If everyone around you was overfishing what would you do, join them or only take your fair share? In many situations it would seem like you would be quite justified if you said that you would join them in overfishing. Yes this makes it more likely that the stock of fish is going to run… Continue reading Solving coordination problems
What is obvious? What does it mean for something to be obvious? Lots of things seem to be obvious to lots of people but are they really? I think in many cases this is an illusion or the result of a sort of amnesia. This is important because one often believes that the things they… Continue reading What is obvious
Some people collect key rings, others baseball cards, some, however, collect things a little more abstract. It is this kind of collection, collections of quotes, stories, oddities, that I want to focus on here. Charlie Munger, when asked in an interview how he prefers to learn about the world responds by saying "I collect big… Continue reading Starting a collection
"Sporadic great men come everywhere. But for a community to get vibrating through and through with intensely active life, many geniuses coming together and in rapid succession are required. This is why great epochs are so rare, - why the sudden bloom of a Greece, an early Rome, a Renaissance, is such a mystery. Blow… Continue reading Introduction to great epochs
You find yourself on an island, an island of outstanding beauty bursting to the brim with anything you could desire. Schools of fish swim off every shore, flocks of birds nest in the lush forest covering the island. All seems good, all is good. Your people have been on this island for many generations, existing… Continue reading A story of self destruction
Look around you right now. Think about the things you see. Think about the things you've used in the last 24 hours. Most of you will have seen a phone, a computer or something like that. Who does one have to thank for them? Apple, Microsoft, Intel? Of course, but what about Francis Bacon, Faraday… Continue reading The long tail of scientific research
How far can typical and average diverge from each other? In many settings the answer is not much but in many more the answer can be a surprisingly large amount. These different settings are often not differentiated though leading to misleading statistics and beliefs. What differentiates these two types of systems? The answer is ergodicity.… Continue reading The gap between typical and average (my ergodicity primer)
How does one study power? How does one accumulate power? How does one wield power? Few have been more deliberate in considering these questions than Lyndon Johnson. He transformed the fabric of the institutions he touched to accomplish what he wanted, be it in the interest of the country or otherwise. In this essay I… Continue reading The Master of Power
Scott Adams The Day You Became A Better Writer (dilbert.blog) I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class. Business writing… Continue reading Compilation of writing advice
What do family holidays and budget decisions in the Democratic caucus of the Colorado House of Representatives have in common? They are both, it turns out, pretty good use cases of quadratic voting (QV). If you're not familiar with QV try going here where Vitalik Buterin goes through it at some length. Basically it is… Continue reading Quadratic voting and family holdidays
Neil Hacker 