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Explaining the world
one sketch at a time

Have great conversations about ideas through simple and insightful sketches. Visual explanations that are fast to read, fun to share, and hard to forget.

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In a Book: Big Ideas Little Pictures

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Absorb big ideas with crystal-clear understanding through this collection of 135 visual explanations. Including 24 exclusive new sketches and enhanced versions of classic favourites, each page shares life-improving ideas through beautifully simple illustrations.

Perfect for curious minds and visual learners alike.

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Hi, I'm Jono 👋

I'm an author and illustrator creating one of the world's largest libraries of hand-drawn sketches explaining the world—sketch-by-sketch.

Sketchplanations have been shared millions of times and used in books, articles, classrooms, and more. Learn more about the project, search for a sketch you like, or see recent sketches below.

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What is a rich picture diagram — a group of people sketching a rich picture about planning a group holiday, showing connected ideas, icons, and notes on a large whiteboard to visualise a complex situation.

Rich Pictures: Making Sense of Complex Problems

Sometimes, when faced with a new challenge, you just don't know where to start. One good way to get going is with a rich picture. What is a Rich Picture? A rich picture diagram is a systems thinking tool used to make sense of complicated or unclear situations. It helps you visualise everything you know or think about a problem space — without needing a strict method, structure, or artistic skill. I love it because the format is deliberately flexible: you can include people, processes, relationships, emotions, metaphors, and connections. It does not have to look good. In fact, it’s probably better if it doesn’t so you’re more likely to get stuck in and edit it. The act of drawing it out helps you clarify your thinking and see how different parts of the situation connect. It's not just getting what you know onto a page; it's actually thinking and making connections as you go. It makes your thinking visible, allowing you to create and discover more connections. It's part analysis, part reflection, and part creative exploration. Why Use Rich Pictures? Rich picture diagramming is widely used in business analysis, systems design, and problem-solving because it: Reveals hidden assumptions Encourages collaboration and shared understanding Highlights conflicts or misunderstandings early Supports creative and divergent thinking Provides a low-pressure, inclusive way to explore ideas You don’t need a rich picture template — just a large piece of paper (or whiteboard) and the freedom to draw. Rich Pictures in a Group for Shared Understanding Even more powerful than creating one alone is creating a rich picture in a group. The magic of doing an activity like this together is making team members' implicit understanding visible and differences in opinions and assumptions apparent. By making mental models visible, the rich picture helps uncover where people's views differ and where they align — a critical step for building shared understanding in teams. When these implicit understandings and assumptions are in conflict, the team can work together to build a shared understanding or determine what data they need to gather. Shared understanding is critical for high-performing teams to solve problems and create new products or services. Rich Picture Example: Planning a Group Holiday Here's an example: imagine a team designing a product to help people plan group holidays. People arrange group holidays all the time, but if you've been involved, you probably know that it's not straightforward. The team could start by sketching a rich picture that captures everything involved: Initial interest Preferences of types of holidays coordinated between the group Ways of sharing options Filtering and decision-making processes Tools to gather practical options Constraints like budget, dates, baggage limits, length, language, and travel times Coordinating payment Meal planning Logistics Individual preferences in comfort, luxury, food, activities, sleeping arrangements Travel means, distances and time Tools to communicate and plan There's so much! While any team wanting to improve this process should speak with people who have gone on, or want to do, group holidays, drawing a rich picture is a great way to start. You will quickly find out, for example, that different team members have different views of which are the difficult parts, which parts are easy, past experiences that worked or didn't, and more. By mapping these visually, the team can quickly see pain points, hidden complexity, and different perspectives — insights they can later validate through user research. As an aside, a rich picture in this sort of situation is a great example of the framing cycle from my PhD thesis: Effective Framing in Design (pdf). Rich Pictures are the Start A rich picture diagram doesn't solve things by itself. It's a way to get into a problem space, to unblock a team, to give avenues to explore, and to uncover hidden conflicts and assumptions. Once created, a team can start to dive into any aspect of the picture, refine it, or just put it to one side. It can be a starting point for more formal models like process maps, user journeys, or systems diagrams. Advantages of Rich Pictures Rich pictures are great when: You don't know where to start The problem is complex, cross-disciplinary, or wicked People have different views Everyone has lots of thoughts to get out There's some knowledge, but it's incomplete I love them because: they are very low pressure artifacts to create they don't require any special skills everyone can contribute they mix words, and simple visuals they can be structured or unstructured they're useful to look back on it's so releasing to get everything out of your head where it can be interrogated and understood they are inclusive for all thinking styles they spark great conversations A mind map is similar to a rich picture, but, in its traditional forms, has a more prescribed structure. Still, as in a mind map travel journal, it has a lot of similarities. Not sure where to start? Lots going on? Multiple perspectives? Maybe try a rich picture next time. Related Ideas to Rich Pictures Also see: Don't let your thinking be limited by your tools Six Thinking Hats Information Radiator Roger Martin's Knowledge Funnel: Mystery, Heuristic, Algorithm Build a mind map Mind map Travel Journal 6 Simple Sketch People I created this rich picture illustration and example as one of a series of visuals for Kaine Ugwu about Systems Thinking.Sometimes, when faced with a new challenge, you just don't know where to start. One good way to get going is with a rich picture. What is a Rich Picture? A rich picture diagram is a systems thinking tool used to make sense of complicated or unclear situations. It helps you visualise everything you know or think about a problem space — without needing a strict method, structure, or artistic skill. I love it because the format is deliberately flexible: you can include people, processes, relationships, emotions, metaphors, and connections. It does not have to look good. In fact, it’s probably better if it doesn’t so you’re more likely to get stuck in and edit it. The act of drawing it out helps you clarify your thinking and see how different parts of the situation connect. It's not just getting what you know onto a page; it's actually thinking and making connections as you go. It makes your thinking visible, allowing you to create and discover more connections. It's part analysis, part reflection, and part creative exploration. Why Use Rich Pictures? Rich picture diagramming is widely used in business analysis, systems design, and problem-solving because it: Reveals hidden assumptions Encourages collaboration and shared understanding Highlights conflicts or misunderstandings early Supports creative and divergent thinking Provides a low-pressure, inclusive way to explore ideas You don’t need a rich picture template — just a large piece of paper (or whiteboard) and the freedom to draw. Rich Pictures in a Group for Shared Understanding Even more powerful than creating one alone is creating a rich picture in a group. The magic of doing an activity like this together is making team members' implicit understanding visible and differences in opinions and assumptions apparent. By making mental models visible, the rich picture helps uncover where people's views differ and where they align — a critical step for building shared understanding in teams. When these implicit understandings and assumptions are in conflict, the team can work together to build a shared understanding or determine what data they need to gather. Shared understanding is critical for high-performing teams to solve problems and create new products or services. Rich Picture Example: Planning a Group Holiday Here's an example: imagine a team designing a product to help people plan group holidays. People arrange group holidays all the time, but if you've been involved, you probably know that it's not straightforward. The team could start by sketching a rich picture that captures everything involved: Initial interest Preferences of types of holidays coordinated between the group Ways of sharing options Filtering and decision-making processes Tools to gather practical options Constraints like budget, dates, baggage limits, length, language, and travel times Coordinating payment Meal planning Logistics Individual preferences in comfort, luxury, food, activities, sleeping arrangements Travel means, distances and time Tools to communicate and plan There's so much! While any team wanting to improve this process should speak with people who have gone on, or want to do, group holidays, drawing a rich picture is a great way to start. You will quickly find out, for example, that different team members have different views of which are the difficult parts, which parts are easy, past experiences that worked or didn't, and more. By mapping these visually, the team can quickly see pain points, hidden complexity, and different perspectives — insights they can later validate through user research. As an aside, a rich picture in this sort of situation is a great example of the framing cycle from my PhD thesis: Effective Framing in Design (pdf). Rich Pictures are the Start A rich picture diagram doesn't solve things by itself. It's a way to get into a problem space, to unblock a team, to give avenues to explore, and to uncover hidden conflicts and assumptions. Once created, a team can start to dive into any aspect of the picture, refine it, or just put it to one side. It can be a starting point for more formal models like process maps, user journeys, or systems diagrams. Advantages of Rich Pictures Rich pictures are great when: You don't know where to start The problem is complex, cross-disciplinary, or wicked People have different views Everyone has lots of thoughts to get out There's some knowledge, but it's incomplete I love them because: they are very low pressure artifacts to create they don't require any special skills everyone can contribute they mix words, and simple visuals they can be structured or unstructured they're useful to look back on it's so releasing to get everything out of your head where it can be interrogated and understood they are inclusive for all thinking styles they spark great conversations A mind map is similar to a rich picture, but, in its traditional forms, has a more prescribed structure. Still, as in a mind map travel journal, it has a lot of similarities. Not sure where to start? Lots going on? Multiple perspectives? Maybe try a rich picture next time. Related Ideas to Rich Pictures Also see: Don't let your thinking be limited by your tools Six Thinking Hats Information Radiator Roger Martin's Knowledge Funnel: Mystery, Heuristic, Algorithm Build a mind map Mind map Travel Journal 6 Simple Sketch People I created this rich picture illustration and example as one of a series of visuals for Kaine Ugwu about Systems Thinking.

✨ Latest

Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure

When a doctor or nurse takes your blood pressure, you’ll usually be told two numbers — for example, 120 over 80. But what do these numbers actually mean? Understanding Blood Pressure Readings A blood pressure reading measures how strongly your blood pushes against your artery walls as your heart beats. About once every second, your heart contracts and relaxes — your heartbeat. Each contraction pushes blood to your lungs to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen and sends oxygen-rich blood around your body. Inside your heart, a set of clever valves ensures blood flows in just one direction — out to your body during each contraction, then back in to refill the heart as it relaxes. Systolic Blood Pressure When your heart contracts, it forces blood out at its peak pressure — this is called systolic blood pressure. It’s the higher of the two numbers in a blood pressure reading. For example, in a reading of 120/80 mmHg, the 120 is your systolic pressure. It shows how hard your heart is working to pump blood through your arteries during the systole phase. Diastolic Blood Pressure When your heart relaxes between beats, the pressure in your arteries drops — this is called diastolic blood pressure. It's the lower number in your reading and represents the baseline pressure as blood continues to flow even while the heart rests. This occurs during the diastole phase, when the heart refills ready for the next contraction. A generous reader shared an analogy with me: Imagine a garden hose watering the grass. If you stomp on the hose the height of the spraying water briefly goes up from the extra oomph from the foot. This is analogous to the heart contracting (systolic). If you then raise your foot, the height of the spraying water goes down, but it continues to flow. This is analogous to the low flow state when the heart expands and refills (diastolic). An Example Blood Pressure Reading: 120/80 mmHg So, in a normal blood pressure range like 120/80: 120 – Systolic blood pressure (heart contracting) 80 – Diastolic blood pressure (heart relaxing) Together, these two numbers give a clear picture of how your heart and blood vessels are functioning — whether your blood pressure is normal, low, or high. The unit mmHg means millimetres of mercury. It corresponds to early pressure gauges that measured pressure by the height of mercury in a glass column. Related Sketches to Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Also see: 1.5 billion heartbeats in a lifetime The half-life of caffeine Biceps, Triceps, Quadriceps Proprioception Crossmodal perception Anatomy of a wave In case it's not obvious, this is not medical advice, and I am not a doctor—I just wanted to know what those two numbers really meant when someone took my blood pressure.When a doctor or nurse takes your blood pressure, you’ll usually be told two numbers — for example, 120 over 80. But what do these numbers actually mean? Understanding Blood Pressure Readings A blood pressure reading measures how strongly your blood pushes against your artery walls as your heart beats. About once every second, your heart contracts and relaxes — your heartbeat. Each contraction pushes blood to your lungs to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen and sends oxygen-rich blood around your body. Inside your heart, a set of clever valves ensures blood flows in just one direction — out to your body during each contraction, then back in to refill the heart as it relaxes. Systolic Blood Pressure When your heart contracts, it forces blood out at its peak pressure — this is called systolic blood pressure. It’s the higher of the two numbers in a blood pressure reading. For example, in a reading of 120/80 mmHg, the 120 is your systolic pressure. It shows how hard your heart is working to pump blood through your arteries during the systole phase. Diastolic Blood Pressure When your heart relaxes between beats, the pressure in your arteries drops — this is called diastolic blood pressure. It's the lower number in your reading and represents the baseline pressure as blood continues to flow even while the heart rests. This occurs during the diastole phase, when the heart refills ready for the next contraction. A generous reader shared an analogy with me: Imagine a garden hose watering the grass. If you stomp on the hose the height of the spraying water briefly goes up from the extra oomph from the foot. This is analogous to the heart contracting (systolic). If you then raise your foot, the height of the spraying water goes down, but it continues to flow. This is analogous to the low flow state when the heart expands and refills (diastolic). An Example Blood Pressure Reading: 120/80 mmHg So, in a normal blood pressure range like 120/80: 120 – Systolic blood pressure (heart contracting) 80 – Diastolic blood pressure (heart relaxing) Together, these two numbers give a clear picture of how your heart and blood vessels are functioning — whether your blood pressure is normal, low, or high. The unit mmHg means millimetres of mercury. It corresponds to early pressure gauges that measured pressure by the height of mercury in a glass column. Related Sketches to Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Also see: 1.5 billion heartbeats in a lifetime The half-life of caffeine Biceps, Triceps, Quadriceps Proprioception Crossmodal perception Anatomy of a wave In case it's not obvious, this is not medical advice, and I am not a doctor—I just wanted to know what those two numbers really meant when someone took my blood pressure.

19 Oct

Quote and advice from Jane Goodall's mother: If there's something you really want, you're going to have to work really hard, take advantage of opportunity and, above all, never give up.

And, above all, never give up

I wanted to share not just a short tribute to Jane Goodall, but also a tribute to Jane’s mother. Parents, after all, play a part in remarkable children. Here Jane shares a lesson from her mother that she clearly took to heart: If there’s something you really want, you’re going to have to work really hard, take advantage of opportunity and, above all, never give up. — Jane Goodall's mother, Vanne Goodall, (as recounted by Jane) It’s simple advice, but Jane embodied it. To her last days, she never gave up fighting for all of us. As she said, “I went to Africa as a scientist. I left the jungle as an activist.” One of her key realisations was that if we want to protect animals and the natural world, we have to help people out of extreme poverty. When you’re struggling to survive, the environment isn't your main concern, and animals can look like food. That’s why, perhaps counterintuitively, I've read that some of the most effective ways to help the planet and its wildlife are to help people out of poverty, and particularly by providing education and opportunities for women. For example, see Factfulness by Hans Rosling. Maybe your kids will hear what you tell them after all. A Little About Jane Goodall If you don't know much about Jane, she left England to study chimpanzees in Africa. She made many new discoveries about their behaviour, such as tool use, and hunting and eating meat. She also saw the threat to their habitat and safety and resolved to do something about it. She founded Roots & Shoots (global, USA), a program with the mission: "To foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for animals, people, and the environment." It particularly focuses on young people. The program continues today through the Jane Goodall Institute. “We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place.” — Dr. Jane Goodall Jane shared these lessons from her mother in the course I took from her on Masterclass. Jane has also written many books, though I haven't read them. There are also plenty of talks from her that you can watch online. As a small aside, Masterclass isn't cheap, but if you're at a point where you're ready to pack in some learning, there are some amazing classes and teachers on there. They don't sponsor this newsletter...but maybe they should 🤔 Related Ideas to Above All, Never Give Up Also see: A World of 4 Income Levels: beyond developing and developed Going Out was Really Going In Mangroves There is No Away Climate anxiety and the cure of action Hitched to Everything Else in the UniverseI wanted to share not just a short tribute to Jane Goodall, but also a tribute to Jane’s mother. Parents, after all, play a part in remarkable children. Here Jane shares a lesson from her mother that she clearly took to heart: If there’s something you really want, you’re going to have to work really hard, take advantage of opportunity and, above all, never give up. — Jane Goodall's mother, Vanne Goodall, (as recounted by Jane) It’s simple advice, but Jane embodied it. To her last days, she never gave up fighting for all of us. As she said, “I went to Africa as a scientist. I left the jungle as an activist.” One of her key realisations was that if we want to protect animals and the natural world, we have to help people out of extreme poverty. When you’re struggling to survive, the environment isn't your main concern, and animals can look like food. That’s why, perhaps counterintuitively, I've read that some of the most effective ways to help the planet and its wildlife are to help people out of poverty, and particularly by providing education and opportunities for women. For example, see Factfulness by Hans Rosling. Maybe your kids will hear what you tell them after all. A Little About Jane Goodall If you don't know much about Jane, she left England to study chimpanzees in Africa. She made many new discoveries about their behaviour, such as tool use, and hunting and eating meat. She also saw the threat to their habitat and safety and resolved to do something about it. She founded Roots & Shoots (global, USA), a program with the mission: "To foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for animals, people, and the environment." It particularly focuses on young people. The program continues today through the Jane Goodall Institute. “We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place.” — Dr. Jane Goodall Jane shared these lessons from her mother in the course I took from her on Masterclass. Jane has also written many books, though I haven't read them. There are also plenty of talks from her that you can watch online. As a small aside, Masterclass isn't cheap, but if you're at a point where you're ready to pack in some learning, there are some amazing classes and teachers on there. They don't sponsor this newsletter...but maybe they should 🤔 Related Ideas to Above All, Never Give Up Also see: A World of 4 Income Levels: beyond developing and developed Going Out was Really Going In Mangroves There is No Away Climate anxiety and the cure of action Hitched to Everything Else in the Universe

12 Oct

The Buttered Cat Paradox

The Buttered Cat Paradox goes like this: Cats always land on their feet Falling toast always lands butter side down So what will happen if you strap buttered toast to the back of a falling cat? Presumably, the cat righting reflex will fight against the pull of the buttered toast. John Frazee proposed the buttered cat paradox in a July 1993 competition in Omni magazine, including a practical application based on the inevitable hovering that must result: "When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands with the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat. The two will hover spinning, inches above the ground. With a giant buttered cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link New York with Chicago." The Buttered Toast Phenomenon Incidentally, the buttered toast phenomenon—why toast always lands butter side down—was the subject of an experiment on the British TV show QED, finding that buttered toast, when thrown into the air, landed equally on the buttered and unbuttered sides. However, Robert Matthews conducted a mathematical analysis of toast falling, as it would more commonly, from the edge of a table. His work showed that landing buttered-side down is the most likely result given the height of an average table, the gravitational constant, and the typical mass of toast. It won him an Ig Nobel Prize in 1996. Buttered toast has been falling for a long time. There's an 1884 poem by James Payn: I never had a slice of bread, Particularly large and wide, That did not fall upon the floor, And always on the buttered side! The Cat Righting Reflex The innate ability for cats to twist around and land on their feet is called the cat righting reflex. They can do this thanks to a very flexible spine and no collarbone. I dropped no cats in the making of this sketch. Please don't drop cats. Here's a print of the cat only More paradoxes The coastline paradox: the length of a coastline depends on how close you measure The transparency paradox: the more transparent the workspace, the more privately people behave The paradox of choice: more choice can make it harder to choose The automation paradox: the better the machines get, the more we struggle when they fail The Abilene paradox: a group can take an action that no one thinks is good The liar paradox: I am lying The paradise paradox: the belief that moving to paradise will solve all our problems Jevon's paradox: Fuel efficiency gains tend to increase fuel use Also see: Murphy's Law: What can go wrong, will go wrong Learn more This archived Scientific American article on the murphodynamics of toast gives more detail about the buttered toast phenomenon.The Buttered Cat Paradox goes like this: Cats always land on their feet Falling toast always lands butter side down So what will happen if you strap buttered toast to the back of a falling cat? Presumably, the cat righting reflex will fight against the pull of the buttered toast. John Frazee proposed the buttered cat paradox in a July 1993 competition in Omni magazine, including a practical application based on the inevitable hovering that must result: "When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands with the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat. The two will hover spinning, inches above the ground. With a giant buttered cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link New York with Chicago." The Buttered Toast Phenomenon Incidentally, the buttered toast phenomenon—why toast always lands butter side down—was the subject of an experiment on the British TV show QED, finding that buttered toast, when thrown into the air, landed equally on the buttered and unbuttered sides. However, Robert Matthews conducted a mathematical analysis of toast falling, as it would more commonly, from the edge of a table. His work showed that landing buttered-side down is the most likely result given the height of an average table, the gravitational constant, and the typical mass of toast. It won him an Ig Nobel Prize in 1996. Buttered toast has been falling for a long time. There's an 1884 poem by James Payn: I never had a slice of bread, Particularly large and wide, That did not fall upon the floor, And always on the buttered side! The Cat Righting Reflex The innate ability for cats to twist around and land on their feet is called the cat righting reflex. They can do this thanks to a very flexible spine and no collarbone. I dropped no cats in the making of this sketch. Please don't drop cats. Here's a print of the cat only More paradoxes The coastline paradox: the length of a coastline depends on how close you measure The transparency paradox: the more transparent the workspace, the more privately people behave The paradox of choice: more choice can make it harder to choose The automation paradox: the better the machines get, the more we struggle when they fail The Abilene paradox: a group can take an action that no one thinks is good The liar paradox: I am lying The paradise paradox: the belief that moving to paradise will solve all our problems Jevon's paradox: Fuel efficiency gains tend to increase fuel use Also see: Murphy's Law: What can go wrong, will go wrong Learn more This archived Scientific American article on the murphodynamics of toast gives more detail about the buttered toast phenomenon.

5 Oct

Pace Layers: Six layers of robust and adaptable civilisations

What makes a resilient system? It needs to be strong, but flexible. Pace Layers, sometimes called pace layering, is a framework created by Stewart Brand of the Long Now Foundation that explores how different parts of civilisation change at different speeds. Fast-moving layers like fashion bring novelty and experimentation, while slower layers like culture and nature provide stability and memory. Together, the layers support, reinforce, and challenge each other—creating robust, adaptable societies. Pace layers is a model I have come back to again and again. What is the Pace Layers Framework? The pace layering model has six levels, with each deeper layer moving more slowly than the one above it. In Brand's words: Fast learns, slow remembers. Fast proposes, slow disposes. Fast is discontinuous, slow is continuous. Fast and small instructs slow and big by accrued innovation and occasional revolution. Slow and big controls small and fast by constraint and constancy. Fast gets all our attention, slow has all the power. In short: the fast layers innovate, the slow layers stabilise. Brand argued that all durable dynamic systems have this sort of structure—it’s what makes them adaptable and resilient. According to pace layering, the six layers of pace and size in the working structure of a robust and adaptable civilisation are: Fashion/Art Commerce Infrastructure Governance Culture Nature Pace Layering Example: Electric Scooters An example brings pace layers home to me. Here, I consider electric scooters, but you can take almost any innovation and think through the layers. Fashion/Art New scooter designs, colours, marketing campaigns, and influencer hype cycles. These come and go quickly—some stick, most fade. Commerce Scooter rental startups, pricing models, venture capital funding, and competition with bikes, cars, and other transport. Commerce runs slower than fashion, but still moves quickly through experimentation. Infrastructure Charging docks, scooter lanes, designated parking areas, and integration with city planning—all these take time. Cities and transport systems have to adapt, if electric scooters persist, for them to thrive rather than die out. Governance The laws and regulations surrounding scooters often lag behind the pace of commerce, including speed limits, taxes, penalties, incentives, safety requirements, age restrictions, or bans. Governance responds as the effects of scooters unfold. Culture Culture in the deep sense of how this changes mobility and ideas around travel. It may affect socialising, where people work and live, and what we choose to do as a society. Culture evolves slowly as habits and norms change in tandem with governance and infrastructure. Nature The environmental realities of scooters vs other transport means. Batteries, natural resources, long-term sustainability, and the effect on the climate. Applying the Pace Layers Model to AI Applying pace layers to the growth and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also instructive: Fashion: AI tools and interfaces change daily. Commerce: Models and capabilities change weekly or monthly. Companies compete on quarterly and annual cycles. Infrastructure: Investment, data centres and energy generation are being approved and built slowly. Governance: The rules, ethics, court cases, and legal challenges surrounding the regulation of AI content and companies are developing on a case-by-case basis. Culture: How AI changes work, employment, where people live, and power structures are all in progress. Nature: Effects on the planet, energy and climate take longer to play out. AI can feel like it's changing every day, yet its deepest consequences will play out over decades and centuries. Pace Layers and Time Hierarchy In his book The Clock of the Long Now, Brand also discusses time hierarchy in nature. He describes a coniferous forest: The needle changes within a year. The tree crown over several years. The patch over many decades. The stand over a couple of centuries. The forest over a thousand years. The biome over ten thousand years. The faster elements are constrained by the slower ones: the needle by the crown, the crown by the patch, and so on up to the biome. Yet innovation still percolates through the system via evolutionary competition. Occasionally, shocks—fire, disease, human activity—disrupt the whole structure, sometimes all the way to the biome. You can see this idea in my sketch on Time Hierarchy. Considering the Pace Layers Model I find pace layers thinking interesting as a way to differentiate between the fast and slower changes I see around me. It helps me make better sense of the world and see the age-old tussle between innovation and stability. Related Ideas to Pace Layers Also see: Time Hierarchy The Overview Effect The Overton Window: the range of politically acceptable ideas Human pace The Gartner Hype Cycle Marchetti's Constant The Destiny Instinct The S-Curve The Law of Unintended Consequences I revised my original pace layers sketch because I kept discussing it with people and thought it needed a better visual. Read more on Pace Layers at the Long NowWhat makes a resilient system? It needs to be strong, but flexible. Pace Layers, sometimes called pace layering, is a framework created by Stewart Brand of the Long Now Foundation that explores how different parts of civilisation change at different speeds. Fast-moving layers like fashion bring novelty and experimentation, while slower layers like culture and nature provide stability and memory. Together, the layers support, reinforce, and challenge each other—creating robust, adaptable societies. Pace layers is a model I have come back to again and again. What is the Pace Layers Framework? The pace layering model has six levels, with each deeper layer moving more slowly than the one above it. In Brand's words: Fast learns, slow remembers. Fast proposes, slow disposes. Fast is discontinuous, slow is continuous. Fast and small instructs slow and big by accrued innovation and occasional revolution. Slow and big controls small and fast by constraint and constancy. Fast gets all our attention, slow has all the power. In short: the fast layers innovate, the slow layers stabilise. Brand argued that all durable dynamic systems have this sort of structure—it’s what makes them adaptable and resilient. According to pace layering, the six layers of pace and size in the working structure of a robust and adaptable civilisation are: Fashion/Art Commerce Infrastructure Governance Culture Nature Pace Layering Example: Electric Scooters An example brings pace layers home to me. Here, I consider electric scooters, but you can take almost any innovation and think through the layers. Fashion/Art New scooter designs, colours, marketing campaigns, and influencer hype cycles. These come and go quickly—some stick, most fade. Commerce Scooter rental startups, pricing models, venture capital funding, and competition with bikes, cars, and other transport. Commerce runs slower than fashion, but still moves quickly through experimentation. Infrastructure Charging docks, scooter lanes, designated parking areas, and integration with city planning—all these take time. Cities and transport systems have to adapt, if electric scooters persist, for them to thrive rather than die out. Governance The laws and regulations surrounding scooters often lag behind the pace of commerce, including speed limits, taxes, penalties, incentives, safety requirements, age restrictions, or bans. Governance responds as the effects of scooters unfold. Culture Culture in the deep sense of how this changes mobility and ideas around travel. It may affect socialising, where people work and live, and what we choose to do as a society. Culture evolves slowly as habits and norms change in tandem with governance and infrastructure. Nature The environmental realities of scooters vs other transport means. Batteries, natural resources, long-term sustainability, and the effect on the climate. Applying the Pace Layers Model to AI Applying pace layers to the growth and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also instructive: Fashion: AI tools and interfaces change daily. Commerce: Models and capabilities change weekly or monthly. Companies compete on quarterly and annual cycles. Infrastructure: Investment, data centres and energy generation are being approved and built slowly. Governance: The rules, ethics, court cases, and legal challenges surrounding the regulation of AI content and companies are developing on a case-by-case basis. Culture: How AI changes work, employment, where people live, and power structures are all in progress. Nature: Effects on the planet, energy and climate take longer to play out. AI can feel like it's changing every day, yet its deepest consequences will play out over decades and centuries. Pace Layers and Time Hierarchy In his book The Clock of the Long Now, Brand also discusses time hierarchy in nature. He describes a coniferous forest: The needle changes within a year. The tree crown over several years. The patch over many decades. The stand over a couple of centuries. The forest over a thousand years. The biome over ten thousand years. The faster elements are constrained by the slower ones: the needle by the crown, the crown by the patch, and so on up to the biome. Yet innovation still percolates through the system via evolutionary competition. Occasionally, shocks—fire, disease, human activity—disrupt the whole structure, sometimes all the way to the biome. You can see this idea in my sketch on Time Hierarchy. Considering the Pace Layers Model I find pace layers thinking interesting as a way to differentiate between the fast and slower changes I see around me. It helps me make better sense of the world and see the age-old tussle between innovation and stability. Related Ideas to Pace Layers Also see: Time Hierarchy The Overview Effect The Overton Window: the range of politically acceptable ideas Human pace The Gartner Hype Cycle Marchetti's Constant The Destiny Instinct The S-Curve The Law of Unintended Consequences I revised my original pace layers sketch because I kept discussing it with people and thought it needed a better visual. Read more on Pace Layers at the Long Now

28 Sep

The Repeated Word Illusion

I distinctly remember the first time I saw the “I love Paris in the the springtime” illusion. It definitely got me. My mind happily skipped past a 'the' without a second's notice. Why do our brains do that? Why do so many people fall for this “I love Paris in the springtime” illusion? This little illusion is a fun and memorable example from psychology that illustrates how our minds use shortcuts when reading. There are a few factors at work that let us completely miss repeated words—even when they’re right in front of us. Our minds love taking shortcuts Thinking is expensive—it takes energy. So when our brain sees something familiar, it often skips ahead to save effort. We rely on mental shortcuts (heuristics) to help us move faster and more efficiently, but sometimes those shortcuts trip us up. Top-down and bottom-up processing When presented with a simple sentence, as in the sketch, our minds may engage in top-down processing, jumping straight to the meaning. In contrast, when something is unfamiliar, important (like an exam), or when our role demands precision (like a proofreader), we tend to slow down and use bottom-up processing—scanning each word more carefully. Saccades When reading, our eyes don’t move smoothly along a line—they jump in quick bursts called saccades. How far we jump depends on word length, spacing, familiarity and complexity. Some words may be skipped entirely. Short, common and predictable words Paris and Springtime, though well known, are less common than "the". We are more likely to focus on the less usual, meaning-carrying words and skip short, common, predictable words. Layout matters By stacking the sentence in a pyramid, we subtly guide attention downward and to the right. That extra “the” hides off to the left, where we’re least likely to look back. -- The psychology of what we actually do when we read is much more complex and fascinating than I first realised—as I find so often the case with things. PS Did you catch the repeated 'are', too? Related Ideas to The Repeated Word Illusion More illusions: The Droste Effect The ring-segment illusion The impossible staircase (Penrose stairs) Anamorphosis The moon illusion Hermann grid, Necker cube, Blivet Also see: Leading, tracking, kerning The availability heuristic The frequency illusion Gestalt principles Context is king More This paper has an interesting discussion of word skipping and reading models that try to understand and simulate what we really do when we read: Drieghe, D., Rayner, K., & Pollatsek, A. (2005). Eye movements and word skipping during reading revisited. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31(5), 954. I wasn't sure of the name of this illusion. If you know what it should be called, please let me know.I distinctly remember the first time I saw the “I love Paris in the the springtime” illusion. It definitely got me. My mind happily skipped past a 'the' without a second's notice. Why do our brains do that? Why do so many people fall for this “I love Paris in the springtime” illusion? This little illusion is a fun and memorable example from psychology that illustrates how our minds use shortcuts when reading. There are a few factors at work that let us completely miss repeated words—even when they’re right in front of us. Our minds love taking shortcuts Thinking is expensive—it takes energy. So when our brain sees something familiar, it often skips ahead to save effort. We rely on mental shortcuts (heuristics) to help us move faster and more efficiently, but sometimes those shortcuts trip us up. Top-down and bottom-up processing When presented with a simple sentence, as in the sketch, our minds may engage in top-down processing, jumping straight to the meaning. In contrast, when something is unfamiliar, important (like an exam), or when our role demands precision (like a proofreader), we tend to slow down and use bottom-up processing—scanning each word more carefully. Saccades When reading, our eyes don’t move smoothly along a line—they jump in quick bursts called saccades. How far we jump depends on word length, spacing, familiarity and complexity. Some words may be skipped entirely. Short, common and predictable words Paris and Springtime, though well known, are less common than "the". We are more likely to focus on the less usual, meaning-carrying words and skip short, common, predictable words. Layout matters By stacking the sentence in a pyramid, we subtly guide attention downward and to the right. That extra “the” hides off to the left, where we’re least likely to look back. -- The psychology of what we actually do when we read is much more complex and fascinating than I first realised—as I find so often the case with things. PS Did you catch the repeated 'are', too? Related Ideas to The Repeated Word Illusion More illusions: The Droste Effect The ring-segment illusion The impossible staircase (Penrose stairs) Anamorphosis The moon illusion Hermann grid, Necker cube, Blivet Also see: Leading, tracking, kerning The availability heuristic The frequency illusion Gestalt principles Context is king More This paper has an interesting discussion of word skipping and reading models that try to understand and simulate what we really do when we read: Drieghe, D., Rayner, K., & Pollatsek, A. (2005). Eye movements and word skipping during reading revisited. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31(5), 954. I wasn't sure of the name of this illusion. If you know what it should be called, please let me know.

21 Sep

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