BradBerens.com
Thoughts about where our real and digital worlds collide.

  • Shakespeare and the Attacks on Venezuela

    Recent political events resemble a moment from “King Henry IV, Part Two.”  I am an apex nerd. My passions include science fiction, comic books, fountain pens (a fresh rabbit hole into which I’ve faaaaallen) and comedy. As a researcher, I examine how our behavior changes, and doesn’t change, in the face of new technologies, most…

  • My 2025 in Books

    My annual journey across the books I read over the year. If you’re looking for a good read (or books to avoid) then you’ve come to the right place! Happy New Year! Note: Since this week’s issue is longer than most, your email might truncate it, particularly if you use gmail. At the truncation, just click…

  • Do We REALLY Need More Storytellers?

    Corporations are creating storyteller positions, but can this work? A December 12th story in the Wall Street Journal ($)—”Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’: Brands trying to wrest greater control of their narratives are asking for ‘storytelling’ skill sets—without a campfire in sight” by Katie Deighton—sparked a brief blaze of enthusiastic agreement on my LinkedIn feed. Although this seems like…

  • The AI Lies We Tell Ourselves

    We have to get real about when human skills are better than AI… and if anybody cares. I’m reluctant to loan out nonfiction books because I fill my books with marginalia arguments with authors. I worry that if people read these marked up books they’ll think I’ve slipped a cog. The same worry overtakes me…

  • Face: The Final Frontier

    A decade after Google Glass, are smart glasses finally becoming a thing? Although we’ve all had our individual journeys with the internet, the journey of the internet itself has been one of increasing intimacy. At first, we had to go somewhere else to get online: to a lab somewhere at a business or university. Then…

  • Why Don’t We Have This Already?—Streaming

    In a new thread about technologies and services that should already exist, I ask why—with all the data streamers have about us—it’s so hard to find something to watch together? I have long worried that Amazon thinks I’m crazy. More precisely, I worry that Amazon thinks I suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder—a.k.a. the many faces…

  • Not-Safe-For-Work AI Deepfake Review

    I look at fake Pixar previews, allegedly “banned” dirty song recordings, and a disturbingly-convincing Star Trek blooper. How long can reality last?  Trigger Warning (yes, I said it): Humor is subjective and always at least a bit mean. Malice, as Lady Sneerwell says in Sheridan’s School for Scandal, is “the barb that makes wit stick.”* Also, anytime…

  • “Change Your Life” Productivity Tools & How to Use Them

    In our age of information overload, here—newly revised and updated—are the everyday tools I use to manage the chaos. As regular readers know, I think a lot about our limited attention and how to conserve it. One way to do this is to deal with the super-soaker of information squirting at your face all day, every…

  • Am I Becoming an iPhone Recluse?

    I started experiencing profound relief every night when I powered down my smartphone. Why is that? Overture: What follows is an atypical piece from me. It’s a lightly-edited journal entry that explores territory adjacent to “My Quest to be Whelmed” from a month ago.  Soundtrack: I’ve never suggested music to have playing when reading one…

  • Keyword: Satisficing

    There’s a difference between making “good enough” decisions and always trying to make the best decision, which is exhausting. This article is the fifth in my keywords thread, but you don’t need to read anything else to understand this one. Barry Schwartz, author of the useful book The Paradox of Choice, recently appeared on The Happiness Lab podcast to talk…