Cyberman №2 — How Ed Sheeran planned his whole career, what it takes to learn to play an instrument, how to become a great impostor, new album from Lana Del Rey
Welcome fellow Cyber people.
Every week, this newsletter will bring you a few interesting articles about contemporary human beings, machines, and interactions between them.
It will be curated to bring different perspectives to these subjects, to ask important questions and maybe suggest a few possible answers.
You can find more articles on our Facebook Page or website.
Enjoy!
How to become a great impostor
Ferdinand Waldo Demara took several different identities during his more than 20 years long career as a trickster. He was not motivated by greed, which eventually became his weak point.
“Since his aim was to do good, anything he did to do it was justified. With Demara, the end always justifies the means.”
…
“Marketing and psychology expert Robert Cialdini’s work on the techniques of persuasion in business might offer insight into how people like Demara can succeed, and why it is that others believe them. Cialdini found that there are six universal principles of influence that are used to persuade business professionals: reciprocity, consistency, social proof, getting people to like you, authority and scarcity.”
Ed Sheeran planned and executed his career with unbelievable detail. He just completed one of the biggest tours ever and is planning an 18 months retreat.
Can we use his example in planning our own careers and life?
“Sheeran went on to outline his career plan with, in hindsight, unnerving specificity: he wanted to release two more albums, each named after a mathematical symbol, then one of the duets with big-name stars. And lo! It has come to pass, with + followed by x, Multiply and No 6 Collaborations Project. Even this recent quasi-retirement gels with what Sheeran told Petridis seven years ago, that, after all that success, he would “calm it down a bit”.”
…
“Their achievements may not be exactly scaleable, what with their good looks, supportive (and probably wealthy) parents, connections and talent — but many successful people find taking a mid- to long-term view pays off. After founding Spotify at age 23, Daniel Ek took to organizing his life in five-year commitments. “I really wanted to see what would happen if I applied myself to one thing, and only one thing … And the longest I could imagine spending on anything was five years.” He has since ramped it up to 10 years.”
Trying to learn to play the piano via an app
How do we learn to play an instrument? How do we learn other stuff? Is it possible to find a shortcut? Or to be good enough without the anecdotal 10,000 hours?
“How we learn to play music has stayed pretty much the same for most of human history: You get an instrument, pay someone to teach you to play it, and practice endlessly. It’s a tried-and-true combination of memorization, muscle memory, and applied theory. It takes serious time and commitment to get good, which is what makes the prospect so daunting.”
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“My goal is simple: to become as proficient at playing music as I can, as quickly as I can, without the help of a teacher, and with the help of technology. I allot myself a month. By the end, I will have to produce some tangible results. It’s a crash course on the democratization of music.”
For the end of this issue listen to Doin’ Time, a song from a new Lana Del Rey album Norman Fucking Rockwell:
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