🔆 I'll help you...learn faster, manage ideas better, & create inspired work more often.
♻️ Worked for: HBO, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, & UCLA.
🤿 Trained employees at: MIT, Team USA, Nike & Harvard.
âť“What if you could improve how you did your thinking? What effect would that have on everything else you do?
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Algorithm Movies + Register for Sensemaking 101
Published 10 days ago • 5 min read
Heads up! Join me for free on Sep 16th for Sensemaking 101.
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You will leave with 5 original ideas in 55 minutes...or your money back!
Please note, this is a free event ;)
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Tuesday, September 16 at 9:00 AM (Pacific Time).Register here »​
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I rarely run these type of live events, but whenever I do, they are a huge hit.
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Share my Obsidian beginner series with a colleague
Countless people have asked me to combine my original Obsidian for Beginners video series—which has been viewed nearly 4 million times—into a single video. This way, they can share it more easily to friends and colleagues. Well, here it is.
Since this video is a "classic," that means it's dated in some ways, so I created an 11-page PDF with visuals to show you the most important feature updates and visual changes. And since you are a part of the newsletter, I wanted to give you an instant PDF download link to it: PDF: Obsidian Masterclass - The Most Important Updates.
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And even if you've already watched it, I like rewatching it because it's a North Star for me, a refresher into the core ethos of why we even care about having a private space to think in.
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As I mentioned to a few of you on special lists, this next LYT Workshop is going to be pretty special because I'm adding a live AI + PKM Masterclass, along with a robust Obsidian Bases Masterclass.
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Algorithm movies
I knew something felt off when I watched the forgettable movie Red Notice on Netflix in 2021. The only reason I remember it today is because I tried really hard to recall the movie I wasted two hours of my life watching because it had people I recognized and looks fun.
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I'm happy to report there is a term for Movie Slop—I actually quite like Movie Slop (and just wait until AI shows up to this party!). But the other term is the "algorithm movie." Algorithm movies are mindless fun, but they are also soulless: Novel for a moment, empty over a lifetime.
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I felt the same soulless feeling watching Ryan Gosling in The Gray Man. I didn't even have to watch Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown in The Electric State to feel empty inside. I get it. Actors make a payday; I don't fault them. I just fault myself for being tired and making another bad choice.
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Did you just watch an algorithm movie?
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Do the characters love to announce exactly what they are doing?
Was it just released on Netflix, on a Thursday or Friday?
Does it look like some mindless fun, with some action?
Does it star some stars, possibly Ryan Reynolds?
Was it completely bland and inoffensive?
Was the picture digital and brightly lit?
Was the sound nice and flat?
Did it make you feel empty?
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The problem is, Netflix has the data. They are a tech company that happens to provide movies and shows to people, not the other way around. That means, algorithm movies appear to be working—in the short-term, for their subscriber numbers, and thus for their stock price.
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But I can't help but wonder...will the emptiness eventually backfire?
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Will subscribers unconsciously leave, not because as they might say, "I didn't like the price," but because they actually "didn't like the feeling" that Netflix gave them? Shows should make us feel more alive, not less! I don't know, I have my doubts, and full disclosure, I balance my idealism with my realism by putting money in stocks I might not like, but that market forces do, like Netflix. It keeps me honest. But honestly, I would take the hit on my stocks any day of the week, if people consciously or unconsciously got disgusted enough by the algorithm movie that they stopped watching—myself included—and the suits followed suit by putting a stop to making them.
I'm so excited for everyone who joins this LYT Workshop because, after 5 years of assessments from our classic PKM Planet Survey to the Creator's Codex Quiz, we are launching the ultimate assessment for understanding how you work with ideas—that gives you the best, hard won guidance on how to improve how you work with ideas!
It will only be available for for those of you who join the LYT Workshop or for people in our Knowledge Accelerator plan. Raise your hand to join the Workshop Waitlist. You've already missed the first part of the waitlist, but you can still get my Paradigms of PKM email course that starts next week.
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If you've ever felt frustrated or confused with the direction and progress of your thinking and writing-related efforts, I can confidently say that this assessment will unlock at least two "aha" moments, if not three or four—and that these unlocks will have a significant and lasting effect on your ability to make the most of your mind and contribute more to the world around you.
Tidbits
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Early Book Sales for Linking Your Thinking (ahead of our Spring 2027 launch)
The Linking Your Thinking book has already sold to the regions of China & Hong Kong and Germany. Pretty cool!
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Alien: Earth
Is really good. I used to like Ridley Scott, and his first movie, The Duellists (1977), is such a cool. His second movie was Alien, released in 1979. And his third movie, Blade Runner (1982), is a classic. And then, on the whole, it's been disappointment after disappointment (with a few exceptions, like Gladiator in 2001).
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His whole Prometheus trilogy (thankfully, just two movies) of movies was a masterclass in a storied director sabotaging their own work. Apparently, he really doesn't like the new TV Series Alien:Earth. I know why: because it's actually good! And that threatens his self-importance.
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But you know what? When it comes to Alien, Ridley Scott can go away. We're tired of his tired movies. No one wanted or needed Gladiator 2. I'll just say, I'm not a horror person, but Alien:Earth is smart enough to make it worthwhile. It tangentially reminds me of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time sci-fi trilogy of novels because that series, which is pretty wild, explores how intelligence could form in spiders and other lifeforms from Earth, if on an accelerated timeline.
To respond to this newsletter, just hit reply. I love getting replies, and read all of them, but I have sadly come to the conclusion I can't realistically reply to most. Trust me, I hate this. But, well, Life puts limits on all of us. Thank you for your understanding. (And if you received this email from a friend, and would like ​to subscribe, please go here​.)
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🔆 I'll help you...learn faster, manage ideas better, & create inspired work more often.
♻️ Worked for: HBO, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, & UCLA.
🤿 Trained employees at: MIT, Team USA, Nike & Harvard.
âť“What if you could improve how you did your thinking? What effect would that have on everything else you do?
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