May 2017 When I look at the substance of my inbox, it’s dominated by three kinds of messages from humans. The Task: an ominous warning, complete with virtual dark clouds, that something needs to be done. The Update: a newsy message from someone catching me up on major life events (the sort you would’ve told me about by phone if it were still 1998). And The Ask: a fascinating question that makes me long for the glory days of grad school, when I had piles of free time to study whatever I wanted. Sometimes the question is so generative that I end up launching a study or writing an article about it. But most of the time, it kicks off a fun email dialogue.