

Unlearning - kareemm
http://sivers.org/unlearning

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intellectronica
An especially nice bonus is the John Cage quote that closes the post:

“I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of
the old ones.”

I haven't heard it before.

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andreyf
_For the last 11 years, I spent most waking hours thinking about how to sell
and distribute music. I'm completely unobjective._

I wish this reasoning was more common. At least in my experience, argument-by-
authority seems to be the plague on the insecurities in our industry. In
reality, being labeled "an expert in X" more often than not does nothing but
completely disqualify someone from being able to fairly compare X with the
alternatives.

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Alex3917
"I'd always find it funny how all of the panelists' opinions were completely
tainted by their own self-interest."

Why would you start a business selling MP3s if you thought the future of the
music business was subscriptions? And vice versa.

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tsestrich
I'll just say: sometimes, the most innocent and un-biased opinion is from
someone that has no standing in the matter.

I would say that I'm on neutral ground, being neither predominately in either
industry. That said, I feel that the current method of distribution for music
(CD and iTunes) is completely outdated compared to the great advances that
we've seen in other areas of technology. With the drive towards users wanting
free content, there has to be a way for artists to capitalize on this.

I obviously cannot wish for the world's top artist to be working for minimum-
wage salaries, but seriously, there must be better ways to make money than for
record companies to strong-arm individuals into paying ridiculous sums of
money for "sharing" copyrighted content.

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skmurphy
The answer should not stop with "I don't know" for someone with experience and
expertise. He should be able to suggest the important trends at work, key
events that if they occurred would be significant, and developments that have
already occurred but whose full effects have not been felt.

It's not as important to predict exactly as to identify key drivers, trends,
and dynamics. As to the unlearning aspect, I think it's a question of letting
go of internal mental constraints imposed by prior limits that have been
obsoleted by new developments.

Jeff Bezos has suggested Amazon focuses on "invariants" or things that are
going to continue to be true for a broad range of potential futures.

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ankeshk
Interesting post. But leave us wanting more. Because it doesn't answer or even
attempt to answer the main question raised:

So how do you unlearn?

~~~
Herring
Test your beliefs constantly. Believe them only to the extent that they
anticipate experiences.

[1] <http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/07/making-beliefs.html>

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ojbyrne
I'm reminded of the Clifford Stoll TED talk. To paraphrase - If you want to
know the future, ask kindergarten teachers -
<http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html>

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flogic
Not really an unlearning situation. No one I hang out with spends much time
fiddling with CDs. Every time a CD is bought it's ripped to disc for actual
use.

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zaidf
This is quickly becoming one of my fav blogs!

