Jesse Singer articles

The idea was simple, practical and designed to solve a problem almost every shopper had. Store owners stood to make more money, customers would have an easier time, and there seemed to be almost no downside. Except for the fact that customers hated them. But, how does anyone hate a shopping cart you ask?

There was a time when bestselling authors were actual celebrities, and their names alone could sell millions of books. But ask someone born after 2000 who they are, and expect some blank stares. How many of these authors do you remember? More than five?

Humanity has spent thousands of years pushing past limits that once seemed impossible. But there is a theoretical point on the civilization scale that, if humans ever reached it, well...the consequences would go far beyond better technology.

Long before children can explain what they believe, their minds are already trying to explain the world. Scientists wanted to know what happens during that mysterious period—and the deeper they looked, the harder one very simple question became to answer.

Some products arrive and everyone immediately sees the future. These were not those products. People mocked them, dismissed them as pointless, called them lazy, strange or simply impossible to sell. Then something funny happened. We started using them everywhere—and no one was laughing anymore.

You probably think you know yourself pretty well. What you like. What you’ll buy. Where you’ll go tomorrow. What you’ll do when somebody puts two choices in front of you. And maybe you can. But predictive algorithms can do it faster. And better.

Companies can spend years designing the perfect product, complete with instructions explaining exactly how we’re supposed to use it. Then they hand it to actual people. And that’s usually when things get interesting.

Doctors thought they understood ulcers. Then two Australian doctors came along with a very different idea. But when much of the medical world still refused to believe them, one of the doctors stopped arguing and did something much, much harder to ignore.

History is full of people who became famous for doing something incredible. The only problem? Some of them didn’t actually do it. But that didn’t stop them from taking the credit.