Apocrypha, machine unlearning, and undashing
June 27, 2025
Welcome to this 157th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”.
Each week, I personally sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter, take the time to send me a note and introduce yourself, I love to understand who is reading.
You can subscribe to this (roughly) bi-weekly newsletter here to get it directly by mail.
I have prepared this newsletter this week from Paris, France.
This is what I noticed these past couple of weeks, thank you for sharing with those who look into the future.
Estelle.
Competitive Intelligence
Distill is one of a few websites that can track other websites and lets you know when they change ( you can also try the extension SiteDelta Watch). Two-Factor Authentication Codes Take Insecure Path to Users .
Strategic blindspots and business models
Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new business model opportunities while avoiding risks stemming from strategic blindspots. This section also is about the risks we miss.
How Private Equity Killed the American Dream. Two Brands, One Roof: Why Dual-Brand Hotels Are on the Rise. Gamers have increasingly turned their hobby into their job by leveraging social media to force a personal brand. Smart tires will report on the health of roads in new pilot program.
Our future
How People Decided It’s OK to Wear AirPods Anywhere, Anytime. The Definitive, Insane, Record-Smashing Story of the Enhanced Games. CMO Spend Survey Reveals Marketing Budgets Have Flatlined at 7.7% of Overall Company Revenue. Consumers increasingly transform their homes into cafe spaces for social enrichment. Normal Technology at Scale.
We keep you updated on those trends and more on Twitter and Bluesky.
Weak signals
Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?
Biblical Fiction Breathes Life into Scripture. Pentagon pizza monitor predicted ‘busy night’ ahead of Israel’s attack on Iran. Silicon Valley Execs Join the Army as Officers. Why people are turning to bibliotherapy. Using Social Data to Detect Authoritarian Decline. Amateur storm streamers and chasers can predict weather events before the government can.
Book a speaking engagement about weak signals and emerging trends.
Down the rabbit hole
This section highlights a subject that led me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors: “A rabbit hole is not a distraction. A rabbit hole is your brain trying to tell you to pay attention to something you’re curious about. Ignore algorithmic rabbit holes” ( by are.na):
This week, I explored Weak Signals 2025: A Magazine from the year 2046.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths.
Denmark Let Amateurs Dig for Treasure—And It Paid Off for science. Parsing the generational divide for brands. A dynasty of human frailty. Helen Fry on the British women who spied with courage and distinction during the 20th century. The unseen. How people with different disabilities perceive the internet.
Numbers
1.75- Jobs that require a computer ping their workers an average of 275 times per day, or once every 1.75 minutes.
1mn-13.7 percent of watch time on YouTube is given to shorts under a minute in length
266 million - A 2024 Thomson Reuters survey found that US lawyers using AI can save up to 266 million hours.
Unpacking AI
As ChatGPT Linked to Mental Health Breakdowns, Mattel Announces Plans to Incorporate It Into Children's Toys. Machine unlearning. Who Needs a Human Government When You Have AI? Welcome to Sensay Island. OpenAI has created an AI model for longevity science. Google DeepMind leaders share Nobel Prize in chemistry for protein prediction AI.
Feeling good
Undash. A word pathfinder.
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