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🐦 3 Tweets of the week Questioning someone’s sense of certainty can be tough for their self-esteem! I’m not a pets person, but uff, this ad will bring a lump to your throat… especially with that lovely twist in the tail. Meetings ^ ♾️. 📄 2 Articles of the week ​a. R Ashwin on Pujara (Cricinfo, as told to Sidharth Monga) In his lovely tribute to Cheteshwar Pujara, the articulate Ashwin entertains with his narration of specific incidents and the distilling of Pujara’s safety-first cricketing approach into these funny stand-up-comic-like takes: We joke that Puji’s dad, Arvind, didn’t teach him the whole sport of cricket. He has taught him this: there is a round object, it is red in colour, people will hurl it at you, and you have to hit it. Hit it in a way that the ball doesn’t fall far from your feet. The other aspects of the sport he doesn’t even see as cricket…In fact, we joke that his house doesn’t have a lock combination. His dad and his wife throw a few balls at him, and he has to knock them back along the ground. Only then is he allowed in. ​b. Disinflation by Prof. Scott Galloway​ A rapid economic history of the past 3 years in Prof G’s inimitable style. Among others, this chart was eye-opening: ​ 📖 1 long-form read of the week ​a. ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web by Ted Chiang​ A fascinating point of view on ChatGPT – about how it is not meant to be do original thinking, but just provide a grammatically-accurate and superficially clever regurgitation of material it picks from the web. In response to the thought that authors, writers, creators etc can use ChatGPT to build a first draft and then work on it, I loved this point of view of the writer: Your first draft isn’t an unoriginal idea expressed clearly; it’s an original idea expressed poorly, and it is accompanied by your amorphous dissatisfaction, your awareness of the distance between what it says and what you want it to say. That’s what directs you during rewriting, and that’s one of the things lacking when you start with text generated by an A.I. That’s all from this week’s edition.

🐦 3 Tweets of the week If there’s one tweet thread you read this week, make it this one about skeumorphism – a concept that we dont talk about enough, but one that has significant impact on life. (PS: Follow the Cultural Tutor on Twitter – you cannot go wrong). A nuanced take on the Adani saga. A corollary: The purpose of life is to avoid experiencing things for which you will later experience regret. 📄 2 Articles of the week ​a. The spectacle of Shubman Gill by Sidharth Monga​ Just like Shubman Gill’s quick reflexes slow down the game for him, Sid Monga’s keen story sense slows it down for the reader ​b. ‘The Fleishman Effect: In a city of Rachels and Libbys, the FX show has some New York moms worried they’re the ones in trouble’ by Caitlin Moscatello​ At one level most of us are far removed from the world of the New York elite – but read through this evocative piece and you will find some commonalities. Extract: “I get up at 6 a.m., and I work until she wakes up, then I do breakfast and get her ready, then the nanny comes, I work all day, I relieve the nanny, and then get back on my computer and work until midnight after my daughter goes to sleep. I do that every day,” she says. “And it’s still not enough” 🎤 1 podcast episode of the week ​a. ‘Why There Is So Much Bullshit in Science’ on Plain English by Derek Thompson​ In the episode Derek makes the startling assertion that despite rising spends and publications, the quality of scientific progress has fallen. He attributes it to several factors: primarily a messed up incentive structure that prioritises paper publishing over genuine breakthroughs, high existing burden of knowledge making general research difficult, a paradox of choice in reading existing research sources and bigger team sizes leading to dis-economies of scale. That’s all from this week’s edition. Please let me know what you think of the new format.

🐦 3 Tweets of the week They say journalism is the first draft of history, and first drafts are supposed to be shitty. This tweet offers a good question to ponder. This LinkedIn profile is a great example of boiling down a job to its simplest essence. Shreyas has a point – though the Sunday evening blues never fully go away, at least for me. 📄 2 Articles of the week ​a. The Attention Span. “Weight of the World.”​ A thought-provoking piece that builds on this quote by Jess McGawley: “Parents are good at preparing the money for the person, they are often less good at preparing the person for the money.” ​b. Everything You Can’t Have by Morgan Housel​ Your brain does not crave new stuff like cars, clothes and cottages – it craves dopamine. 🎤 1 podcast episode of the week ​a. Building for Tomorrow by the a16z podcast​ Jason Feifer of the brilliant Build for Tomorrow podcast summarises his recent book and shares six ideas about how you can adapt better to change (and influence others too). That’s it – a short and hopefully sweet beginning to the ‘3-2-1 by Story Rules’ series. Please let me know what you think of the new format. And yes, please share with me your request for long-form posts on storytelling and recommendations for podcast guests!