It's difficult to make something a habit when you only do it once a year, but I'm here again with my version of the obligatory year end reading list. I've frame this list as "Resisting Extinction" following one of my favorite literacy quotes that I came across in an adult literacy program in Cleveland. This meme took on a different look last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. I do not intend to make light of the suffering and loss caused by the pandemic, but I also don't want to lose the meaning behind this… that reading and learning and being curious is key to our survival and growth. I didn't read any books on epidemiology or virology this year so this is a list of books that helped me see a little more of the world in general. Reading helps me catch a quick glimpse through someone else's eyes and that is enormously helpful to my humanity.

And Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank, delivers cuteness like you've never seen. What's striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you -- frankly a lot better than some real-life people. "You look a bit thin," it coos in a soft childlike voice, free of any rigid mechanical accent. "You should watch what you eat." The 4-foot-tall white machine-on-wheels was disarmingly charming and definitely intriguing when I spent half a day with it, ahead of its delivery to its first customers later this month.

No one will read what your bot has to say. At best, they will skim it and move on. You challenge is to take something complex and boil it down to a few crucial words -- and to make those words so powerful that the message sticks to the user like glue. Your chatbot should have a single-minded focus, and anything that does not adhere to this focus should be stripped away. Have you ever wondered why Donald Trump won the Republican primary?