Artificial Naps, Worn-Out Luggage, and the Hidden Power of Government

Dear Fellow Trend Curator,

Greetings from Chicago. I’ve been here for the past few days working with an inter-disciplinary group of technologists, ethicists, educators, developers and business leaders gathered together for the inaugural Tech Collaborative Responsible AI Forum from Anitab.org. I had the chance to do a closing keynote with some top takeaways from the event (read them here). It was a perfect reminder of what we cannot lose sight of in technology as we rush towards more and more functionality with AI. These sorts of conversations matter more than ever.

In stories this week, you’ll read about the new science of artificial naps, a theory making the rounds that aims to explain the early actions of the Trump administration, Rimowa’s plan to sell used, beat up luggage (and why it’s working), an alarm app that makes you watch an ad before hitting snooze, and AI that changes people’s accents to make them sound more American.

Enjoy the stories and stay curious!

rohit

Artificial Naps, Precognitive Dreams and the Evolving Science of Sleep

What if you could get the restful benefits of taking a nap without actually taking a nap? Researchers studying the health effects of “power naps” recently performed a test on monkeys where they simulated the brain activity of sleeping with electrical pulses. The monkeys showed the same cognitive benefits that come from sleeping without the nap. The findings suggest there may be new ways to treat sleep disorders but also may lead to an “artificial nap” industry where pods or venues offer this sort of stimulation to help people hone their focus when they need it most.

In other sleep news this week, an expert on dreamwork shared a perspective on the possibility of precognitive dreams and whether some people may indeed have the ability to dream about a prediction of something that will later happen in real life. Specifically, there were an abnormally large number of people who report having dreamed about getting a cancer diagnosis before it happened to them. This could have something to do with the theory that our subconscious can predict or understand things that our conscious doesn’t.

Why the EPA Fighting Back Matters

The EPA has a marketing problem and it’s a basic one that has existed for decades. Despite being largely effective in its mission to protect American air quality and prevent toxic sludge from entering waterways, the government agency receives almost no public credit for their success. Of course, I’m oversimplifying their mission and perhaps overstating their success—but when you compare America to many other nations outside Europe, it’s clear that the moves the US government made decades ago to protect national parks and create environmental regulations have worked.

This is important context for the moment we find ourselves in right now where Elon Musk’s DOGE group has instituted a widespread rollback of the EPA’s ability to protect the environment or enforce their policies. EPA workers are protesting now and trying to share their story in any way they can to make people listen. The bigger picture here is one that affects many other government agencies with missions to protect American citizens and consumers too. All of them have failed to share their successes with the public in a way that matters and now that they are being dismantled there is no public outcry of support to keep them.

More Americans complained about McDonald’s retiring the McRib sandwich. Is that a bigger deal than keeping pollution out of the air? Of course not, but it does have better marketing. It would be nice to find a policy solution to protect the government agencies that are meant to protect us. Even better, though, would be to find a marketing and PR solution. Given how many of my readers of this newsletter are marketing and PR professionals, I’m writing this as a message to you (and to myself). What can we do to tell this story so more of America understands why these groups matter?

PS – one starting point is by reading and recommending my pick for this week’s featured book below: Who Is Government?

The Wild Theory of the “Mar-a-Lago Accord” That Aims to Explain Everything Trump Is Doing

There is a theory circulating Wall Street and other circles that aims to take all the chaos of the first several months of the new Trump administration and offer an explanation for how it all fits a grand master plan that could, if it works, be heralded as “the greatest geopolitical deal of the century.” If this idea seems far-fetched, follow the link and read the full story from The Atlantic which breaks down exactly how these seemingly haphazard tariffs and other early economic moves could make sense in the long run and actually fuel a positive outcome for America by securing concessions and reshaping power dynamics.

In order for it all to work out, though, there are several elements that need to be carefully implemented and the entire “Mar-a-Lago Accord” strategy (as it’s increasingly being called) will require a level of discipline and intentionality that seem unlikely for Trump himself or his appointees to embrace. Still, the entire theory is a good reminder that what is too often dismissed as unplanned chaos is likely part of a master plan and endgame even if it doesn’t appear that way. And while the overall theory is relatively easy to refute, the part that should get you thinking is the suggestion that perhaps there is bigger picture here that is easy to miss because it’s being intentionally obscured.

Rimowa Sells Old, Beat-Up Suitcases and Demand Is Off the Charts

Buyback programs are getting popular among retailers in many categories but usually they are for products that are still in “sellable” condition that can be refurbished. When legendary luggage brand Rimowa launched their own in-store buyback program, they began receiving used suitcases from customers that had clearly taken a beating and traveled the world. As they refurbished and resold them, a curious truth emerged. People loved the pieces because of all the dents and bruises and stickers and use. So much so, that they would pay a premium to buy it.

Now the brand is getting more aggressive on buybacks to be able to create these surprisingly popular signature products anyone can buy to partake in the story of where that luggage may have been and what life it had already lived in the hands of another traveler. Similar to the appeal of a passport filled with travel stamps and visas, the luggage tells a story worth buying into. It’s yet another example of just how valuable a story can be. Even if that story resulted in a beat up and worn-down product.

The Non-Obvious Media Recommendation of the Week

The Marginalian Newsletter

If you could ever describe a newsletter and website as a labor of love, it would be this one. For more than two decades, Maria Popova has written her personal newsletter The Marginalian and relied on donations and support from her audience to keep it as a full time endeavor. That she has managed to do it since 2006 without allowing any advertising speaks to the value she has built and the popularity of the newsletter. Originally published under the name Brain Pickings, it was rebranded in 2015 to reflect her growing interests. Weekly editions of the newsletter feature excerpts from works of literature both modern and historic, book reviews, thought pieces and unexpected explorations of big ideas. It’s truly one of the most original newsletters that I get and read regularly.

Perhaps the best pitch for it, though, comes from Maria herself in the language she uses to describe her Sunday newsletter and why you might want to subscribe: “If you yearn for depth and delight without the distraction of a social media feed, if you are weary of algorithms deciding what you see and read and constellate into reality, try the Marginalian Sunday newsletter — the week’s most inspiring and nourishing reading in a single undistracted place, free, ad-free, algorithm-free, entirely human, made of feeling and time since 2006.” We could all use more nourishing reads. For that reason, The Marginalian is my pick for the Non-Obvious Media Source of the Week.

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week

Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis

In the words of bestselling author Garrett Graff who recently wrote a review for The Washington Post, this book “examines some of the remarkable people who make up the federal workforce — career civil servants who have accomplished the extraordinary in quiet ways, people whose jobs are normally buried layers below any partisan rancor. Perhaps never before has there been a book better timed or more urgent.” It is indeed a timely read in a moment when the Federal government is being attacked from within and serving a central role in the culture war happening right now to paint all government as an unnecessary evil. The truth, of course, is far less polarized.

Government can often be a force for good and public servants doing the work are regularly ignored, minimized and underappreciated. There are certain bureaucrats and wastage and ineffective government. But there are also examples of heroic people doing great work to make the government a positive force. Those stories are ones we don’t hear often. This book offers a rare antidote for that oversight, and for that reason Who is Government? is my pick for the Non-Obvious Book of the Week.

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Bookshop.org

About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:

Every week I will be featuring a new “non-obvious” book selection worth sharing. Titles featured here may be new or from the backlist, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great books 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