This week's best things
What can humans do better than AI? An article about the Tank Museum's YouTube success, an explanation of why brand is important, and Lin-Manual Miranda at a poetry slam.
Essay #4: AI is faster than you (or can we be more like the turtle)
I’ve linked to the Manifesto for Now essays from Sarah Garton Stanley and Owais Lightwala before, and their latest addition to the series, on AI, is well worth a read.
“We can’t slow it down. The “it” of AI is too tentacled, too imprecise. It has been working in the background for much longer than ChatGPT. Our cars have been driving us – or at least reporting on us – for a number of years now. So if slowing “it” down is not an option, then what is? Perhaps it is to acknowledge our slowness. Remember that amazing book about running – Born to Run? Of the many mystic and wonderful things relayed in this story, first among them is how humans can outrun all manner of fast cats and predators, not because we are fast, but more because we are persistent. We have endurance. What values can humans – as slow machines – bring to the decidedly NOT human speed of AI?”
This Museum Has 300 Tanks and Over 100 Million YouTube Views
For the last few years the success of the Tank Museum on YouTube has been something that the wider sector seemed first surprised by, and then quite envious of.
This New York Times piece is an interesting exploration of their approach (and their success).
“Last year, the museum generated a third of its revenue online, he said, including from viewers paying for early access to clips, and merchandise sales from an online store. Some of that roughly $2.5-million online income was used to hire Copson as a full-time presenter, as well as to hire Paul Famojuro, a former guide, to run the museum’s TikTok channel. It also went toward publishing old-school tank history books, Wyness said.”
It seems like a brilliant example of an organisation understanding their niche, and then leveraging the internet to serve that niche at a scale that unlocks commercial opportunities. More cultural organisations could be doing this.
Why Brand? First of All, You Have No Choice
The most effective organisations and businesses, consciously or not, have strong, relevant, coherent, and flexible brands.
This piece from brand strategist, Nick Liddell gives some context around why the idea of brand is sometimes disparaged or misunderstood.
Nick also clearly lays out the value of a well-considered brand in allowing you to be proactive and intentional in how you exist in the world.
“Even the smallest organisations need to make decisions about how they want to be understood.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the White House Poetry Jam
An oldie but a goodie. In 2009, six years before Hamilton debuted on Broadway, Lin-Manual Miranda was invited to perform at the White House Poetry Jam.
It’s electrifying to see even an embryonic version of The Hamilton Mixtape being performed in that context.
I particularly enjoyed Obama looking mesmerised.
If you’ve seen something interesting, stick it in the comments! The algorithms are invading our lives, but the best stuff is still discovered and shared through word of mouth.