Essays

The Laboratory Fallacy

Design
Strategy
Systems Thinking
Football offers a surprisingly rich archive of strategic thinking. There is a peculiar irony in the story of Osvaldo Zubeldía, the Argentine football tactician who, in the…
Feb 2026

The Hinterland Paradox in South Africa

Geopolitics
Security
Africa
Throughout 2024, while South African soldiers died fighting M23 rebels in the DRC, the insurgent group’s political leadership maintained operations from a Johannesburg…
Feb 2026

From Seabed to Orbit

Geopolitics
Space
Arctic
When President Trump declared last week that acquiring Greenland represents “a national security priority” and his press secretary confirmed that “utilising the U.S.…
Jan 2026

Wisdom is Like a Baobab Tree

Wisdom
Epistemology
African Philosophy
Ecology
Consider the baobab (Adansonia digitata). A tree that looks as if it has been planted upside-down. A great, gnarled trunk surmounted by a tangle of branches that resemble…
Dec 2025

The Matthew Effect: Why a Harvard Degree Works Like a Birkin Bag

Education
Social Inequality
Prestige
“For to everyone who has, more will be given.” — Matthew 25:29
Nov 2025

The Flying Spotted Ass Ape and the Psychology of Creative Formation

Leadership
Creative Process
AI
Team Dynamics
Does your team have a Spotted Ape? A brightly coloured B-24 Liberator from 1943 offers a lesson for the AI age: creative mentors who can bring order to chaos with a light…
Nov 2025

HAL 9000 and the Market’s Moloch Problem

AI
Ethics
Market Dynamics
“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” [1]
Oct 2025

Playing in the River Before the Fire

History
Nuclear Weapons
Memory
War
The recent eightieth anniversary commemorations of the Nagasaki bomb have brought back memories of those Cold War years when the fear of nuclear annihilation seemed to be a…
Oct 2025

Moholy-Nagy and the Art of Remote Creation

Art History
Design Theory
AI
Remote Work
It is Germany, 1922. László Moholy-Nagy lifts the receiver of a telephone. On the other end, a porcelain-enamel factory in Weimar (Figure 1). Calmly, almost…
Aug 2025

The AI-UX Iceberg That Could Sink Figma

AI
UX Design
Product Strategy
Future of Work
Design Tools
User Experience (UX) expert Greg Nudelman recently published a provocative piece arguing that the collaborative web application Figma “is the Titanic that is about to hit…
May 2025

Klarna’s Karma on Black Friday: When AI Devours Marketing

Generative AI
Marketing
AI in Business
Design Innovation
Klarna, the Swedish payments giant, has taken a revolutionary approach to its marketing strategy by handing over complete control of 30 campaigns across 45 countries to…
May 2025

AI’s Avalanche Is Coming – Are You Ready?

AI In Design
Design Strategy
Creative Technology
Business Strategy
Generative AI
The recent viral clip, shared by Harry Shimmin, mirrors the seismic upheaval generative AI is bringing to the design space. What began as a distant hum—tools quietly…
May 2025

Will AI Take My Job? Unlikely—But it Might Eat My Admin

AI
Generative AI
Future of Work
Creativity
Harvard Business School’s latest paper, Generative AI and the Nature of Work, has some eye-opening insights for creatives. Spoiler: AI won’t replace you just yet, but it…
May 2025

Baudrillard’Dor: Channeling Lies Wide Shut

Baudrillard
Dor Brothers
Media Manipulation
Simulation
During this time of saturation in American media coverage, especially surrounding the U.S. election, the Dor Brothers have been at it again! Their latest mind-bending…
May 2025

Frog Goes Hip-Hop: Jumping Into Creative AI

AI
Creativity
Design
Animation
Generative AI
Berlin-based artist David Szauder recently shared a video that left me both mesmerised and unsettled. Seemingly inspired by the enigmatic frog deity Kek—an ancient Egyptian…
May 2025

Designing Neural Media: Allado-McDowell’s Compelling Typology Incorporating AI

AI
Design
Neural Media
Generative AI
> “It’s the end of explanations, a great increase in reality is here.” –K Allado-McDowell and GPT-3, Air Age Blueprint
May 2025

Creativity in the Age of Machines

AI
Creativity
Design
Automation
Generative AI
Future of Work
Art and Technology
On 60 Minutes, Bill Whitaker asked Giacomo Massari of LITIX (a company using robots to carve marble sculptures) what many are thinking:
May 2025

Co-Create or Die! Key MIT Insights on AI’s Impact in R&D

Generative AI
Design Innovation
Co-Creation
AI Future
Creative Tech
AI In Design
Design Thinking
“You have to swim with the sharks in the sea…” — Johnny Clegg, “Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World,” 1989
May 2025

Warren McCulloch: Pioneer of Neural Networks and AI

AI
Neural Networks
Generative AI
Ethical AI
AGI
Warren McCulloch
“What is a number, that a man may know it, and a man that he may know a number.”
May 2025
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