Espresso Shots 8-17-25

Here's my weekly update with a few interesting random findings that I came across the last week or two. I am going to try to make sure they're here in time for you to enjoy with your morning coffee (or beverage of choice) every Saturday or Sunday, and include some of my thoughts around them.

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• The Data Collection Trap. Or, 'how tech giants are turning your life into a marketing goldmine'. Piece by piece. It's a quick, but important piece.
• Stop Incentivizing 'Productivity Theater' at Work. Perverse incentives is a fascinating concept: they are incentives that unintentionally reward undesirable behavior. Here's a novel idea: 'Simple incentives may work better than complicated ones, which tend to give rise to loopholes. Similarly, subtraction (removing an element of the work process that encourages employees to behave in an undesirable way) may be more effective than addition (adding a new incentive to the existing process).' Read: Don't Do It.
• Sedimentary Layers. I've been enjoying diving into these 'visual frameworks' that I learned about from Greg Storey and his book Creative Intelligence. Sedimentary layers examines 'complex problems, organizations, and systems often develop in layers over time. Like geological strata, each layer represents decisions, technologies, or structures from a particular era that remain embedded in the present. Understanding these layers helps you see why things are the way they are and identify which layers might need excavation or preservation.' File under 'I'm using this in my next deck on tech debt'.
• On Making Friends as an Adult. Similar in theme to the Scott Galloway post from a few weeks back, but I find that I've been spending a lot of time thinking about things that fill my life with good energy as of late (and why I find it sad that some feel AI will replace friends). 'Adulthood changes the friendship equation. Schedules are full. People move. Everyone's calendar is already some sort of Tetris game of work deadlines, family obligations, partners, kids, and hobbies. You are essentially asking two people to merge two complicated calendars just to grab dinner. Even if you manage to pull it off, there is that silent pressure to make the hangout worth it, because you might not see each other again until the next fiscal quarter.'
• Sunk Cost Fallacy Exists in Your Friendships, Too. In a similar vein to the topic of friendships - an essential concept on 'pruning your inputs, protecting your growth, and outgrowing what no longer fits.'
• A Flirty Meta AI Bot Invited a Retiree to Meet. He Never Made It Home. It's shocking to me to see statistics that a high percentage of users indicating that a significant number of young adults believe AI partners could replace friends, therapists, and love. Here's an incredibly tragic story about how a cognitively impaired New Jersey man became infatuated with Big Sis Billie, a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman's persona, leading to his tragic death.
• Hire People Who Give a Shit. A simple idea.
• Scapegoating the Algorithm. A new magazine to the mix, Asterisk (which I also now subscribe to its printed version), has been a wealth of interesting articles. In this post, they explore 'what extent can social media be blamed on political ignorance, misperceptions, and conspiracism.' The conclusion is far more complicated and worth the time to read through.
• The Hardest Working Font in Manhattan. Recently discovered Marcin Wichary's blog, whose eye for typography is just amazing (his book, Shift Happens, is a masterpiece). Read his post on how the font, named Gorton, became widespread in New York City. It can be found on everything from intercoms and elevators to signage, due to its versatility, which stems from its monoline style, consistent stroke thickness, and unique letterforms.
• A Management Anti-Fad That Will Last Forever. Is 'ultimate advice for managers could be just to be human'? Or have we generally gone too far with 'servant leadership' (a term I cannot stand)? Interesting read.
• Macintosh Books With MAD Covers. I have such joyful memories of MAD Magazine from my childhood, and I enjoyed this piece on early Mac book covers and their inspiration from it. Turns out, cartoonist Angelo Torres (known as one of MAD's Usual Gang of Idiots) was hired to create the covers for some of these books, and the results are fantastic.
• The Surprisingly Harsh Reason Gas Stations Play Classical Music. Sometimes, it's better not to know, but the goal of gas stations is to weaponize classical music. 'The practice of piping classical music via loudspeakers is intended to deter people from loitering in or around gas stations and convenience stores.' Apparently, a report came out saying that a similar project at 7-Eleven showed a 10% reduction in nonpaying visitors.
• Contagious Emotions. A quick one to add to the commonplace journal - a list of emotions, sorted by their virality.
• A Tiny Norwegian Island Wants to Be The First Place in The World to Abolish Time. A place where time doesn't exist. There are two sides to this coin, but it's a wild idea.

Amor Fati ✌🏻