Heureka Labs

Thinking

Exploratory

Exploratory data analysis (EDA) is an approach used in statistics and data science, often leading to summarization and visualization of a dataset. This approach is often antithetical to a hypothesis: having an idea and then explicitly testing for its validity. Which is better?

Thinking

Custodial

When Canadian truckers protested COVID mask mandates by blocking key transportation routes along their border with the US, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the "Emergencies Act". Whether or not you agree with the truckers' protests, or with Trudeau's response, this...changes...everything.

Building

Rethink everything. Starting with meetings.

The global conversation is familiar, "will things go back to normal"? The collective answer is "I hope so...and I hope not". Disruption is a time for change. And if we think beyond skeuomorphism, we can find ways to do things better. Starting with meetings.

Art

The Bull and The Ape

Pablo Picasso created a group of eleven lithographs called 'The Bull'. In this series, Picasso breaks down the visual form of a bull to discover the essential aspects. But 'The Bull' is not just an exercise in simplicity or Picasso's unique style; 'The Bull' is an exercise in abstraction.

Art

gene(rative) art

The gene(rative) collection is a generative art project where each human gene is depicted as a barcode, a symbol that represents a unique idea.

Thinking

abstract memes

Beyond "funny pictures", memes are abstractions. They capture the essence of an idea in a memorable, relatable, or comical way, and are often related to cultural or current events. Memes work because they share information in an efficient way across a culture.

Art

WYSIATI

In 1974, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman wrote an iconic article in Science Magazine entitled "Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases". They lay out the case and conclude that mental heuristics are highly economical and usually effective, but lead to systematic and predictable errors.

Computing

chmod 777 internet

The internet is changing. And to know where it's going, it's useful to know where it's been.

Thinking

How web3 will enable a new wave of creativity

Web3 is a term for new ways of interacting with the internet with new incentives. If Web 1.0 is summarized as most people passively consuming content, and Web 2.0 is the social web where people create content, then Web3 is about creating and owning their content.

Thinking

The Future Place of Creative Genius

There will never be another Silicon Valley. Like there will never be another Renaissance or Ancient Greece. These locations each had vital elements that came together to form a magical time-place combination. Looking forward, the future place of creative genius isn’t a ‘place’ at all.

Building Featured

Sell the sawdust

One of the key ideas behind building reputation online is consistently generating proof of work. But how do you do this ? By 'selling the sawdust'. The beauty of this idea is that most people are already doing it, but just not realizing it.

Thinking

The Place of Creative Genius (part III)

In the end, Weiner concludes no single environmental factor can be attributed to genius, because all the parts are connected. It’s not genius views on: observation, exploration, on risk and failure, cognitive flexibility, embracing chaos, teams, or moments in time; it’s all of them.

Thinking

The Place of Creative Genius (part II)

Failure is an opportunity to learn — to view failure as one experiment along with many trials and errors. The geniuses knew something that the rest were trying to figure out.

Thinking

The Place of Creative Genius (part I)

As the Renaissance ended in Florence, Italy, the scientific revolution marched through Western Europe, marking the emergence of modern scientific thinking. Rapid developments transformed society’s views of nature. So what was it about this place and time that produced so many ‘creative geniuses’?

Learning

Stories on Exploring with Harmit Malik

This week Matthew is joined by Harmit Malik to talk all things heroes, villains, and genomes. Tune in as Harmit explores genetic conflict and explains its implications. His journey reminds us to stay motivated and trust our instincts when it comes to experimentation.

Communicating

Redesigning the digital lab

At the beginning of the pandemic, labs shuttered. Everything quickly moved online. Despite some successes, the community quickly realized these experiments largely failed. While some choose to ignore these results, others are designing new experiments to run a successful lab in this digital century.

Thinking

Totally Radical

When I first started in science, I did a lot of reading. It seemed like a good idea at the time: read the literature. Get familiar with the field. Think deeply. And come up with a new idea. But this approach no longer works and we need to radically re-imagine the way we approach science.

Thinking

Permissionless

Every graduate student in the biomedical sciences has a 'super-top-secret-side-project'. In the past few years, this permissionless ethos is found in fields as far-ranging as finance, journalism, therapy, art, and beyond. A new permissionless economy has arrived and no one will ask to send it back.

Thinking

Play infinite games

A finite game is played to win. An infinite game is played for the sake of playing. Business is the archetype of an infinite game. Science is an infinite game too. Rather than chasing promotions or the next big thing whose rewards quickly fade, the game should be played over the long term.

Thinking

Be a motivated person who does things

Everything has been written about motivation, except, perhaps, the quotes in the gallery. But what makes motivation a perennial muse? The mystique surrounding our shared experience: doing things we want to do can be hard. How can we become more motivated?

Building

My system to automatically import blog posts into Obsidian

Obsidian is great for generating ideas and writing new articles. But sometimes, I write new articles elsewhere. Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't manually transfer articles into Obsidian? In this post, I'm going to show you the system I've built to automatically import new posts into Obsidian.

Thinking

Can computational thinking provide the answer?

In the past ten years, computational thinking has emerged as a 'new type' of thinking, inspired by computing and the incalculable impact it has had on society. But what exactly is computational thinking, and can you teach it?

Building

My system to make thumbnails in 30 seconds

YouTube thumbnails are important. If no one clicks on your video, then no one will ever learn anything from it. But you also can't spend hours making the perfect thumbnail. So what do you do? In this video, I'm going to show you the system I've built around making thumbnails in 30 seconds.

Computing Featured

Why you need to learn to program

A generation ago, a balanced liberal arts education was measured by a student's ability to read and write. The next generation of students will be measured by digital literacy, fluency in 'coding' languages, and their ability to uncover patterns in data and communicate their findings.

Thinking

Build a system to work smarter, not harder

"I'm too busy" is a thinly veiled way of saying "that's not important". When I first heard this idea, it completely changed the way I thought about being busy. So how do we find time to do the things we want to do?