Claire Beluga

We are surrounded by magic and we don’t realize it Tags: technology history phones messages

This is the healthiest way to be ambitious: care deeply then don’t care at all

Care deeply and then don’t care at all Tags mindset ambition growth

One of the easiest ways to accidentally create a fear of failure is to make success part of someone’s identity (this happens as kids for sure). You get the A → “You’re so smart.” You win → “You’re naturally talented.” You succeed quickly → “You’re gifted.” It sounds like praise. But there can be an unintended lesson hiding underneath it: If succeeding proves I’m smart… what does failing prove? This is at the heart of Carol Dweck’s research on fixed vs. growth mindsets, a book one of my close friends and favorite entrepreneurs recommended! A fixed mindset treats ability as something you have. So difficulty can feel diagnostic. If I’m struggling, maybe I’m simply not talented enough. If I have to work really hard, maybe I’m not actually that smart. And that can make being a beginner terrifying. Because beginners are supposed to be bad. But if your identity depends on appearing naturally capable, you may start avoiding the exact situations that would make you better. That’s why the lesson isn’t necessarily praise effort instead of outcomes, but praise the process that gets you those outcomes.

Where I lack in talent and in knowledge I make up in curiosity. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” Honestly it was so much fun being able to be such a beginner and learning something about an industry I know nothing about. No amount of research could have prepared me for it and that’s okay!

Have you ever looked at an AI or robot face and thought: I can’t explain what’s wrong with you, but something is? That feeling has a name: the uncanny valley. In 1970, Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori proposed that making robots more humanlike would make us feel more connected to them—until they became almost human, but not quite. Then that connection could turn into discomfort. But why? One research-backed explanation is that the cues don’t match. Researchers have even compared people watching a human, a mechanical robot, and a human-looking android that moved mechanically. They found distinctive brain responses to the mismatch between human appearance and robotic movement. Tags: robot , Turing test, griffin, artificial intelligence