The Talking Tree, Unnecessary Enhancement and 7 Secrets of Understanding People 

Dear Fellow Trend Curator,

Greetings from Nashville! I left the frenzy of SXSW in Austin earlier this week after meeting one celebrity puppet, hosting over a dozen events and giving a brand new talk to join a gathering of community bankers working to put a more human and authentic face on an industry that desperately needs it. From one music town to another, I’ve been experiencing new music non-stop and enjoying making so many new connections this past week.

In this edition of the Non-Obvious newsletter, you’ll get a recap of my insights from SXSW and a look at the marketing challenge Austin is about to face as they lose their convention center and start the 5-year project to replace it with something bigger and better. You’ll also read about the dangers of unnecessary enhancement when it comes to entertainment, a creative concept for a talking tree to help people reconnect with nature and 50 stories that changed journalism from the Poynter Institute.

Enjoy and stay curious!

Unnecessary Enhancement and the Upscaling Backlash Against Netflix

What if everything doesn’t need to be better? A series of 80s shows originally released at a 4:3 aspect ratio and with non-HD level filming have been digitally “enhanced” with AI to make them higher quality and in the typical widescreen format preferred now. The upscaling is a disaster. Anyone watching immediately notices inconsistencies, weird AI-generated remnants and a wide format that cuts off critical pieces of a scene. The end result is that anyone watching will long for a time when all these “enhancements” weren’t around, and you could just watch a program as it was originally created.

The whole story is a good reminder for us all not to abandon the things people like in order to just make a product or experience feel more modern. The old way may not be perfect or even as technologically advanced, but sometimes it’s better anyway.

The Tesla Resistance Is Real. Here’s What It Means …

Tesla owners are disguising their cars as a sign of resistance. There are plenty of YouTube videos with tips on how to hide the evidence that you’re driving a Tesla. Others are putting bumper stickers explaining that: “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” People are selling or otherwise getting rid of their Teslas if they can afford to, and the stock is in a nosedive. All of these are a growing response to owner Elon Musk’s erratic behavior and lack of attention spent recently on running Tesla.

Yet if you can think back to a time before this, Musk was once treated like a hero. He nearly single-handedly moved the automotive industry toward electric vehicles, accelerated adoption of home solar technology with the Powerwall and even offered limited open-source access to Tesla’s patents and technology. So perhaps the real lesson in this fall from grace is just how quickly and completely it can happen, even with someone who was once treated like a hero.

The Talking Tree and How AI Can Give a Voice to the Voiceless

How can you get young people to reconnect with nature? Let them talk to a tree. That’s the creative premise behind a new campaign that features a 150-year-old horse chestnut tree in London’s Morden Hill Park, which ‘speaks’ using “real-time sensory data from over 10 sensors measuring wind speed, soil moisture, humidity, and bioelectrical signals. This data feeds into an LLM that shapes the tree’s personality and enables live conversations.”

While a novel concept, this also signals an interesting potential usage of AI and avatars of a sort to offer a voice to objects that previously lacked them. Instead of just focusing on AI clones from celebrities, what if we could use AI to generate marketing and advertising that anthropomorphizes things to add personality and make them approachable and memorable—just like a talking tree.

The 7 Non-Obvious Secrets of Understanding People to Predict the Future

This past week, I debuted a new keynote talk at SXSW, and it was all about understanding people. I will share the full video when it comes out in a few weeks, but in case you want a behind the scenes look at the tips, here’s the full list:

  • BEING UNIQUELY HUMAN IS THE ADVANTAGE
  • IDENTITY ALWAYS SHAPES BELIEFS
  • WINNERS AREN’T THE SAME AS CHAMPIONS
  • EASY, OBVIOUS ANSWERS ARE A DISTRACTION
  • PEOPLE & EXPERIENCES SHOULD SURPRISE YOU
  • MEANING COMES FROM INTERSECTIONS
  • UNDISCOVERY CAN BE BETTER THAN DISCOVERY

Aside from the tips, I recently shared my slides for the full talk so if you don’t want to wait to see the video, you can download the slides here »

Finally, for a short recap of the things that stood out from SXSW for me this year, read my LinkedIn post about 5 takeaways from SXSW »

The Non-Obvious Media Recommendation of the Week

The Christian Science Monitor

“Our aim is to embrace the human family. We prize honesty and largeness of heart. We seek practical solutions, not just page views. Also, by focusing on the values behind the news, we offer a deeper view – a read more about solutions that unite rather than divide. That’s why many of our stories clearly identify the values driving the news – whether it’s respect, compassion, responsibility, freedom, or so on.”

The Christian Science Monitor, also known as The Monitor, may not be on your reading list already and I realize its title may make it seem like a faith based publication that only focuses on niche topics, but over the years I have found it to be consistently insightful, human and useful with the stories they publish. The site explains their religious connection transparently, aims to present fair, unbiased stories and generally does an excellent job of helping their readers be more open- minded. Over the years, this is one of those sites that I found myself returning to more and more often—so for that reason The Christian Science Monitor is my pick for the Non-Obvious Media Platform of the week.

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair

There are colors that you may have heard of, and more than a few that you haven’t. This highly original book takes a look at all of them and gives you all the meanings and symbolism of colors that you may never have thought about. Rated by USA Today as one of their “Top 100 Books to Read While Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Crisis”—I’m pretty sure this was the first time I came across the book too. Since then, I have referred to it often when I’m going through an exercise to work on a book cover design or selecting a color for some marketing effort. There are also moments when I’ll just flip through the book out of curiosity or as a diversion. There are many ways to use this book, and the combination of beautiful layout and clever writing makes The Secret Lives of Colour one of those unique books that is equally at home whether you keep it untouched on your bookshelf or you choose to open it up on occasion and delight in learning just a little more about the secret life of colors.

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? 

Watch my 2024 speaking reel on YouTube >>

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