Go Flip Yourself.

🪩🗽🪡 aaaaand Mathilde did it again: this time with a behind-the-scenes from our latest Objet soirée in NYC -first one in the big apple, definitely not the last I can promise you.

is throwing a party 3,800mi from home (vs 5,800mi) easier? let's find out

🛌 💤 latest instalment of the Objet column in Dirt with Erin Somers on sleepwalking, surveillance delusions, and the anxieties of adulthood: The Sleep Mask.

🌎 ‘changing the world’ has become a sort of joke and yet, it’s quite hard to be more inspiring. ‘Making the world better’ resonates on so many front. Adam delivered a great piece to unlock everyone’s good intentions in Underrated ways to change the world.

I don’t know all the ways to get our good intentions unblocked. That’s why, whenever I spot someone changing the world via a righteous road less taken, I write it down on a little list. I glance at that list from time to time as a way of expanding my imagination, and now I’m sharing it in the hopes that it’ll do the same for you.

⛪️ I’ve been completely absorbed by Scott's book review on The Rise of Christianity. Imagine:

The rise of Christianity is a great puzzle. In 40 AD, there were maybe a thousand Christians. Their Messiah had just been executed, and they were on the wrong side of an intercontinental empire that had crushed all previous foes. By 400, there were forty million, and they were set to dominate the next millennium of Western history.

Imagine taking a time machine to the year 2300 AD, and everyone is Scientologist. The United States is >99% Scientologist. So is Latin America and most of Europe. The Middle East follows some heretical pseudo-Scientology that thinks L Ron Hubbard was a great prophet, but maybe not the greatest prophet.

This can only begin to capture how surprised the early Imperial Romans would be to learn of the triumph of Christianity. At least Scientology has a lot of money and a cut-throat recruitment arm! At least they fight back when you persecute them! At least they seem to be in the game!

🫂 as a community-participant and builder for so long, Elise's post resonated deeply: What We Lose When Optimizing Community. And I can’t agree more on this conclusion:

As participants, let us widen our zone of comfort with organizations or groups who have ancient facebook pages or websites where you aren’t sure where you even put your e-mail address. Maybe we trust them more because they’ve managed to keep going in real life…without optimizing the internet.

🕸 talking about ‘optimizing the internet’, I really enjoyed that one from Seth: You need a website, not another social media account to manage — and of course it made me reflect on my own use. Not only the personal side of myself -i do try to think first about my own website k7v.in before rushing/ spending time on any social platform- but also the professional side of everything: should Objet be even active -at least, present- on social media for instance?

It’s time to build something that lasts - your own website, a homebase on the internet that becomes the primary source of all the work you put out into the world.

🤖 I’ve had a special connection to Foursquare when I was a student [i.e. heavy daily user]. As a skateboarder I’ve always nurtured a special relationship to the urban environment, the streets, the city. So Foursquare’s been a huge inspiration. It made me follow Dennis’ work for a while. Then I had the chance to meet him IRL in NYC a few years ago and I met someone very nice and thoughtful. Here’s a cool conversation between him and Om Malik: the Future of AR is in Your Ears.

In my conversation with Crowley, we discuss his latest startups, convergence of new technologies, and what it means for the future. We get into a conversation about AI, our children, and entrepreneurship. He talks about attempting to make sense of it all while staying true to his original mission: building things that help people better experience the world around them.

🇸🇬 I was typically using Foursquare during my first and then second time in Singapore. I ended up living there for almost 2 years. This place is special. There’s no other way to put it. Of course it’s extra special to me -and my other half- since it represents many of our first times: living together, living in Asia, living on the other side of the world, becoming fully independent, first job etc. Obviously I feel deeply connected to the place; and I’m lucky enough I’ve kept many friends -among them the godfather of my eldest kid- over there.

When I talk about Singapore to people I can see a mismatch, between the cliché, what they experienced over a few hours transit, and my own experience. I enjoyed Arun’s report -and pictures- here: Art and culture in Singapore.