Strands of Genius: The Map No Longer Matches, Debunk Bot, Never Ask - Never Know
Plus: Are you listening? Seenapse beats GTP
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | ourselves, writing, calls, planning for Xmas and next year
LOOKING AHEAD
Oct14th -? | Chattanooga, TN
Oct 15th - Nashville for One Club Brand Side reception
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Hey fam, how’s the head?
We all know this year has been tough in our industry and continues to be tough more generally as we head into the spooky season of the US election. The volume and intensity of noise, lies, advertising, urgency and existential concern will only increase by order of magnitude, if only to drown out the existing extremely loud urgent news from elsewhere, as it sadly will, because everyone around the world has some skin in this game.
Take care of yourselves, give yourself a break, lots of breaks even, from the endless media and conversational onslaught. Remember it’s called a campaign for historically military reasons and the heaviest artillery will be deployed before V(oting) Day. Maybe consider voting early to give yourself some space. Watch some escapist tv shows, read a book, go for a walk, do some hobbies, hug your friends, maybe call someone for a chat, listen to podcasts, work out, learn archery or survival skills, don’t let healthy normal concern metastize into generalized anxiety and dread, give yourself lots of other things to think about. Also do vote, obviously, if you can.
In other mental health news, Faris received an AD(ult) ADHD (combined type) diagnosis at the age of 46. No one was in the least bit surprised.
(Want to talk about such? Feel free to email faris@geniussteals.co)
SEENAPSE beats CHATGTP at CREATIVITY
Our friends at SEENAPSE let us know about an exciting new update of their divergent inspiration platform, which uses human created lateral associations to enhance ChatGTP’s creativity. We use it at the concept stage for divergent inspiration, especially.
We're thrilled to unveil our latest version, designed to spark more creative ideas faster than ever before. Unlike ChatGPT and others, our non-linear canvas fosters unique and diverse creative explorations, and delivers ideas that are 40% more creative than other platforms*.
*Using the Open Creativity Scoring with AI tool (Ocsai) and the Consequences Task divergence test, Seenapse scores 4.2 in originality while ChatGPT scores 2.9.”
Email rafa@seenapse.ai for more information. Click here to try it for free.
+ BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU - a special offer for you:
50% discount on your first three months, for Individual or Small Teams plans!
Just click on the plan links and use the code NEW24
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Marissa, working on a farm, Ben, catch up calls, fruit, Yash&Co at the One Club, this second summer weather with cold mornings season we have entered, reading a newspaper, (which is fun and less distracting but broadsheets are still annoying, aren’t they), Foundation (AppleTV), 8 Billion Genies, Dr Grace&Magic Numbers & YOU.
Hi! Thanks! Appreciate you. Maybe share with a friend if you like what we do, no worries if not. Hugs.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE MAP NO LONGER MATCHES
Adam Curtis is one of the patron prophets of the internet age. He was crafting feature length video essays from fragments of BBC footage before Youtube was even dreamed of. His area of study is rooted in Foucault as he says: "My favourite theme is power and how it works in society". This new interview has lots of fun bits, OK insights if you like. “My theory is that the map we currently have in our heads no longer matches the territory we are in. We’re waiting for someone to draw a new map, and until then, we’re just going to witter away to each other on podcasts.” (Crack)
As he mentions it, and since we have used it in a number of talks, here is the short film he made for Charlie Brooker a decade ago, which is helpful in providing a frame to modern media, power, non-linear warfare, misinformation, from his pov - Oh Dear (II)
DEBUNKBOT
Since we’re on the topic, “DebunkBot is an AI-powered bot that you can have a pleasant conversation with while it gently and respectfully debunks whatever conspiratorial theories you might have using nothing but evidence backed up by cold-hard facts and good old-fashioned persuasive arguments.” And apparently it has shown some efficacy in research. (Vice)
NEVER ASK, NEVER KNOW
Ok, so this isn’t something we’d typically include here. But one of the bullet points really resonated with me, and it’s been something that keeps coming up lately — which can only mean it’s also coming up for you, too, right? Ava (aka noampomsky on Twitter) (I’m still in my REFUSE-TO-CALL-IT-X-DAYS) wrote some birthday musings, and reiterated one of our life lessons, which Faris and I sum up as “Never ask, never know,” because if you don’t ask, you won’t know the answer and maybe the answer is better than you thought it would be?! She specifically shouts out one of my personal pet peeves in her articulation: “If something bothers you, communicate it. Request the exact haircut you want. Ask the person loudly listening to music in the plane seat next to you to turn it down. Don’t sit there fuming when you could just open your mouth and fix it in five seconds.” Her next bullet point is the perfect match and reminds you that asking gets easier the more you do it: “Ask for things! You’re scared to ask for things because you’re shy and hate being turned down. The only thing that will help you with that is repetition. Rejection is not always about how you’re personally doing something terribly wrong. A lot of the time it’s just the wrong fit. Pay attention, aim for self-awareness, take it lightly, and try again. It’s much better to try 100 times and have it fail 98 and work twice than to never try at all.” Read on for plenty of delicious nuggets of wisdom. (Bookbear)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 15,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.
:: ARE YOU LISTENING ::
Man is a hoax. Life is communicated as a set of promises about tomorrow - and tomorrow never comes.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Forward this email to them! We appreciate you spreading the word.
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)