Nadia's Digest - Issue #3

Hello beautiful! In ISSUE #3:

This story illustrates an interesting query on the meaning and significance of copyright in the digital landscape. A quick rundown of events: so Frank Ocean was wearing this dope t-shirt to his Panorama show (shown above) - soon, the internet went crazy over it - and the company that sold the shirts (Green Box Shop) received thousands of orders overnight. It was a great success story! Until some kid came out showing that he had tweeted this exact quote first and Kayla (the Green Box CEO) had simply taken and printed it. So there you have it: a 21st-century copyright debate. Did she have the right to go print it? Does he have the right to make claims now? Who owns it - the originator or the entrepreneur? And what are the benefits and limitations that? Can we, and should we, be able to claim ownership of our digital content and social shares? I don’t have the answer but think it makes for an interesting discussion. What’s your take on it? 

Jessica Livingston from Y Combinator shares start-up stories and struggles, her own experiences building YC and weighs in on the key traits of great founders. I really respect her for her expertise and humility and she’s one of my favorite (female) founders to take advice from. 

A new 200-page report, resulting from a 2-year study, has found evidence that the arts bring a wide range of health benefits, speeding medical recoveries and improving overall quality of life. They make recommendations to inspire national policies and feature accompanying illustrations from Shrigley. Short, inspiring read for anyone with an interest in mental health and the value of the humanities in a computational world.

We all know traditional corporate hierarchies are falling and slowly but surely being replaced by flat(ter) structures. In this TEDx talk by Brian Robertson he introduces you to a radical alternative which he called Holacracy. His approach is all about enabling teams to be fully self-organizing and is adopted by companies around the world such as Twitter, Zappos, and Springest (a Dutch online education start-up where I was first introduced to the concept of Holacracy). Great one to watch if you know the old don’t work no more, and need some inspiration for the new. 

We’ve in part comforted the threat of AI with the notion that they can at least not be creative and inspiring like us. Or can they? This study says yes. Sure it is a simulation and the AI’s artwork is merely a conglomerate of all the data it has consumed. But how different is that really to how we as humans create? And does the creator even matter if the art succeeds to provoke an emotional reaction in its viewer? More questions I don’t have the answer to, but make for interesting philosophical discourse.

That’s all for the digest of early August. As usual, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the pieces above, thank you for subscribing and look forward to seeing you at the next one. 

With love
on my last newsletter from Athens before returning to Amsterdam,

Nadia

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