The Medium responses that got you talking (and reading) this year
✌️ Welcome back
Issue #235: why Spotify wrapped hits different this year + reversible decisions
It’s an age-old principle of the internet: Cunningham’s Law. To get an accurate answer, say the wrong thing in a public forum and someone will probably jump in to correct you! Wikipedia is built on this principle, and it’s one of the forces driving the rise of comment sections across the internet over the last 25 years.
All to say: There’s wisdom to be found in the comments if you know where to look. With that in mind, I spelunked through Medium’s stats to find the most-read responses across every story published this year. I found a pattern: Experts jumping in to add thoughtful context. Here are a few of the top responses I uncovered.
Retired software developer Creig S tempers expectations that AI will eat the world:
Let’s get rid of any myths about how smart or good AI is. I prefer to treat the product of generative AI like you would a 3 year old who thinks all dogs are named “King”, with patience, caution, humor, and allowance for many errors.
Entrepreneur Kevin Dewalt adds nuance to VC firm Maverick Ventures’ LLM predictions:
Relative to traditional software, tiny teams can build powerful applications very quickly because the LLM takes on the reasoning traditionally captured by thousands of lines of code. As LLMs get exponentially better, this trend will inevitably continue.
Lastly, JenFireHeartMama’s viral story about the dissolution of her nine-year marriage prompted several of the year’s most-read responses. Dino DiGiulia, who went through divorce himself, remembers “this tremendous feeling of freedom. Broke, alone, but free.” And Allene Swienckowski chimes in with some hard-earned life wisdom from her 58-year marriage: “Without a doubt, marriage, or just committing to another human, requires trust, love, desire (both emotionally and physically) and quite a lot of understanding self and other humans.”
👀 Our open tabs
- Product growth expert Rosie Hoggmascall chronicles the 10-year history of Spotify Wrapped (now a viral marketing trend across many major apps, from Duolingo to Loom). This year’s Wrapped broke a record for listens (up 26% from last year), but fell narratively flat for some — and Hoggmascall chalks it up to Spotify cutting 17% of its team this year.
- Software development is an exercise in decision making, and more than 50% of development time is typically spent investigating existing systems to figure out how they work. (software development consultant swardley)
- In storytelling, one salient detail beats many details every time. (Lulu Cheng Meservey)
🤔 A dose of practical wisdom
Uncertainty is exhausting for humans (it’s one of the reasons why decision-making is so draining). A helpful tip, via Mark Shrime, MD, PhD: “There are very, very, very few decisions in your life that can’t be reversed. Tattoos can be removed, cross-country moves undone, purchases returned, and omelettes shared.”
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
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