Finds

№ 18 | The Agile Game, Personal Narratives, Self-Image, How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions, and Two New Tools for Thought

Stephen P. Anderson

Jan 6, 2023 — 2 min read

The Agile Fluency® Game

The Agile Fluency Game is a euro-style game that “authentically simulates 2.5 years (10 seasons) on a software development team” with the idea that “experiments in the game lead to new insights about your real-world options.” Sign me up!

Against personal narratives

“Let’s ditch the dangerous idea that life is a story.” Wait, wha…?! 🤪 “I am not a story” doesn't hold back at all, going after some long held beliefs many of us (myself included) hold dear, namely the entire notion of personal narratives! I love to have my thinking challenged, but I'm struggling with this one. The closest I can come to connecting with this proposal is that our stories are to too rich, dynamic, and complex to identify or discuss… Therefore, less important? Even at this, I'd draw an image of layers of earth, and show that the deeper you dig—into motivations, values, perspectives, and so—the more constancy you're likely to find… (which fits with the author's final paragraphs?). This also reminds me of stuff I wrote about in Figure It Out, where after spending 3 chapters unpacking how /“associations among concepts is thinking,” I balance things out with a chapter on first principles thinking, and attempts to circumvent our brains pattern matching tendencies.

On self-image

In contrast with the essay above, here's a rich post all about… 🥁 Self-Image! The thinking and connections in this post are so clear, it makes me wonder if this couldn't be turned into a 'self-image' game, where we could experience the positive and negative effects of a changing self-image… 🤔

How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions

“How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions.” This was actually something I wondered about while writing the parts of Figure It Out dealing with the brain and perceptions.

Two more tools for thought

I love the simplicity of these two new (?) tools for thoughts and capturing content: Napkin and Brainec. I'm busy testing Tana at the moment, but I'll add these to the queue!

№ 83 | Stop Project 2025 Comics, Future for All: A vision for 2048, eyeConnect Cards, The Rule Book, and the Effects of Geography on Voting

This edition of the newsletter comes a couple days later than usual, but for a wonderful reason—I spent 5 days last week playing board games with my friends at BGG Con. 🎲 🤩 Next issue will resume the normal Sunday schedule! 🥸Reminder: If you're participating in the Create A

№ 82 | Pebble Talk, The Mood Meter, 3 Styles of Play, A Convection Simulation, an Electoral College Simulation, and What If America Had 6 Political Parties?

📍In case you missed it… Throughout November, I’m hosting another Creative Challenge: Create A Real Life Character Sheet. About 15 people have signed up so far, and there’s space for a few more folks—you should join us! Pebble Talk Here’s a way to avoid awkward small

Creative Challenge #3: Create A Real Life Character Sheet

Welcome, new readers. From time to time, I organize “Creative Challenges,” that fit with the whole “playful things to think with” theme. Previously, there was a One Card Serious Game Challenge, followed by the Make a Zine Challenge. I hadn’t planned on doing another Creative Challenge until next year

№ 81 | Scientific Papers as Comic Strips, 52 Things About Cards, Thermodynamics Cards, Collaborative Place Futures Toolkit, and Why The Work is Never Just “The Work”

✉️Look for 2 extra special emails heading your way, later this week! 1/ The promised print-and-play Zombie Leadership cards. 2/ An announcement about our next Creative Challenge… Scientific Papers as Comic Strips Yes! Comics as things to think with. Here’s an interview with Kanaka Rajan, who uses “narrative illustrations