Finding your way used to be simple, if not easy.
Paper map, ask directions, follow your nose. Now we negotiate with algorithms about which route to take, and debate online whether Nebraska counts as "Midwest."
Thought experiment: what does it look like to take a trip without any algo or online opinion involved?
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As always, your chance to win $100 is down below π
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Minaal recommends: Kibuye, Rwanda
Nestled on the shores of Lake Kivu, Kibuye is an excellent place to unwind. The local drink of choice is banana beer. The local fauna includes blue-balled vervet monkeys, and enormous island colonies of fruit bats. If you like hiking, Kibuye is also an ideal starting point for the spectacular Congo Nile Trail.
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College professors have always complained about students not reading. But now they might be... right???
Students are arriving at elite universities having never finished a novel. Columbia's lit professor says they " struggle to attend to small details while keeping track of the overall plot."
Reading for pleasure has dropped 40% since 2000, and AI now offers made-to-order summaries of any and every book.
Which raises the obvious question: why read books at all?
"What is it about sitting with a book, a quintessential experience of civilized life until very recently, that canβt be automated or replaced?" |
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"Gentle parenting" puts children's feelings at the center of everything. When kids have tantrums, parents empathize and validate rather than punish.
The movement's founder says things have gone too far: "People are going on TikTok with no training doing things I find very permissive and weird."
And yet, the new approach also has many things going for it. So where do we draw the line?
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When President Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico, Google Maps changed it within days. But only for American users: Mexicans still see "Gulf of Mexico."
Maps attempt to present themselves as objective, but they're really "collections of human decisions", some more controversial than others. Google uses over a thousand data sources, from satellites to sheep (they strapped cameras to our woolly friends to map the Faroe Islands).
"Your map today doesnβt just tell you *how* to get somewhereβit also suggests where you should *want* to go." |
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Two questions, faster than you can load a map, to win $100 store credit.
Enter here π
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As always: let us know what you liked, what you'd like to see more of, your favourite map, that sorta thing.
J, D, & the Minaal team
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Made with β€οΈ all over the π by the Minaal crew.
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