The Tremendous 10 link roundup, #268

1. How curiosity can supercharge your brain and boost your success | “Curiosity can boost memory and creativity for sharper thinking, yet it can also lead to distraction and procrastination. The trick is to know when and how to use it.”
2. Why did ancient humans paint the same 32 symbols in caves all over Europe? | “With few exceptions, ancient humans painted the same 32 symbols in caves all over Europe. Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger asks: What were they trying to say to each other — and to us?”
3. The encyclopedia of design just got a major update | “A new edition of ‘1000 Design Classics’ gets closer to reflecting the diversity of today’s design world.”
4. The Creative Switch | “No idea? The basic recipe for good ideas is really simple: Just create a lot of options and then pick the best one.”
5. Invasive Diffusion: How one unwilling illustrator found herself turned into an AI model | “Using 32 of her illustrations, MysteryInc152 fine-tuned Stable Diffusion to recreate Hollie Mengert’s style. He then released the checkpoint under an open license for anyone to use. The model uses her name as the identifier for prompts: “illustration of a princess in the forest, holliemengert artstyle,” for example.”
6. You Should Propose More Things: A habit for getting decisions made. | “One of startups’ superpowers is quick decision-making. Early on, this might just mean decisions are made rapidly by one person. Of course, this doesn’t scale. If you don’t find ways to scale up good decision-making, your company will slow down and – eventually – die.”
7. Don’t specialize, hybridize | “Specialization is too heavily encouraged as a career path. Becoming a generalist is one alternative, but there is another path less discussed: become a hybrid. The hybrid path means developing expertise in two or more distinct areas. Having several specialities allows you to see patterns that no one else can see, and make contributions that no one else would think of. The world needs more hybrid people.”
8. Your Mind Wanders Because Your Brain Whispers | “You are sitting in a meeting at work and your mind starts to wander to another place. Suddenly, you realize that the person leading the meeting has asked you a question that you have not heard. Why does this happen?”
9. descript | “All-in-one audio & video editing, as easy as a doc.”
10. Teenagers Create a Fake Company. It Gets Taken Over And They Are All Fired. | “Thomas originally launched the group because he could never envision enjoying his life as a 32-year-old. Everything he’s seen and heard about adulting, and being in a corporate job, seems awful. What’s fascinating is that his satire very quickly began to mirror actual companies, as did running the group, with firings, takeovers, and policy changes.”

Image: Visual courtesy of Phaidon.