An espresso with Sam Habibi Minelli

What are you reading at the minute?
I am reading books in parallel: (35%) “Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently” by Beau Lotto; (67%) “Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye” Rudolf Arnheim; (finishing-re-reading 173%) The (Mis)Behaviour of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson

What is the best thing about going to international book fairs?
Taking part to its conferences and being inspired by so many domain experts, meeting people in person, serendipity.

What was your first job in the book world?
International licensing manager

Is your reading preference for physical books, audio, ebooks, and why?
I am totally digital. I buy many books and all exclusively digital. The reason is simple: I moved so many times in my life, and am happy to leave behind objects but not knowledge. That’s makes me choose a portable personal library.

What is your favourite Italian food?
I love all Italian food and ingredients: every region in Italy has exquisite specialities and diversity.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Kindness

What is your favourite film based on a book?
‘Solaris’ written by Stanisław Lem and directed by Andrej Tarkovskij

What would be your favourite holiday destination?
A lab near the Mediterranean Sea. Luckily, it’s my daily destination.

What do you consider to be publishing’s greatest threat at the minute, and why?
Missing/getting-late to experiment the revolution of AI and new knowledge generation and transfer models: we have more than just eyes to sense and reflect.

What one thing would make your job significantly easier?
I’m not looking for ‘easiness’, I prefer what challenges me. Instead of ‘easiness’ then, I seek to make my work ‘insanely simple’ (Ken Segall), which implies extreme hard work and discipline…(not one thing but the whole model).
 

Biography

Sam Habibi Minelli works for Gruppo Meta and researches  AI and Machine Learning Technologies for creative industries and education. He spoke about AI in the BBPlus seminar programme this year.