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Why We Should Stop Trusting Viral Videos

Last week one of the inescapable stories in the United States was a controversial video showing a group of Catholic students appearing to clash with Native Americans. They were widely condemned and the video was endlessly dissected in opinion stories shared online and one of the students even went on television to defend himself. Over the course of … Read more

The Dangerous Side Effects Of Marie Kondo’s Tidying Movement

Japanese organizational guru Marie Kondo recently launched a show on Netflix and has inspired millions of people to get rid of the clutter in their lives. Perhaps predictably, now some people are extending that advice to their digital lives too, as the WIRED UK article linked here points out. In this quest to rid ourselves … Read more

Why The Myth Of The “Sold Out Show” Is Finally Dying

There was a time when people used to think the waiting list for season tickets to Redskins games took decades to clear. Then the team finally admitted those numbers were inflated and made season tickets available again last year. The idea of a show/venue being “sold out” is one of the most basic marketing techniques in entertainment … … Read more

Why Do Critics Hate Movies That Real People Love?

The Queen-inspired film Bohemian Rhapsody film was poorly rated by critics, yet became a big box office hit. Earlier this year, the same thing happened to Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Show musical film about the life of PT Barnum. Why are critics so out of touch with what real people like? And why do we love the … Read more

How To Cure Your Social Media Addiction

This was a week filled with more social media stupidity than usual. In a single day I read two disturbing stories that got me thinking about the dangers of our social media addiction. In one, an excited baseball fan posted a picture of his World Series ticket (with the bar code visible) only to an observant thief … Read more

Amy Winehouse And How Dead Artists Might Come Back On Tour As Holograms

This week the father of Amy Winehouse announced a world tour in 2019 featuring a “hologram” of his daughter on stage. A digital avatar of Winehouse, who died in 2011 from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27, will “perform” some of her most popular songs in a concert accompanied by a live band, real backup … Read more

Do Fantasy Sports Dehumanize Athletes And Make Us Worse People?

As Washington Redskin’s running back Chris Thompson shares, “Fantasy football, it makes us not human. It’s almost like people think we’re just robots out there, performing for you.” In a sport sometimes described as our modern day gladiator ring due to how often the sport causes long term inury and even death among its participants, Thompson has a … Read more

How To Separate Meaningful Data From Quantified Bullshit

Last year I got my test results from the 23andMe genetic testing and found it to be fascinatingly useless. The numbers told me I was 99% South Asian and offered head-scratching “insights” like that I have an “average chance of hating chewing sounds.” This week an excerpt from a new book called A Brief History of … Read more

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Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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