1) The document discusses data and creativity, arguing that data can enhance creativity by empowering people to ask more insightful questions and develop more creative solutions. It also questions whether true breakthrough creativity will still be rare when cognitive computers are part of the creative process. 2) Two neuroscientists spoke about how consumer research tools may be flawed since people cannot honestly report their true feelings and motivations. Nielsen is developing neurological tools to assess pre-cognitive decisions in an effort to improve consumer research. 3) Kanye West gave a rambling hour-long presentation on good taste and avoiding killing people. Marissa Mayer also spoke while promoting underwhelming Yahoo products. The festival seems to have reached "Peak Cannes

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commander
dataIf you’ve been to some of the other of this year’s conferences—South by
Southwest, Mobile World Congress, or the Consumer Electronics Show, you
may have heard that data is so ubiquitous and readily collected that it is a
commodity. It is, in IBM’s argot, the world’s next natural resource. What you do
with it is the grand challenge, and, as IBM CEO Ginny Rometty said back in March,
those who master prescriptive analytics will have competitive advantage. That
model works well for technology and business model thinking, but does it fit
with creativity as well? Chris Baylis of Iris Worldwide thinks so. He believes that
data empowers us to ask more insightful questions and develop more creative
solutions, which seems to be the analog companion to sophisticated digital
analytics. Imagine how data can juice creativity and idea generation. Sunday’s
Latinworks presentation asserted that true, breakthrough creativity is rare. Will
that still be the case when a cognitive computer is part of the creative team?
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brains!
brains!!Considering all the talk of brains today, you’d have thought it was zombie day at
Cannes. Well, you’d have thought you’d have thought it, but neuroscientists Beau
Lotto and Tarli Sharot, who came for TED@Cannes, made pretty damn clear that
everything is an illusion. It was like watching Now You See Me—only shorter and
better. They called into question that time-honored tool of the ad biz: consumer
research. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle applies to our brains, too, and we
subconsciously shade our answers depending on how we’re being observed. We’re
even more delusional than that, as it turns out. We can’t possibly tell the truth about
our feelings and motivations even when we try. Fortunately, Nielsen has come to
save the day by using neurological assessment tools to pry into what happens
in the split second when we make a decision—long before we give some ex post
facto rationalization to the nice man asking the questions. It’s comforting to know
that the boffins of consumer research—the ones who track our purchasing and
viewing habits—have gone from tracking our digital footprints to the precognitive
unzipping of our mental trousers. There’s no possible way this could ever backfire.
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yahoo!Kanye is here!
Kanye West made another stop on his global ego trip and delivered an
hour long prose poem, highlighted by his nuanced exegesis on good taste:
“The world as a whole is fucking ugly….Bad taste is vulgar. What is the most
distasteful thing you can do? Kill somebody. So good taste is the opposite
of that.” Choosing every day to avoid homicide is the epitome of good
taste, says Mr. West. It’s good to set yourself a challenge. Marissa Mayer
also made Cannes a stopover on her global personality trip, presenting
her third underwhelming keynote in a row. Her specialty seems to be
shilling Yahoo! products that no one finds especially compelling, and
her impassive cheerfulness cracks a little more with each rendition.
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Peak
CannesWe may have reached Peak Cannes. There’s an air of pre-crash giddiness
that has overspread the Croisette this year. People wonder aloud if it’s
worth the investment, and it’s not just weary-veteran posturing talking.
For the first time, Cannes hosted an Insights with the Jury session so that
people could learn from how the juries make their award decisions. There’s
always been an element of strategy in winning a Lion, but as this series of
sessions makes clear, the creative work itself is now just one element of a
winning package. Celebrity culture is another longstanding part of Cannes,
but this year the general consensus is that the famous people have been a
giant waste of time. On top of that, the wealth of available talks means that
it’s become impossible for one person to get a full sense of the festival,
leading to a diminished intimacy with the event and contributing to the
Roaring 20s vibe. The social sweepstakes (and let’s not name names here,
shall we?) have added an extra element of competitiveness to an already
fiercely competitive week. What’s next? Who has the biggest cabana?
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