“I learned to think this way when I was a magician. Magicians start by looking for blind spots, edges, vulnerabilities and limits of people’s perception, so they can influence what people do without them even realizing it. Once you know how to push people’s buttons, you can play them like a piano.” A magician (and Google’s Design Ethicist) shares some of the details on how technology hijacks people’s minds. Part of me is frightened by this article. And part of me wants to hire this guy to run user growth at NextDraft.

+ “First there was the Berlin Wall. Now there is the Great Firewall of China, not a physical barrier preventing people from leaving, but a virtual one, preventing information harmful to the Communist Party from entering the country.” From WaPo: China’s scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works.