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👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #166: how political polls work, a dispatch from Venezuela, and urgency vs. importanceBy Harris SockelLast Friday, we asked you whether AI is capable of making art — and your responses were so fascinating and varied that I wanted to highlight a few.Jim the AI Whisperer wro...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #165: career wisdom from James Earl Jones and listening to your gutBy Harris SockelLast week, a coworker sent me a viral video. It’s CCTV footage of Jon Bon Jovi and a production assistant talking someone down who’s about to jump from Nashville’s ~80-foot Siegenthaler bri...

📅 We’ve got 106 days left until the end of 2024. Let’s make them count.Issue #164: the genius of stating the obvious and the anniversary of Mexico’s independenceBy Harris SockelHere are three pieces of wisdom for your week.1. Simplicity is hard. Humans are so proud of building complicated things (look how smart we a...

😎 Happy Friday, y’allIssue #163: Norm cascades, saying goodbye, and getting into the puzzle mindsetBy Scott LambBefore we go any further, snap poll question for you: Do you believe AI is capable of generating art? Keep your answer in mind, we’ll come back to it shortly.A version of that question was at the heart of ...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #162: on using doors in video games, what MFA annotations can teach writers, and radical attentionBy Carly Rose GillisA few weeks ago, I saw a video clip of a teenager asking VP Kamala Harris a question: “You’re a good public speaker — how are you so good?”I’ve been think...

Image designed and created by Medium Senior Brand Designer Jason CombsThere are so many gems hidden across the Mediumverse, some of which may even be written by you, containing wisdom that can help all of us live better.But finding them isn’t always easy! Over 1 million times a month, a writer presses “publish” to s...

🗳️ What did we think of last night’s U.S. Presidential debate? I’m already seeing a few perspectives from all of you on Medium; let us know if you see anything great.Issue #161: who we were on 9/11 and talking out your problemsBy Harris Sockel“Recently, it struck me that my experience visiting the 9/11 Memorial now ...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #160: beating procrastination, becoming more aware of your social fears, and a chart for figuring out whether you’re growingBy Harris SockelHere are three pieces of wisdom to take with you this week.1. If you keep putting something off, Drew Morrison explains, don’t blame...

🦋 Today marks the 77th anniversary of the first computer bug, when a moth got stuck in the 25-ton Harvard Mark II; programmer Grace Hopper filed the first bug ticketIssue #159: turning 90, MFA woes, and how to semester your lifeBy Harris SockelIf someone cornered me at a bar and asked me what the most popular topic ...

🥂 We’ve arrived at our final destination: FridayIssue #158: emails from *that* CEO and leading with convictionBy Harris SockelHere are three deep-dives for your weekend.🏊 Snorkel LevelDrake just released an album via a burner Instagram account and a good old-fashioned website: 100gigs.org. Lyrically it’s a response ...

One thing I love about Medium is how multifaceted our knowledge base is, and how many writers from all different stripes come to write here. We’re trying to build the world’s best (and best-organized) library of incredible writing, across as many topics as possible. There’s so much of it that sometimes I forget exac...

⌛ Hello again! We’re 67.84% of our way through 2024.Issue #157: how to interview well, the myth of breaking through, and personal perspectives on GazaBy Harris SockelLast weekend, computer scientist and Y Combinator founder Paul Graham published an instantly viral essay on how to lead (and not lead!) a team. It’s ca...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #156: a very weird engineering interview, a dispatch from the Eras tour, and good distractionBy Harris SockelEnglish is a very strange language. I’m grateful to be a native speaker because the nuances of our bizarre idioms (“freezer burn”? “cold turkey”?) feel almost desi...

🏊 Today is the 7th day of the Paris Paralympic Games, featuring 549 events across 22 sports — including powerlifting, ice sledge hockey, freestyle swim, and para danceIssue #155: becoming unhackable and clocking your flawsBy Harris SockelMost writers (and artists of all stripes) are great starters and terrible finis...

🛠️ Labor Day began as a parade in 1882 organized by union workers fighting for better pay and wages. Today, on average, unionized workers earn $173 more per week than non-unionized workers.Issue #154: writing with a day job and learning to ignore what doesn’t matterBy Harris SockelThe first time I heard the phrase “...

🧠 Today in cognitive biases: The “false memory” effect describes how it’s possible to invent and “remember” a memory if asked leading questions. For example, in one study, researchers convinced participants that they had played a prank on a first-grade teacher with toy slime.Issue #153: upcycling, locally grown bana...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium Newsletter, where we’re celebrating Cognitive Bias Week because thinking is hardIssue #152: African origins of U.S. words, Man Repeller, and remembering you have jointsBy Carly Rose GillisToday, we’re looking into the third conundrum of the universe that yields both cognitive biases and ...

🎁 Happy Outcome Bias Wednesday, y’all!Issue #151: getting real about how science works, and the value of doing nothingBy Scott LambIt’s Hump Day for Cognitive Bias Week, and time to address one of the thornier issues of being a human and having a brain like ours: What to do when there’s not enough meaning.This feels...

🧠 Welcome back to Cognitive Bias Week, where we’re going deep on all the ways humans misperceive realityIssue #150: behind the scenes at the DNC and why designers should read sci-fiBy Harris SockelYesterday, I (with the help of my colleague Buster Benson) introduced the four big hairy conundrums of the universe that...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #149: drawing the DNC and how to small talkBy Harris Sockel & Buster BensonThis week, we’re trying something different: We’re going deep on a single topic and examining it from multiple angles. That topic is bias, specifically cognitive biases, or systematic errors in jud...

📹 Missed Medium Day? Here’s our CEO’s keynote. Browse every session recording at mediumday.com. You can still register to view the archives, even if you didn’t attend live.Issue #148: history from the inside and judging true friendshipBy Harris SockelWe knew this would happen eventually: Some people are asking thems...

🍂 Hello from the oddly cool East Coast, where it’s 65 degrees F in August. If you’re here, welcome to “Fake Fall,” a brief moment in time when cool air wafts in from Ontario and Manitoba.Issue #147: gradual evolution, writing for humans, and how to make a good first impressionBy Harris SockelA few years ago, a big p...

Hi there, I’m Medium’s CEO.Obviously you are here for me to talk about Medium, but I’m going to start by talking about Vermont.The first time that I wrote about building a better internet, Ryan Rucker, who is both a Medium reader and Medium writer, wrote a response that started out by talking about Vermont.For our g...

📸 Almost exactly 17 years ago, Laney Griner took a picture of her 11-month-old son at the beach — a photo that became the “Success Kid” memeIssue #146: fact-checking Simone Biles’s jump height, the effects of puberty blockers on trans tweens, and dramadoodlesBy Zulie @ MediumI used to follow a fashion Instagram acco...