Mind Tavern Edition 15
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Parallels between Web 3.0 and Amway’s MLM
Noah Smith in his blog talks about how there are distinct similarities between the Amway culture and the proponents of Web 3.0 hyping it up. Both of them clearly can’t understand or articulate the product they are peddling and are just relying on the innate desire of humans to get rich quickly. He delves deep into the lingo, practices, music, psychology and the history of Amway and how perfectly they correlate with the jargon-filled world of Web 3. Read here.
What the two cultures really have in common (allegedly) is selling you on a dream of independence, while delivering what is actually total and utter dependence on a system outside of your control, putting you (and your money) entirely at its mercy.
As for the rest of Web3, just like Amway's plan (allegedly), there just is no there there. It's complicated flim-flam that intentionally obfuscates itself to dazzle you into thinking that you're not quite smart enough to fully grasp it, but surely all these very serious adults running around must know what's going on
Shein’s unhinged march toward Fast Fashion domination
This is a deep dive into the new marketplace model of the Chinese behemoth which has taken the sector by storm. Shein is the most downloaded app in the US surpassing the likes of TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter and far ahead of Amazon. They launched over 1.3 million styles in a year against 60k unique items of Zara and H&M combined. This Wired investigative article goes back to the shady beginnings of the company and also poses questions on the ethics of this industry. Read here.
In the 1990s, before Kelly was born, Zara popularized a model of borrowing design ideas from whatever was getting attention on runways. By manufacturing clothing near its headquarters in Spain and streamlining the supply chain, it offered up these already proven styles in a matter of weeks at prices that felt shockingly low. Connie Chan, an investor at Andreessen Horowitz who invested in a Shein competitor called Cider, told me that Shein represents a newer phase of fast fashion: Now, what appears on runways and in fashion magazines matters less, and people look to one another for what to wear.
The company recently earned a score of zero out of 150 points on a rubric maintained by Remake, a nonprofit advocating for better labor and environmental practices. The score partly reflects Shein’s environmental record: The company sells an enormous volume of disposable clothing, and it discloses so little about its production that it’s impossible to even begin to gauge its environmental footprint. “We still don’t have any real insight into their supply chain. We don’t know how much product they make, we don’t know how much material they’re using in aggregate, we don’t know their carbon emissions,”
Our Addiction to Streaming
The author here gives a unique perspective on how streaming makes me feel disconnected from actual artists and their unfiltered music. He says that he feels like a hack when the algorithm feeds him the most streamed song that people of similar taste would have liked, whenever he is on the platform. He also points out how financially unviable it is becoming for smaller artists to make money on Spotify and Apple Music and hence I feel it is important to talk about this issue. Read here
I feel unsettled when I stream music on Spotify. Maybe you feel that way, too. Even though it has all the music I’ve ever wanted, none of it feels necessarily rewarding, emotional, or personal. I pay a nominal fee for this privilege, knowing that essentially none of it will reach the artists I am listening to. I have unfettered access to an abundance of songs I genuinely love, along with an abundance of great songs I’ve never heard before, but I can’t shake the eerie feeling that the options before me are almost too perfect. I have personalized my experience enough to feel like this is my music, but I know that’s not really true—it’s simply a fabricated reality meant to replace the random contours of life outside the app.
Momo Aunties of Delhi
This lovely write-up made my heart go back to Depaul’s at Janpath, where we would travel for an hour just to get those juicy, sumptuous chicken momos. There is something intimate about sharing a plate of these delicate dumplings with people you love. You will find these Momo aunties in various forms across the length and breadth of the city, who have come from far-flung states of the country and have become an inseparable part of Delhi’s cultural zeitgeist. Read here.
A safe estimate is that momos first arrived in Delhi when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, along with millions of Tibetans who looked to escape the Chinese annexation of their homeland. “Thousands followed him,” Tsering says, mentioning that her parents too were among those that walked to Indian borders, seeking refuge. Along with the refugees came momos. Recipes and plans for the Tibetan dish were set up in small stalls in Majnu Ka Tila and other smaller settlements where the refugees were rehabilitated.
If the momo is a living emblem of the evolving city, “momo aunties” like Tsering are those on whose shoulders the food stands. Momo aunties are crucial participants in Delhi’s cityscape; they are to urban city dwellers a sign of solace, and a quick solution to hunger.
A few more good reads.
Maybe distance is good for maintaining closer friendships. The Atlantic.
A deep dive into the coffee business in India. The Signal.
The history of our beloved condensed milk brand, Milkmaid, The Scroll.
Has algo-backed fast fashion destroyed human taste? The Atlantic.
Slow restoration of power from record labels to artists. Ted Gioia.
Something very cool: Trolley Problem reimagined
In this excellent web app, Neal puts forward a number of whacky iterations of the trolley problem in front of you that ask you to make ethical and moral choices. At the end of the simulation, it gives you a neat little death counter as well, if you want to compare it with your friends and loved ones (which you didn’t kill).
Try it out here.
A podcast you should check out: The paradigm shift
Harsha Bhogle partners up with Microsoft for his new project where he talks about how Artificial Intelligence has the potential to become a game changer in many sectors. With a number of expert interviews and scientific studies, this show gives a peek into AI-backed practical solutions to the everyday problems of the common man to the tough conundrums of specialists.
I especially loved the episode called Lost in translation, where he talks about how deep neural networks and massive lingual models are trying to break the language barriers between people from different regions.
Another good one was on Sports, where Harsha quotes the example of the legendary Sachin innings of 241 on the SCG where he refused to play his favourite cover drive to avoid falling into the Aussie bowling trap. The show suggests that AI can now help batters make decisions like this in real-time with many startups working to provide such insights with a large amount of data being gathered from every sporting activity
Thread(s) of the Week
A slightly counter-intuitive thread on how you shouldn’t start investing under peer pressure and there is no harm in waiting indefinitely.
A number of interesting thought constructs in this thread.
A thread on local businesses and what Bharat wants from technology.
The Internet is beautiful.
It's fun stuff for you to discover!
Fancy double-decker buses? How do you feel about double-decker planes?
The British Museum reimagined A very cool project called Unfiltered History.
wackiest, Airbnb has launched a 10 million USD fund for the whackiest craziest houses you can think of. They will then select 100 individuals with the most out-of-the-box ideas and give them $100,000 to turn them into reality. More here.
A Zero Star hotel in Switzerland nudges customers to sit back and ponder the world’s crises. Quite interesting.
The James Webb Telescope’s first few images were released this week. I am absolutely star-struck by these. A nifty explainer here.