Author: neal
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Complex Systems, Patterns, Wisdom
Some extracts from Murray Gell Mann, and how it aligns with some of the themes we’re exploring as part of this community and how, as a community, we can actually thrive in a complex system. ‘Those who study complex adaptive systems are beginning to find some general principles that underlie all such systems, and seeking…
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Strategy and Inefficiency
Edward Luttwak mentions many times throughout his work that in terms of military strategy, efficiency is undesirable. It was a wild a novel thought to consider that it was better to be inefficient. Weren’t we always trying to become more efficient? It only becomes evident when thinking it through from the perspective of an adversary…
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Robinson Crusoe: The Inspiration for the Modern Man
Lewis Mumford writes that “the ideal man of the new order was Robinson Crusoe. No wonder he indoctrinated children with his virtues for two centuries, and served as the model for a score of sage discourses on the Economic Man. Robinson Crusoe was all the more representative as a tale not only because it was…
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Miners as Earliest Seekers of Asymmetric Upside
“In contrast to the forethought and sober plodding of the peasant, the work of the miner is the calm of random effort: irregular in routine and uncertain in result. Neither the peasant nor the herdsman can get rich quickly: the first clears a field or plants a row of trees this year from which perhaps…
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A Lasting Quality
“If you want to preserve a building, you will try to make it in materials which last and last forever. You will try to make sure that this creation can be preserved intact, in just its present state, forever. Canvas must be ruled out because it has to be replaced; tiles must be so hard…
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A Community as a Hedge Against Fragility
In the book ‘You are what you risk’ a similar point is made about the risk ecosystem – “the cultural social, policy and economic environment that affects the risk decisions of an individual or organisation.” Wucker tells the tale of how a couple found themselves in $1m of debt but were in a better situation…
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Fixing the Vessel You’re On
In the early 1970s, thrill-seeker and adventurer Alby Mangan goes on a six year adventure with his mate John which takes them all around the world as they more-or-less follow opportunities as they arise. After working as brick layers on an Australian island, Alby and John become voluntary crew members on a Ketch sailing boat.…
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How do Black Markets Form?
Fascinating insight from the book Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts who, after escaping from prison, ended up working as a trader in the black market for money in Bombay in the 80s. How do black markets form? Wherever there is high control (regulation) plus high greed (acquisitiveness) then a black market will form. Sewage is…
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Almost Half of Americans are Financially Fragile
Or ‘financially impotent’ as the author likes to describe himself in this article, and gladly includes himself in this group of financial ignoramuses – even though: But like half of Americans he couldn’t muster up $400 to pay an emergency bill. “Research indicates that when people get some money—a bonus, a tax refund, a small inheritance—they…
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Passive Incomes
Increasing personal freedom and antifragility through passive income (capital, code and content) Things I found the most useful: