What we read this week (May 3)

Quote of the week

Broad dissemination and individual choice turn most technologies into a plus. If only the elites have access, it’s a dystopia.

–Ramez Naam

Articles of the week

• Quartz: How robots are eating the last of America’s—and the world’s—traditional manufacturing jobs
  As more and more jobs become automated, an “hourglass economy” is forming where middle-rung jobs are increasingly hard to come by – unless you’re a robot.
• Fast Company: Mailbox’s Gentry Underwood: What Hackers Should Know About Design Thinking
  An interview with Mailbox’s CEO, who does a good job of explaining the concepts of “lean startup” and Human Centered Design.
• MIT Technology Review: Your Body Does Not Want to Be an Interface
  John Pavlus on the awkwardness created when technology tries to turn your body into an interface. As he puts it: “Your body isn’t a tool for delivering your experience: it is your experience.”
• The Atlantic: How Facebook Designs the ‘Perfect Empty Vessel’ for Your Mind
  Alexis Madrigal talks to designers at Facebook about the tricks and decisions behind the interface that encourage users to create as much content as possible.
• Medium: Ramblings on Middlemen
  How the internet destroys middlemen and creates new ones while simultaneously shortening their potential life cycle.