Finds

№ 44 | Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction, Ethics of Influence, Graphic Nobel, The Apple Game, and The Calm Web

Guidelines for human-AI interaction

I kind of like these Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction from Microsoft. As they're context-based—mapping to stages of an interaction—they're easy to use as a kind of checklist or assessment for any AI projects in-development or recently launched.

Ethics of Influence

Elizabeth Ayer shares a presentation on the ethics of influence: Changing minds: you can but should you? [⚠️ Warning. Annoying. Slideshare. Ads!] This is one of those topics I tend to weary of, having ‘worked it all out’ while writing my first book, Seductive Interaction Design. However, I like Ayer's simple framing, placing things an ethical spectrum. That, and this tends to emphasize the same place I've landed, with phrases like: “Power to.” “Facilitation.” “Coaching.” “Building Capability.” These kinds of ideas sit behind my professional mantra: “Work and learn together.”

Graphic Nobel

Ooh. Nobel prizes in physics explained with cartoons!
And, you can download the first 3 chapters [PFD] (of Volume 1) for free!

The Apple Game

🤔 The Apple Game, from Tim Urban (of Wait But Why).

I’d like to introduce you to a game I’ve been playing with friends for years. It’s not a game really—more of an exercise. The purpose is to add a bit more depth to the question, “Are you a good person?” Here’s how it’s played: Treat a person like an apple, with three layers of depth… [More in the post]

Calm web

Sigh. I'd like a calm web. Wouldn't you?
The Calm Web: A Solution to Our Scary and Divisive Online World

***BONUS: Clever antonym typography
I'm kind of enamored with this Clever Antonym Typography by Yash Mathur:

(More examples in the post!)

№ 119 | Scenarios From the Fable 5 Ban, Type Simulation, Player Agency, Echo Chamber Simulation, A1 Collision Density, Brains on Games, Conversational Leadership Essentials, the HIVE Deck, and a Vincent van Gogh Makeover

Welcome to another edition of Thinking Things, your regular roundup of ‘playful things to think with’ and things to think about! Let’s jump into it… Scenarios from the Fable 5 ban You might have heard that the US government banned Anthropic’s latest LLM model? This isn’t about

№ 118 | Working in Space, BriteBox Idea Generation, Epos Daimon, American Dictator? The Game, Cas Holman and ‘Anji Play’, A Web Typography Learning Game, and The Stratification of Trust

Welcome to another edition of Thinking Things, your regular roundup of 'playful things to think with’ and things to think about! 🤦I made a mistake. In the last issue, I mentioned a three-line poem from Mary Oliver. As it turns out, this is misinformation. Despite a quick bit

№ 117 | A Special “Two-fer” Edition: Museum Activities, Attention, Technology & Childhood Education, Writing Together, Two Critiques of Org Change, and More Great Conversation Starters

A special “two-fer” edition, featuring things to think with or think about—that happen to pair nicely with each other! Context: While collecting the various things that make it into this newsletter, I sometimes come across posts, frameworks, etc. that feel better to share together, as a pair (or

№ 116 | Mapping the Sources of Power, The Atlas of New Futures, Factitious, Mutual Aid Self Care Zine, Lecture-Zines by Darren Raven, Wild Cards Deck, and the Weight of Worry

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Thinking Things, your mostly-regular dose of ‘Playful Things to Think With’ (and think about). Mapping the Sources of Power By way of a LinkedIn post from Scott Wolfson comes this map depicting “how experts actually make decisions.” It’s a hand drawn