Evaluate while blind to the outcome · Merlin Rebrović
I'm reading Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets. One advice caught my eye.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Several days ago, I talked to a friend about the impact of the recent AI boom (LLMs) on individual and group productivity. While they said that they feel more productive, I also had concerns about people feeling productive but creating confusion for the team, which is a net negative overall. Yes, some people use AI tools to improve their work, but some use the tools to produce more bad work at an unprecedented rate. It was a surprise then when I read an HBR article published yesterday that de...| Merlin Rebrović
I'm reading Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets. One advice caught my eye.| merlin.rebrovic.net
I opened LinkedIn the other day. The first post in the feed was from someone I’m not following or is my connection. The person explained how they use a collection of services and LLMs to produce content for LinkedIn. They called it their FACTORY (and yes, they used uppercase too). The factory post just confirmed my suspicion about why so many posts feel like … empty calories? I get it, the algorithm has changed and is pushing other people or content into the feed, outbound links are burri...| Merlin Rebrović
Having a personal website today is like having small garden in an urban area—it's not really necessary for your life, but it might be a great hobby if you're into it.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Learning exists to enable an organism to adapt itself to an unpredictable environment in which it's going to live. To learn is to form an internal model of the external world.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Alexander R. Luria conducted ethnographic research in 1931 and 1932 in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan (Soviet Union). A natural experiment was happening between villages as some were illiterate / oral while members of others started communes and attended basic school. Luria’s work was released in 1976 as Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Social Foundation. Illiterate or oral subjects prioritized direct and situational experience as opposed to abstract and conceptual thinking. They: Identif...| Merlin Rebrović
How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter| merlin.rebrovic.net
A beautiful view of the sky after a summer storm in a village just outside of Zagreb, Croatia.| merlin.rebrovic.net
A few memorable moments with bicycles from the first month of summer.| merlin.rebrovic.net
I watched this interview with David Blaine the other day, and two things stood out.| merlin.rebrovic.net
It's been twelve years since my first and seven years since my last visit to New York. It's been a short work trip, but I still managed to capture a few nice photos.| merlin.rebrovic.net
The world has always been unpredictable, and the volatility induced by geopolitical and technological shifts in the past several years has only made it more obvious.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Why are we so good at acquiring knowledge and power but not at acquiring wisdom?| merlin.rebrovic.net
I just had two storage drives fail on me in a matter of days—one the primary source, the other the main daily backup destination. The drives were of different types, different manufacturers, and different year of production, but still failed at the same time. It would have been a catastrophic loss of personal data (documents, photos, memories) if I didn’t have two additional backups. I started to be paranoid about backups three or four years ago when I automated my backups and made multip...| Merlin Rebrović
If the power is to be used for good, more good people need power.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Hopefully, it'll get me back into writing more soon.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Christmas markets pop up, cheese melts, and lights illuminate cold nights. The winter is near.| Merlin Rebrović
During and after the COVID pandemic, I have worked from home much more often than before. I noticed that I sometimes get drowsy and mentally slow after only a few hours of work, which is slightly surprising in the morning after a good night’s sleep. It usually happens during scorching summer and freezing winter days when the windows of my tiny room are closed. I remember working in an old office when people complained about ventilation and asked for CO₂ sensors to be installed. I suspecte...| Merlin Rebrović
It's one thing to read about the CrowdStrike incident, but it's something completely different to live through it.| merlin.rebrovic.net
Negotiation is the use of information and power to affect behavior within the web of tension. Almost everything is negotiable.| merlin.rebrovic.net
A list of behaviors that add friction to relationships and reduce the effectiveness of working with other people.| merlin.rebrovic.net
