№ 70 | MANIFESTO!, 21st Century Economics, CodeCards, The Familiarity-Playfulness Matrix, and AI Safety for Fleshy Humans

№ 70 | MANIFESTO!, 21st Century Economics, CodeCards, The Familiarity-Playfulness Matrix, and AI Safety for Fleshy Humans

MANIFESTO!

MANIFESTO! is a card game “for stimulating and supporting manifesto authoring.” I’m intrigued! And as it happens… 🥁  Julian Hanna—one of the co-creators of the MANIFESTO!—will be presenting at the next Cardstock meetup on May 24th.

If this sounds fascinating, then in addition to the card deck (a free PDF download), check out:

Photo of the MANIFESTO! card game on a desk. In addition to a bold, black box with white lettering, we see cards of assorted colors (red, orange, and white) reflecting different suits: Tone, Opening, and Provocation.

Speaking of manifestos… Check out these recently published manifestos:

21st Century Economics

I’m a sucker for these “from… to…” illustrations. But given the source—Doughnut Economics Action Lab—these Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist are no doubt based some solid expertise. Also, there’s also a zine version! What’s not to love?

One page summary of “Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist,” with seven “from… to…” shift and associated illustrations of each.

CodeCards

While learning about these CodeCards from 2013 (like Scratch in the physical world?), I came across this Code Cards card game “that teaches you how to code whilst allowing you to go outside, have fun with friends or just take a break.” A cross between Uno and Trivial Pursuit?

Photo of a hand holding several brightly colored cards; the front card describes a coding question.

The Familiarity - Playfulness Matrix

Choosing the just right Icebreaker (or “Ice Warmer” activity, as Jan Keck refers to them), is something that comes up a lot. I like this proposed 2x2—Strangers or Teams, Serious or Silly—to help guide us to the right activity:

A 2x2 matrix, with various ice-breaking activities arranged along the dimensions of Familiarity (from Strangers to Teams) and Playfulness (from Serious to Silly).

I might add two other considerations: How large is the group? How much time do you have?

AI Safety for Fleshy Humans

Whoohoo! New stuff from Nicky Case (in collaboration with Hack Club). This time round, Nicky is back with a PSA, to help us to understand AI Safety for Fleshy Humans. Nicky bills this as “your one-stop-shop to understand all the core ideas in AI & AI Safety, beyond the cheesy dystopian sci-fi stuff! There's also cat comics.” While not an explorable explanation, this first (of three) posts is nonetheless thoroughly engaging, through a mix of comics, flashcards to test your recall of information, and use of expandable inline footnotes.

Promotional comic illustration for “AI Safety for Fleshy Humans.” Comic depicts an animal-like robot asking: "Hey kids! Who here wants to learn how to stop the AI takeover? Raise your hands.“ [Next panel shows robot shooting lasers from its eyes]. Final panel reads: “For everyone left: Let's learn how AI can be safe & humane for all!”

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№ 80 | Magical Gatherings, Dixit + A Canvas!, OuiSi Cards, The Hidden Curves of the Gartner Hype Cycle, Threshold Spotting, and Case Studies… with a Twist?!

№ 80 | Magical Gatherings, Dixit + A Canvas!, OuiSi Cards, The Hidden Curves of the Gartner Hype Cycle, Threshold Spotting, and Case Studies… with a Twist?!

Designing for Magical Gatherings So, interesting sidenote: I was in a webinar earlier this week where I was asked to reflect on especially memorable or meaningful gatherings I’ve been a part of. The common themes for me were things like adventure, discovery, challenge, fantasy, immersion, and so on. On

By Stephen P. Anderson
№ 77 | Branching Scenarios and eLearning, Surviving Design Projects, Ursula K. Le Guin on Growth, Quests (Not Goals), I’m Voting Postcards, and Levels of Automation

№ 77 | Branching Scenarios and eLearning, Surviving Design Projects, Ursula K. Le Guin on Growth, Quests (Not Goals), I’m Voting Postcards, and Levels of Automation

Branching Scenarios and eLearning In 2020, I did a deep dive into how narrative games could be used for learning purposes, which left me with a deep appreciation for (and small collection of) CYOA books, gamebooks, interactive fiction, solo RPGs, and similar experiences with branching paths. Anyway, this post on

By Stephen P. Anderson