference between poison and medicine often comes down to the dosage. Belief at scale, fueled by omnipresent media designed to seduce, is unlikely to help us get to where we seek to go.
A coherent culture is often built on a shared belief system. When the entire group believes something that collides with reality, though, reality wins.
In the long run, the Earth doesn’t care what you believe. Eppur si muove.
Everybody eats.
And, now and then, it’s fun to find something better. In the scheme of things, fancy foods are a bargain, a chance to have the best in the world for a few dollars.
Here are some persistent (and new) favorites. For those outside the US, I hope you can find even better local options.
Koeze makes the best peanut butter in the country. They make one batch a day, laboriously grinding for three hours. Zingermans often has it at a bulk discount.
Seed & Mill has a chocolate tahini sauce that’s mind-blowing. Imagine Nutella, but 10x better and just the good parts. Her cookbook is great, too.
Burlap & Barrel offers cardamom extract that will transform a glass of bubbly water into a sophisticated refresher.
Three chocolates from South America, from the rare porcelana bean and its cousins:
Summer sophistication and deliciousness are easy with a good shaker. You put whatever you want to drink (I steam 100% cacao with oat milk) over ice and then shake and pour. I was a skeptic on this, but I’m converted.
Rishi Dandelion Ginger. Extraordinary and surprising. And most things taste better mixed with tonic.
Life’s too short for average vinegar. The good stuff lasts a long time and costs not much more.
Raw almonds in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 340 degrees F. Not just healthier–quite good. Perfect with dried plums.
If you’re in Manhattan, check in the comments for when he’s open, then go have a dosa.
And their slogan might be true: These are the best dates.
A simple 7-question test helps us realize how diverse a population is. On this quiz, the highest possible score is less than 7%. No matter how common you think your answers are, no matter how normal you feel, you’re actually in sync with just 7% (at the most) of all citizens of the US. My answers put me under 4.
“People like us do things like this,” is a useful definition of culture. But which things? Billions of people believe things you don’t, are unaware of things that are easily demonstrated, or simply don’t care.
When you decide to reach the masses, you’ve made a significant (and probably fruitless) choice.
The backlist are the products already in the marketplace. Built earlier, still sold. The frontlist is the new.
Restaurants have regulars (backlist) and new patrons. Broadway shows are attended by people who see three to ten shows a year, as well as folks going to their very first production. Supermarkets sell staples (like milk and bananas) as well as new products. Software companies, farmers, even rock stars have backlist items.
Today’s post is the frontlist of the blog, the other 10,000 posts are the backlist.
Two things are true, in a surprising juxtaposition:
That’s not a typo. Every viable publishing house loses money on the frontlist. They do it to build a backlist. to create a catalog that pays the bills over time.
The confusion starts with the name.
Let’s call it what it is. The foundation list is the backbone of the organization and the engine for sustainability and profits.
And the experimental list is just that. A chance to invest in things that aren’t sure to work (because no one knows anything for sure about the future), with a focus on adding to the foundation list.
Now that the confusion is cleared up, we can make smarter decisions about how to spend our time and invest our resources.
Make your experiments actual experiments.
Devote time and money and focus to your foundation.
Improving your foundation always pays off. And being bold with your experimental list is easier once you call it an experiment.
If you can swap your slogan with a competitor’s without changing the meaning of either brand, then your slogan is meaningless.
For example, “You belong here” is not a positioning statement for a college seeking new students. It’s just noise.
It also doesn’t help to mix weasel words with more weasel words and then add specifics. On charity’s pitch: “Your contribution can help up to 35 people.”
“Up to” covers a lot of ground, doesn’t it?
It’s true that the copy we use can be noisy decoration, not often read or fully understood. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put in the effort to make it useful and powerful.
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