America feels divided in a way that goes beyond disagreement. Disagreement is normal. What we're experiencing feels different, urgent, harder to resolve.

In this solo episode, Daniel Stih expands on his essay Division Isn't a Mystery. It's a System. Rather than arguing issues or taking sides, the episode examines the mechanics and patterns that repeatedly turn different events into polarization.

• Why division doesn't require conspiracy or bad actors
• How extreme events dominate our perceptions and choices
• The role of algorithms
• Why reacting strongly narrows, instead of expands, solutions.
• Where individual choice exists

This an attempt to slow things down enough to see how the system works and where restraint can change outcomes at the edges.

Read the full artice:
Division Isn't a Mystery. It's a System.

Lithium battery fires on airplanes are rare. When they happen, they're dangerous, disruptive, and costly. What's interesting is how we've chosen to deal with that risk.

The aviation safety strategy for this focuses on what to do after a device is on fire — containment bags, emergency procedures, and diversion. Those measures work. They're also fundamentally reactive.

In this episode, I offer a clean way to think about the problem — using lithium battery fires as a case study. We'll examine:

• What actually causes lithium battery fires (thermal runaway)
• Why phone and laptop batteries fail in predictable ways
• How aircraft are trained to handle in-cabin battery fires
• Why containment isn't the same as prevention
• What an upstream, design-based safety approach could look like

This is a systems-level look at how aviation safety has historically improved — moving risk controls upstream into design standards, rather than relying on emergency response.

I walk through common objections, including:

• Don't batteries already meet safety standards?
• How could something such as this be enforced in practice?
• How do you reduce risk without unfairly burdening passengers?

If you're interested in aviation safety, engineering, or simply how complex systems fail and improve, this episode is for you.

📩 Subscribe for more episodes that use real-world problems to practice better thinking. 💬 Leave a comment — especially if you work in aviation, engineering, or safety.

#SystemsThinking #AviationSafety #PreventiveDesign

What the iPhone's latest UI change reveals about a recurring design failure mode

A recent iPhone UI update sparked a broader question: what happens when style starts to lead function?

I explore why highly stylized interfaces can feel exciting at first—yet introduce subtle friction, reduce clarity, and age poorly under real-world use. This isn't about taste or Apple. It's about understanding a recurring design failure mode that shows up across software, products, and systems.

Walk away with this question:
Does this design choice improve clarity under real-world conditions—or just aesthetic novelty?

#DesignThinking #UXDesign #ProductDesign