Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 4

If there was ever a book that could demystify and explain the differences between these generational labels we assign to one another, this is it. Legendary psychology professor and generational expert Jean M. Twenge explains it all in this 500+ page compendium of everything you ever heard (or were misled by) about the differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and the Silent Generation.

While these terms may mean something different to all of us, the big idea of this book is that ...

There is a term in Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler’s book Nudge, first published in 2008, that introduces the idea of sludge–“tortuous administrative demands, endless wait times, and excessive procedural fuss that impede us in our lives.”

“In 2023 (the most recent year for which data are available), the  National Customer Rage Survey showed that American consumers were, well, full of rage. The percentage seeking revenge—revenge!—for their hassles had tripled in just three years … Resear...

When my kids were younger (and probably today too!) one of our favorite family movies was Night at the Museum. The idea of museums coming to life was fun to imagine. This week, The Palace of Versailles in France teamed up with Ask Mona and OpenAI to help “twenty iconic fountains and statues from the Gardens become narrators of their own stories. For the first time at Versailles, these masterpieces of heritage speak and engage in conversations with the public.”

Accessible via an app or a Q...

If you were around for the early days of the Internet, you might remember Digg. It was a collection of interesting stories that was so popular that at one stage it was popularly referred to as the “​homepage of the Internet.​” Then in 2018 after an ownership shuffle, the site was permanently shut down … until now. The big news in tech circles this week was the reboot of Digg. Though still just in private alpha mode for early reviewers the site has a ​relatable vision and mission​ behind it:

“...

As AI enters perfumery, are we expanding access to beauty — or automating the soul out of it?” This is the provocative question asked in an article I came across this week outlining the ​growing role of AI and technology​ in helping to develop new scents.

“From concept to shelf, a single perfume can take six to 18 months — even longer in luxury. And like fine wines, fragrance materials vary with climate concerns. One year’s yield will not smell like the next one, or the one before. Perhaps th...

Being an artist is hard. When you choose to do it professionally, you’ll likely face many problems. According to Brainard Carey, the renowned director of the Praxis Center for Aesthetics, you may encounter exactly 26 problems to overcome–and so he published a book about how to do it. While his book is clearly written for artists, many of the problems explored in the book from the problem of attracting mentors and patrons to the problem of scams designed to extract money from artists, Carey’s boo...

Imagine spending a day at a museum without seeing the actual exhibits but instead visiting the warehouse where they keep everything that isn’t on display. That’s the non-obvious ​concept behind the V&A East Storehouse​ that just opened on the east side of London. Affiliated with the Victoria and Albert family of museums, this venue built on the site of the former London 2012 Olympics Media Centre houses over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and 1,000 archives.

“Storehouse is a new kind ...

Amidst all the coverage of what some news outlets described as a  “political earthquake​” with relative newcomer Zohran Mamdani defeating longtime NY politician Andrew Cuomo in the primary for the Mayor’s race, there was this ​fascinating summation​ of the campaign run by the 33 year old Indian-American candidate:

“Mr. Mamdani ran a relentless and cheerful campaign focused on affordability in a city that has grown too expensive for an expanding circle of residents, with zippy videos and catch...

In the late 1950s, NASA recruited 11 men aged 25-48 for a unique experiment that has today been mostly forgotten. The participants, ​known to history mainly as the “Gallaudet Eleven”​ had one important factor in common: they were all deaf. For most of the next decade, scientists “measured the volunteers’ non-reaction to motion sickness on both a physiological and psychological level,” aiming to improve their understanding of how the body’s senses work when the inner ear doesn’t receive gravitati...

I have “shared the stage” with Jay Leno. That’s industry lingo for saying that I was the second (much less expensive) keynote speaker at an event that Jay Leno was headlining. Yes, it was a thrill to meet him. But his set mostly consisted of jokes about his current pharmaceutical needs as an older gentleman along with some stories sprinkled in from his time hosting The Tonight Show.

Anytime I’m at an event alongside celebrities, I have to admit I do wonder if the ROI on their big fees was wor...