Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 15

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: The Long History of the Future by Nicole Kobie

Wide-eyed predictions of the future are fun to read, and even more fun to write. Yet for every book that promises to predict the future, there remains a nagging problem at the heart of those predictions: that future, which should already be here, continually seems far off. Why isn’t tomorrow’s technology already here?

That is the tantalizing question Nichole Kobe aims to answer in this book. Through a series of chapters tackling the most common future technology predictions, from driverl...

DEI May Be Dying … But Here’s What Could Replace It

When Jennifer Brown and I first published our book Beyond Diversity in 2021 it was moment of big momentum for DEI. Amongst the many other books published at that time, there was an underlying sentiment of “blaming and shaming” people that we tried our best to reject. You don’t change minds, we felt, by alienating people before you even have a chance to start a conversation. This week, longtime DEI practitioner Lily Zheng shared a similar perspective in their timely criticism of the typical DEI m...

The Library of Lost & Imaginary Books

There are books mentioned within the pages of other books that never existed on their own, but what if they did? That’s the fascinating story visitors can explore at the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan where you can either show up with your own idea for a book or help recreate an imagined title from another book. The bookbinding equipment at the Center is traditional and the experience is physical and nostalgic—though probably most of the people visiting were not born when books were first mad...

Flash Superhero Movie Director Proves We’re Not Great at Learning from Failure

The Flash movie came out in 2023 and by box office standards, it was a flop. A story making the rounds in entertainment trade publications this week was all about comments the movie’s director Andy Muschietti made in recent interviews attempting to explain exactly why the movie failed. According to him, it performed poorly because “it wasn’t as widely appealing as everyone hoped it would be.” Not exactly a stunning insight. He goes on to say, “I’ve found in private conversations that a lot of pe...

Why The “World’s First” AI-Powered Hotel May Be More Than Fancy Marketing

From the outside the Otonomus Hotel (pun probably intended) doesn’t really look much different from any other spot. The property just had their soft-launch before officially opening in April 2025, declaring themselves the “first true AI-powered hotel in the world.” I can already picture you rolling your eyes. Despite the cringe-worthy marketing hyperbole, there are some features the hotel has planned which could indeed offer a glimpse into a future normal for hotel stays we can all expect.

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The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Brave New Words by Sal Khan

Back in April of 2023, Sal Khan (founder of Khan Academy) did a TED talk with a timely title: How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education. It was near the start of what would soon become a full-blown debate about the role of AI in schools, whether kids are stunting their learning and intellect by using generative AI and what the future will look like if kids increasingly allow tools to do all their thinking. In this book, which was our pick for the Most Important Book of 2024 in the recent Non-Obv...

The Problem of Fake Job Postings

The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week about the rise in fake job postings online. The reasons for these range from some companies using those listings to try and appear larger or more successful than they are, to some that are fraudulently listed to try and capture data. There are even some organizations who are creating and then uncreating job openings after they fill part of it or decide they don’t want to hire after all.

There is a real human cost to these “ghost jobs” as hir...

What the Canadian Angst Over the Upcoming Trump Inauguration Can Teach Us

In days, President Trump will take office again and there is certainly some concern among the groups you would expect. One unusual source for some of the strongest angst is some of our neighbors from the North who have been swaying between terror and confusion over some of the soon-to-be-President’s most audacious plans for Canada. Bestselling author and student of history Dan Gardner offered an alarmist call to arms for his fellow Canadians on how Canada should respond to Trump. Popular YouTube...

The Brilliance of Costco’s New Plan to Build Apartments on Top of Their Stores

There is a housing shortage in many cities. And there’s a Costco in those cities. In an ambitious new project, the brand is working with LA-based developers Thrive Living to build a new 800-unit apartment complex in Baldwin Village, South Los Angeles, with a new Costco store occupying the ground floor. Nearly 25% of the apartments will be offered as low-income housing. I love the non-obvious thinking behind this idea. You have a store that is already occupying real estate. They provide many home...

The Slow Decline of Patriotic Branding (and Maybe National Pride Itself)

There was a time when patriotic branding was hot. That time seems to be over. According to an eye-opening new study from a sociologist at Northern Arizona University, brands that include the outline of the U.S. map or the American flag are on the decline. And this is not just happening in America—it’s becoming more common globally too. So what might this say about our future culture or the state of how people see their relationships to the places they live and call their homes?

National p...