Issue #40: Pomegranates, Arms and Independence.
A few weeks ago, a couple of conversations with a good friend totally flipped my 'Corona times' perspective. I went from going down the spiral of twitter rage and fivethirtyeight data on the virus, to searching for what the positives and innovation, during and on the other side of this, look like. I also added some daily routines that ensure the positive but realistic perspective is maintained. I also went back to my copy of 'The Tomorrow Project' compiled by Intel's ex-Futurist, Brian David-Johnson. Compiled in 2012, and unfortunately not available for sale, a few technologists shared stories/narratives on where technology and society would be between 2020-2025. So, today. Mostly positive, the predictions in the book - voice and video interfaces, adaptive learning tools etc - are being accelerated by pandemic and I'll share more about those in PM issues over the next few months.
This is the first paid issue of Polymathic Monthly. I've moved the content here enabling you to read all past issues in one place. This issue contains, uhm, all the amazing randomness you've come to expect from PM :).
Thanks to those who've already subscribed! If you'd like to subscribe but you've lost your job or been furloughed, just reach out to me and I'll comp you the $12/yr subscription (and I'd love to help in any other way so do reach out if this is the case).
Think of Polymathic Monthly as the optimistic reality portal for the next few months. Because into the future (with optimism) is the only direction we can go. So, enjoy!
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A Kingdom from Dust [Longread], is the most impressive deep dive into the interconnectedness of agriculture, water, capitalism, migrant labor, wealth and pomegranates that you’ll ever read. I promise.
Everything that is happening to us right now needs to be chronicled. What societal changes are we experiencing? How are we dealing with it (individually and collectively)? Well, the race is on to capture as much of that information as we can. Before it all changes.
...and this slide deck is a brilliant visualization of the changing behaviors represented through data.
What happens when the person you think you know becomes someone totally different and you can't explain why? This story of the decline of a brilliant mind is a tough one to read.
Bill Gates shares the most detailed plain language take on where we are and the work going on - innovation in vaccines, treatment, testing, contact tracing and policies - to fight coronavirus and ensure tomorrow is more positive than today.
On the topic of contact tracing, if only we could take the mobile phone tracking technology we've had, and greedily used for targeted ads, to serve a worthier purpose and enable the testing of anyone who has been in contact with someone who tested positive. Especially since, a few years ago, Unicef had announced a plan to use aggregated mobile location data to study epidemics, natural disasters and demographics.
Wind Turbine blades, while landfill safe (for the most part), is waste. And we’re generating a lot of waste as older turbines come to the end of their useful life. We need to stop burying the problem.
Over the course of 12 months/1 yr/365 days, 17 African countries gained freedom from their colonizers. Unfortunately, some of them still pay those colonizers for the benefit of gaining their land back. This NYT collection of images and articles, written by the children/grandchildren of those who gained freedom, celebrate the beauty of the continent. And the pictures, black and white pictures that could have been pulled from my parents’ albums, celebrate the hope and beauty of that year of independence.
Even as oil takes a battering and more ICE vehicles are purchased, utilities will have to make detailed plans to jump ahead of the market and modernize the electricity for the inevitable electric vehicle future. Analysts at BCG share some ideas about what this future state will look like.
Ge Gao surveys the pain in her right arm and wonders what it says about the pain in her soul. Long (and good) read (15mins).
The same great friend who helped me out of the negative Corona news spiral shared this fantastic poem. 'Upon reading that Eric Dolphy transcribed even the calls of certain species of birds' is delightfully meandering but stunningly purposeful at the same time.
As Questlove D(igitally)j’s through the virus, read more about what I think will be his legacy; the Soulquarians. J Dilla, James Poyser, Questlove and D'Angelo changed the landscape of music, as evidenced by the new categories in the 2003 Grammy awards.
And how do we reconcile when, like in the case of Parasite this year, award shows actually get it right?
I’ve always wondered about the absurdity of non-profit building commissions designed by starchitects. Learning a little bit more about Frank Gehry, and his ilk, confirms my original take.
For the most part venture firms have stopped investing in new startups (and are focusing on their portfolio). Some other big news is that legendary Benchmark VC Bill Gurley won’t be part of the firms next fund. It's a good time to read one of his sector-defining posts; marketplaces.
Books
One of two importantly timely books this week, 'Narrative Economics', has provided a critical lens through which to assess the current times we are in. Especially the stock markets and the stimulus attempts. In the book, Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller suggests that narratives - stories - have a more important effect on the state of our economic society than we've admitted up until now. One of his narratives, the Confidence Narrative, explains every single action the government is taking to counterbalance the pandemic narrative that is depressing everything else. There's also a section on the Spanish Flu and market conditions around other pandemics. Worth a read even though it gets repetitive at some point.
The second timely book is 'How Charts Lie' by Alberto Cairo. Everybody has become an armchair epidemiologist, reading charts on 'flattening the curve' etc with little true understanding of what some of these charts might be saying. And there have been some egregious uses of scale on some of the biased charts that have been floating around. Cairo, a journalist and designer/Chair of Visual Communication at University of Miami, has taken it upon himself to level up the average reader so that we don't get misinformed (or more maliciously, deceived) as we assess the data and infographics that have become a crucial part of how we communicate.
Right before the move was released, Ta-Nehisi Coates had a 12-issue run with the Black Panther franchise. In the series, accompanied by the phenomenal illustrations of Brian Stelfreeze, Ta-Nehisi redefines the mythology of T-Challa and centers him around the questions of how a leader continues to inspire his people in the middle of dissension and regaining the trust of his people even as he redefines his role. Several comic series, including Black Panther, are free on the Marvel app for the next few weeks. Worth the escape it provides.
In 'Black Sunday', Tola Rotimi Abraham rends your heart little by little, as she shares the steady decline of a family in Lagos, Nigeria. Then you turn the page and she provides just enough hope that it's not too painful to turn the page. Only for your heart to be ripped again. Read till the end though and know your heart will be ripped again. But you know, as you hang on to the glimmer of hope she provides, that it couldn't have ended any other way.
I hope you enjoy the hours of reading you get from the links above. Curation brings me immense delight as I work to share not just all I read, but the best things I read. Please share this with some of your friends and colleagues that you think need some good reading (now and always).
Thanks for letting me get into your inbox and take up some of your time. All the best this month!
Seyi