A Book Changing the World, the Steroid Olympics and How To Spot AI Images

Dear Fellow Trend Curator,

What if the world’s brightest people aimed higher than prestige and paychecks? A powerful new book dares the next generation to do better—and start making a difference. Meanwhile, the future of radio is being actively created and debated: from NPR’s funding battle to AI DJs. In other stories this week, LEGO joins the “book nook” trend with a grown-up Sherlock Holmes diorama and a new Olympic style competition throws all doping rules out the window and welcomes anyone using any type of performance enhancement. Explore those stories and more this week in the newsletter.

Enjoy and stay curious!

rohit

This Week’s New Videos …

The Man (and Book) That Might Actually Change the World

What if the greatest problem in the world was a lack of moral ambition among the best and brightest people? As a ​recent interview​ with author Rutger Bregman notes, “the world is full of highly intelligent, impressively accomplished and status-aware people whose greatest ambitions seem to start and stop with themselves.” This is the audience Bregman writes for in his new book Moral Ambition which is paired with an organization he started called ​The School for Moral Ambition​. The idea is simple—challenge people to take on more meaningful work instead of just going for the highest paying job.

“We like to see ourselves as the Robin Hood of talent. Robin Hood took away the money from the rich; we take away the talent … I think there are quite a few people who work at Goldman Sachs or Boston Consulting Group who are looking for a way out. There’s a real lack of ambition among progressives these days.”

Bregman is known for his work as a “professional optimist,” and his past books have focused on how the world is better, healthier, safer and more prosperous today than any time in the past. It’s a message that is regularly lost or buried amidst the avalanche of negative news we often see. His optimism is what first drew me to his work, but the idea of this new book is undeniably ambitious and important. His call to action in the subtitle of the book is to “stop wasting your talent and start making a difference.” If he can get more people to listen to his message, this can indeed be a movement that changes the world.

The Emerging Future of Radio

Radio, and its future, are front and center right now in a lot of conversations. There’s the recent news that NPR is ​suing the Trump administration​ over its choice to withhold funding. Then there is the debate about FCC rules and ​double standards​ around how various radio stations must compensate artists. Alongside the compensation questions are the inroads that AI is making into how shows are being automated.

Radio Krakow in Poland faced an ​extreme backlash​ when they replaced on-air talent with AI presenters. Meanwhile digital artist pioneer will.i.am has built an entire ​interactive radio platform​ with AI host DJs that are now a ​regular feature​ on many other platforms. The AI disruption to radio isn’t the only innovation happening now either.

Rock music legend Alice Cooper recently launched his ​popular Alice’s Attic radio show​ on Los Angeles rock station 95.5 KLOS and industry insiders are pushing for a ​reinvention of local radio​ through more community-focused or faith-based content.

All of this may be pointing to a resurgence in the relative importance of radio to the overall music and entertainment industry. The bottom line is that radio seems to be experiencing near daily reinvention right now—which makes it a perfect case study for anyone who wants to see how the blending of technology, business models, creativity and history may combine to reshape an entire industry.

LEGO Dives into the Book Nook Trend with Latest Set for Adults

A “book nook” is the term typically reserved for a cozy corner of a home or office where you can enjoy reading a book in comfort. There’s an alternate version of this, though, that has been growing in popularity as a tiny diorama version of a book nook designed to be placed on a bookshelf between your books. There are plenty of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter themed book nooks on the market. This week, ​LEGO jumped into the trend​ with an interactive Sherlock Holmes themed book nook.

“The design is fantastic, full of the fine details you expect of high-quality book nooks, which are miniature dioramas that are designed to fit between books on a shelf. But, unlike those, you can actually take this off the bookshelf, unfold it into a three-building Victorian London street, and play with it.”

This is the latest product in a growing shift from the iconic toy-maker into creating ​more products for adult consumers​. Based on the early buzz, the move is paying off as the company finds a new place in the minds of consumers as more than just a diversion for kids.

The Campaign to Stop the Spread of Fake Media – PSAi

The best strategy to fight back against the rise of fake media is prioritizing media literacy training for adults and kids. This past week to support this effort, the team at Columbia Journalism Review launched their PSAi website and program aimed at “training your eye to spot AI.” The platform features a catchy video and song to promote the key tactics and tips they share for how to get better at spotting AI-manipulated images:

  1. Check for hands and fingers – AI often struggles with realistic hand placement and finger details, so examine these closely.
  2. Look at facial features – Check for asymmetry in facial features, odd eye placement, unnatural skin textures, or expressions that don’t match the situation.
  3. Scan the background – Look for blurry or pixelated background elements, objects that don’t fit the scene, or strange color gradients.
  4. Spot contextual errors – Pay attention to details that might not make sense within the image, like text that is illegible or objects that don’t belong.
  5. Look for distorted logos or text – Look for minor details that appear off, like an odd number of fingers, misplaced objects, or strange proportions.

Some of these tips are obviously based on modern AI tools that still struggle to depict text or facial features accurately. Those limitations are likely to be fixed given the rate of improvement of AI platforms. Tip #4 about “spotting contextual errors” strikes me as the most important. There is no replacement for being thoughtful about the images we see and asking ourselves whether they make sense. Would the person depicted reasonably be doing the thing shown? It’s not a foolproof question but it certainly could help if more of us asked it more often.

The Non-Obvious Media Recommendation of the Week

Columbia Journalism Review

While the title of this news platform seems to indicate it’s for journalists, their mission is much broader and aims to help all of us take personal responsibility for the way that we contribute to what news gets shared and boosted based on how we consume and share it ourselves.

The ​Columbia Journalism Review’s​ mission is to be the intellectual leader in the rapidly changing world of journalism.

As the most respected voice on press criticism and the future of news, CJR supports strong standards for verification, transparency, and media literacy. CJR aims to promote a future based on truth—whether or not you consider yourself a journalist.

Longtime readers of this newsletter know that I believe in the power and necessity of journalism to help our society see the truth and expose corruption. This is a platform dedicated to doing that and another one that deserves your support – financially or otherwise.

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week

The Long Game by Dorie Clark

The title of this book pretty much tells you exactly what it’s about but what makes this a truly great read is exactly how practical it is. The one thing I have always liked about Dorie Clark’s work is how good she is at offering useful tips and lessons that anyone can implement. It’s why her online courses are so popular and it’s also why you’ll find this book to be a worthwhile read. From her highly effective master of “strategically overindexing” to how she manages to consistently say no (even to good things), Dorie’s advice will help you get out of the daily grind and focus on the long term to be more successful tomorrow. For these reasons, The Long Game is my pick for the Non-Obvious Book of the Week.

About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:

Every week I share a new “non-obvious” book selection. Titles featured here may be new or classic books, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great reads that perhaps deserve a second look which you might have otherwise missed.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories …

Every week I always curate more stories than I’m able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Looking for a speaker to inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop? 

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This Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter is curated by Rohit Bhargava. Copyright © 2024 Non-Obvious, All rights reserved