In 2020 I began doing these end of year roundups, not so much as a ‘best of’ list but as a way of keeping track of what stood out to me when reflecting on the year and as an efficient way to revisit what I was doing and thinking at the time. I’ve continued to do them as I find the process valuable and others have told me they enjoy the recommendations as well. This is now the third edition (you can find the 2020 edition here and 2021 here) and while I continue to write these primarily for myself, I hope that you’re able to find resources or recommendations in here that benefit your life in some way.
TV, Film, YouTube
Severance (Apple TV) - I thought this was the best show on TV this year, directed and produced by Ben Stiller of all people, and with one of the most enjoyable season finales ever.
White Lotus (HBO), Season 2 - I enjoyed the first season, but didn’t think it needed a second. Not only did this show come back even stronger in Sicily, it came back fast. Hugely impressive. Also another terrific season finale.
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), Season 2 - This show has become a staple in our household. I love it and won’t apologize for it.
Peacemaker (HBO) - The best opening sequence on TV, a brilliant soundtrack, obscure DC characters, and John Cena on the piano. Now I’ve seen this I can’t wait to see what James Gunn does with the rest of DC.
The Rehearsal (HBO) - I went into this knowing nothing about Nathan Fielder’s TV shenanigans and had my jaw open the entire first episode as a result. Just when you think you’ve got the show figured out it changes again.
Everything Everywhere All At Once - as good as everyone says it is.
Stutz (Netflix) - Maybe I just need to get back to therapy myself, but I found this profile of Jonah Hill’s therapist Phil Stutz by Jonah Hill engaging and thought-provoking. Netflix has made some of the tools available to explore online.
The Batman - was not expecting to put a second comic book treatment on this list, let alone two from DC, but loved the aesthetic of this film - watching it felt exactly like reading a Frank Miller novel.
Windfall (Netflix) - this is a decent neo-noir film worth watching for the 90 minutes you’ll spend in this incredible house.
I feel like a billion years old saying this out loud, but I spent a lot more time watching YouTube on TV this year. This livestream from an artificial watering hole in the Namib Desert is part of my life now. I’m obsessed with everything featured on The Local Project. Also: Alison Roman, Hot Ones, and hatewatching this guy taking very expensive train rides.
Honorable mentions to Slow Horses (I disliked Gary Oldman’s character in Season 1 of this show, but am glad I gave Season 2 a chance), The Peripheral and Outer Range (both on Amazon and both deserving of second seasons), The Patient and The Bear (brilliantly done although will induce PTSD for anyone with experience in restaurants), Our Flag Means Death, the final season of The Expanse (I really hope they find a way to finish the show because the last three books are the best in the series), 1899 (Dark but make it easier for the normies to follow), Goodnight Oppy and Glass Onion (fun!). House of the Dragon started slow, got good in its last few episodes, and will be brutal to watch when it finally returns.
Games
I spent almost no time on a console this year - but have become quite addicted to Stellaris Galaxy Command on iOS. I’m also contemplating confiscating one of the kids’ Switches in order to play Return to Monkey Island. Outside of these, and the insane stuff that is coming down the pike from Unity, my gaming highlight of the year is the promo trailer for The Last Of Us series on HBO arriving imminently.
Books
I didn’t spend nearly enough time in books this year, but two stuck out:
Arthur C Brooks’ From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. I picked this up after reading an excerpt of sorts in the Atlantic. The first half of the book is powerful and useful and made me feel good about trying to learn from someone whose perspectives differ from my own (this guy ran AEI). Ironically perhaps, in the second half, the author makes a pitch for religion as the answer, at which point I put it down and haven’t picked it up since. If I finish it I’ll let you know in 2023.
Peter Pomerantsev’s Nothing is True and Everything is Possible. This book was referenced in an article I linked to in last year’s set of recommendations. It was published in 2014, but is just as relevant now to anyone interested in understanding the dynamics at play in Russia and the production of state-based propaganda.
Music
This year I continued the practice I started last year of compiling my favorite tracks on a quarterly basis into Spotify lists. I’ve yet to finish Q4 and the FY lists, but you can find Q1, Q2, and Q3 here.
This year I was particularly into this cover of Years by Sierra Ferell, One Last FU by Lucero, John Craigie’s Laurie Rolled Me a J and Helena, Nikki Lane’s Try Harder, James McMurty - What’s The Matter and If It Don’t Bleed, Corb Lund’s Age Like Wine and That’s What Keeps the Rent Down, Baby, Rocksteady and Understood by Built to Spill, There’s a Moon On by The Pixies, Isaac Opatz’s cover of Getting Drunk on a Plane, Bad Moves - Working for Free, Cujo Kiddies by Disq, Watermelon, the White Lotus theme song, this slowed down version of Heat Waves, these covers of Anti-Hero, and of course - I’m only human after all - As It Was.
I got more into ambient music and learned on Twitter that the current CEO of Amtrak had an ambient music project inspired by trains. I also loved Daft Science by Coins - Beastie Boys / Daft Punk mashup, and Public Service Broadcasting’s Tiny Desk Concert.
Also, finally: Radio everywhere
Podcasts
I’m keeping this list pretty short given the amount of time I spent listening to podcasts this year, but here are some of my favorite episodes of the year
The 80,000 Hours interviews with New Zealander and OpenAIer Richard Ngo (transcript here) and Matthew Yglesias.
The Future of Life interviews with Anders Sandberg who is working on an interesting-sounding ‘Grand Futures’ project and a three part series with Ajeya Cotra, including ‘Thinking Clearly in a Rapidly Changing World’
Lex Fridman’s interviews with Magnus Carlsen and DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis. Continue to be disappointed by some of the ideas Fridman is willing to entertain in good faith, but found these conversations extremely valuable.
The Ancients on the mythology of Alexander the Great and the Christian Destruction of the Classical World
Other shows I listened to on a regular basis this year included Cold Takes, Bad Takes, Media & Communications, Politics War Room, The Josh Marshall Podcast, Positively Dreadful, Sinica, Pivot, Sound Opinions, The Agenda, and the BYC Podcast.
And of course everyone should listen to This Week Next Week.
Articles, op-eds, talks, papers
On culture, society, business, leadership
Stephen Davies - History is in the making
Brian Klaas - How the world sped up
Bart Erhman’s lectures, especially this summary of his book “How Jesus Became God” in parts 1, 2, 3. - As someone who grew up going to a Christian school, reading the Bible daily, etc I’ve become fascinated by the historicity of the Bible this year.
Toby Shorin - Life After Lifestyle
Jason Kottke’s observations on The Dangers of Elite Projection
Derek Thompson - What Moneyball for Everything has Done to American Culture
Authority’s interview with Joe Stewart
James Meek - What are you willing to do?
Josh Wolfe continues to release Lux’s quarterly letters to their partners. here’s Q2 and Q3
McKinsey on Globalization
Dorie Clark on being a long-term thinker in a short-term world
This HBR piece on Why Group Brainstorming is a Waste of Time
IFTF’s Jane McGonigal on thinking 10 years ahead
On communications and marketing
Everything Renee DiResta writes, including this thread about tropes, this piece on How Online Mobs Act Like Flocks of Birds, and her observations on the move to synthetic info
Jessica Kleiman - It’s a Tough Time to be in Communications
Walter Kirn - The Bullshit
AR Moxon on ‘Atmosphere’
Venkatesh Rao - The Speakeasy Imagineering Network
Dan Kois - My PR Day of Yes
Nathan Allebach - When Brands Got Horny on Main
Ben Garfinkel - Literary Metaphors, Deepities, and Motte-and-Baileys
On AI:
Samuel Hammond - The Coming Flood
Jack Clark’s spicy takes thread on AI policy
Fine-Tuning Language Models to find Agreement Among Humans with Diverse Preferences
Out of One, Many: Using Language Models to Simulate Human Samples
New Zealand cofounder of Deep Mind' Shane Legg’s University Thesis: Machine Super Intelligence
On technology and the future generally:
Clive Thompson - The Real Reason to Learn to Code: Automating Your Life
Pew / Elon University - Hopes for Digital Life in 2035
This Brookings pub on Superhuman Science - a good companion piece to Holden Karnofsky’s thoughts on PASTA last year.
Google on hidden interfaces for ambient computing
Eli Dourado - Nanotechnology’s Spring
Websites, platforms, and cool initiatives
ChatGPT and the OpenAI Playground and DALL-E 2
Recipes
Molly Baz’s Breakfast Sandwich
Rao’s Sunday Gravy
This fantastic recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara
Alison Roman’s Slow-Roasted Turkey Legs with Garlic and Herbs as the new go-to for Thanksgiving
Julia Child’s French Onion Soup (inspired by this video)
America’s Test Kitchen Sous Vide Prime Rib
Products, Services, and Purchases
Twitter - While I don’t think it’s possible for me to ever stop using Twitter entirely, I’m happy to say this year’s drama has finally given me the excuse I needed to spend less time on the platform. Aside from everything else going on this year I’ve come to realize that nearly every Tweet in my feed reinforces cynicism or denigrates someone - which even when hilarious or deserved as they usually are - pushes me toward being someone I don’t want to be.
Google Nest and Google Home - we’ve slowly been accumulating Google smart home products and now can’t live without them.
Zero - because I’m a complete cliche, I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting and have found this app to be incredibly helpful.
NYT’s Gaming Products. I should probably have put these in the gaming section, but it’s been interesting to see how sticky these products have become. Unbelievably, Wordle was a thing that happened this year. Not only am I still doing it, it’s succeeded in pulling me back into the Crossword and Spelling Bee as well.
Yardzen. We commissioned these guys to give us a plan for our backyard and were super happy with the results.
Nike x Tom Sachs’ General Purpose shoe. I loved the marketing for the original and its successor - then of course felt the rage like everyone else when there weren’t enough to go around (nicely exploited by Atoms, here) and finally succumbed to picking up a pair on StockX.
The Loftie alarm clock. Beautifully designed, and a combination of high tech and low tech.
Charge cars and Polestar. Didn’t buy either of these, but these models are both getting me excited about what’s now possible in electric vehicles when our lease ends.
As the luxury watch market becomes more and more ridiculous, it’s been fun to -ahem- watch alternatives rush in to fill the gap in the market. The Moonswatch (the most interesting product launch of the year?) is a welcome play to make the exclusive (appear at least) more accessible and I’m also into some of these models from Unimatic.
Year in Review - highlights and observations
Looking back now, 2022 feels like a very long year. What began hopefully was quickly complicated by the outrageous invasion of Ukraine, the morphing of the pandemic into a cold and flu season that continues to put hospitals and the healthcare system under enormous strain, and the cascading consequences of economic anxiety.
Amidst all of that, however, the following stood out to me as personal highlights:
In May, Penelope and William turned thirteen and we celebrated as a family at Murray’s in Minneapolis. In some ways it feels like they’ve been teenagers for years already, but there’s nothing like your kids crossing that threshold to put things in perspective.
In July, my brother paid us a visit from New Zealand. This was Pete’s first big trip after some significant health issues. It was wonderful to spend time together - not only was this our first extended period living together in over twenty years - it also allowed me to experience the US as an outsider again through him. We made road trips to St Louis (if you’re ever there don’t sleep on Pappy’s Smokehouse), Nashville, and Kansas City and to Chicago.
While I wrestle with my feelings about where I am in my own career, my biggest professional inspiration this year has been the successes of people I’ve been lucky enough to work with in the past who are now thriving with their own companies and creative endeavors. To namecheck just a few: Melissa Gore (Heat Waves) and Fern Diaz (Art Camp) both now run their own fantastic agencies; Mariam Aldahi was named managing editor at New York Magazine! Carola Lovering has written multiple best-selling novels and debuted a TV show - Tell Me Lies - on Hulu; Michelle Pulman’s interior design business continues to grow; Lindsay Stuart is the dynamic host of Creative Mornings in LA as well as comms director at the Noun Project; Amaani Hamid graduated Berkely and founded a climate change solutions company; Cara Hessels is making Amazon culturally relevant; Lauren Streib is running content marketing at Paramount; Larry Lac is a creative leader at Meta; and Martyna Borkowski is helping run the show at Getty Images.
Last Christmas, the James Webb telescope launched. This year was full of incredible new technological advances (more on that below), but this is one that has continued to bring wonder and happiness all year long. I suppose I have become more and more of a space fan this year because other highlights included SpaceX’s Starship vision, attending some of the space programming at SXSW in March (the return of SXSW as a whole was a highlight), and the success of NASA’s asteroid deflection/DART initiative.
I was very pleased to be part of Sean Garrett’s Mixing Board collective this year. This is a great network to be part of as a communications professional as well as a consulting resource for anyone looking to get access to some of the best thinkers in corporate communications and strategy around.
The Black Ferns won the women’s Rugby World Cup at home and showed everyone that women’s rugby can be more exciting than the men’s game.
Some thoughts about the future
As someone who’s been invested in the AI revolution for several years now, 2022 was obviously an incredibly exciting year from a development and capabilities standpoint. It has also been gratifying to see so many organizations embrace the challenge of AI safety and policy development - which only a few years ago was treated as a joke.
But these same advances likely mean the change and chaos that has exhausted so many of us over the last several years is only going to accelerate. Abstract debates will quickly give way to urgent and practical concerns as we find AI does not need to be superintelligent to be much more capable than people in a growing number of fields.
Given this, I suppose it has been good to see governments around the world getting serious about technology. This year the Biden administration not only introduced an AI bill of rights, but also signed an executive order to improve the digital government experience as a whole. In the above context, however, these initiatives - and much of the policy debate over things like privacy - feels laughably niche. I’ve written previously that we need to make technology a political issue at the popular level. This is true not only because the consequences and externalities created by technology have been shaping our politics for years, but because we desperately need conversations at all levels about what futures are now possible, what futures we want, and how we will use technology to achieve them. At the very least, we need to be prepared for the coming prestige collapse as more and more skills become obsolete.
Perhaps perversely, I was happy to see OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweet recently that AI should mean no one will have to work if they don’t want to, as personally, this is my own great hope for humanity. But outcomes like these are unlikely to happen by themselves and it is not the job of OpenAI or any company to make them happen. We must get serious about what ends we want to work towards at a society-level - not only because they will give us the best chance of achieving them, but because they will ultimately make the granular fights over things like privacy and content moderation much easier to resolve.
A focus on outcomes is also important to distract us from our current preoccupation with being right. Reading the continually great climate writer and thinker Alex Steffen, it dawned on me this year that many of us expect the coming consequences of climate change to finally open people’s eyes to the arguments climate change advocates have been making for years and create public demand for their solutions and policy recommendations. It is quite clear to me now that once the effects of climate change are disruptive enough to change people’s ways of life, it’s the authoritarians and reactionaries who will give people the urgent answers they want instead. In the same way that being too early is supposed to be the same as being wrong, being right may be irrelevant if you’re not also prepared to do what it takes to achieve the outcome you really want - or worse - if you haven’t even thought through what outcomes you really want at all.
Professionally it also became quite clear this year that mid-career people like myself need to learn to let go of the prestige attached to tasks that AI can already do and learn how to use new tools to do our jobs and - crucially - rethink what our jobs are and push our capabilities to the next level. Young people and people who are just beginning their careers now have none of the professional equity or identity attached to “being a good writer” for example, and by augmenting their own creativity with AI will quickly obliterate those of us who don’t - before the machines inevitably catch up to them as well.
Perhaps counterintuitively given the dire employability prediction I just set out above, I also feel deep frustration at the lack of innovation present in the mainstream communications industry. While we watch and promote radical advances in other industries due to the application of science and technology, much of the way we do our work today feels mired in 20th-century thinking and practices. An urgent need and opportunity exists to bring the best of behavioral science, psychology, technology, and design together to understand and execute communications initiatives in completely new ways in a world where most information is synthetically produced - and even consumed. In this area I’m especially keen to hear from people familiar with journals, podcasts, publications, companies, or organizations that are uniting thinkers in these fields through the lens of communications and information design.
Finally, some accountability on my part. In previous posts I have apologetically applauded Elon Musk as a leader to be emulated despite his shortcomings. Last year I wrote “Whether it’s acceptable or not to like or admire Musk, I simply wish there were more leaders who, like him, were truly focused on the future and willing to risk everything in order to build something that matters.” While I’m still prepared to believe that that was true of Musk before April this year - I found his Starship update in February inspiring - his unraveling has been one of the year’s biggest disappointments. I have my own theories on “what happened to Elon” but what happened to Elon has also been the prompt I needed to explore and appreciate other examples of leaders with inspirational visions for the future.
That’s it for 2022. Thanks for reading. Maybe next year this post will be fully automated and you’ll have a bot read it and tell you what it thinks you’d find useful instead.