This Week’s Curiosities: Coffee, Creativity, and Clever Machines

Robots are coming for our jobs, decaf is coming for our brains, and apparently writing grocery lists by hand says something profound about our personalities. This week’s links touch on everything from resin
printers that look like magic to unexpected sources of creative inspiration. Grab a cup of coffee, or placebo, and settle in for a links post.

Video: Robots will be taking our jobs. https://youtu.be/hHA4-nEBer8

Video: What happens when you cross an inkjet printer with resin “ink”? #nosponsor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMi0mpZOFqc. If I had the $2500 I would 100% be getting one of these things.

Stealing this from Austin Kleon. His “Creativity hack”? Read obituaries to expose yourself to unusual ideas. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-creativity-hack-no-one-told-you-about-read-the-obits/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

As a life-long coffee drinker, it didn’t surprise me in the least that the effects of drinking coffee are as much about the ritual than the caffeine: https://www.psypost.org/new-research-shows-decaf-coffee-can-mimic-caffeines-effects-in-habitual-drinkers/

I tend to use an app for shopping lists, but will sometimes transfer them to paper so that I don’t have to have my phone in my hand at the store. Turns out, I’m not a Luddite! https://geediting.com/gen-if-you-still-write-shopping-lists-on-paper-instead-of-using-your-phone-psychology-says-you-have-these-7-distinct-qualities/