The making of Richard Scarry. Cars and Trucks and Things That Go has been the book of the year in my house, so I loved this behind the scenes look at how the book and its author came to be. Even better that much of it was written in my beloved Switzerland.
So what are the lessons we can learn? It doesn’t always help to be right. Ideas aren’t easy to implement without the right combination of technology, attitudes, and luck. The work is what’s important, not the result. Maybe the cranks who fill their houses with cart loads of ephemera aren’t so crazy. Don’t make political trouble. Get a PR department. Have a partner who can do these things if you can’t. Be in the right place at the right time. Don’t get cynical, or as Churchill said, don’t let the bastards grind you down. Keep working. Philosophical and ethical beliefs matter a lot to what work you do and how you do it. Don’t be so pragmatic you end up being a conformist. Conventional schooling isn’t always the best approach for your children. Worry less about imaginative young people becoming lawyers. Being bored might give them the opportunity they need to have their big idea.
A great critique of Seeing like a State from Slate Star Codex. I’m like 1/3 of the way through the book and fully buying Scott’s arguments. Now I feel like someone has revealed the magicians trick.
The model is the product. I’m not sure this is correct but the hypothesis is clear and it made me think. I’m not sure I’m ready to bet against generalist scaling, but this was a compelling case that specialized models effectively are the application layer for AI.
The importance of serendipitous meetings: Silicon Valley companies will cross reference each other’s patents more when their employees frequent the same coffee shops. I’m reminded here of Austin’s 3 types of luck and the fact that serendipity can be encouraged.
Musings
All innovation (particularly social innovation) should be presented as a return to tradition.
Individual posts now have related posts at the bottom of them, leveraging the infrastructure I built for Search. I’m excited to see what serendipity this sparks. Let me know what you think!
Henrik Karlsson on Constraints. “Have you walked face-first into the wall to see if it is a chalk line?” We are all trapped in our preconceptions of what our ideal life needs to be like.
The skill of troubleshooting by Autodidacts via The Browser. A great deep dive into how to be a better troubleshooter and also a fantastic example of a meta skill that we probably all have under developed, reminiscent of Oliver Trimboli’s work on Listening. A favorite quote from the post: “Treating a system like the enemy makes it one.”
Taylor Swift's security practices around her songs before they're released are literally airgap. Ed Sheeran is one of her closest friends in the world. She didn't override anything for him. Because security is a systemic risk and he is a target.
Hobbies promote self efficacy (the believe that you can do hard things) when:
they are very serious but dissimilar to your work (e.g., a scientist that is a committed rock climber)
they are not particularly serious, but similar to your work (e.g., coding on a side project for a software engineer)
Hobbies begin to reduce self efficacy when they are too serious and too related to work (e.g., intensive blogging for a technical writer)
When written out this is pretty intuitive, but nice to see on paper. Making a personal commitment to find at least one hobby that is truly dissimilar from my work by the end of the year next year. From the Journal of Vocational Behavior via Range Widely.
Humans are not the only animal to domesticate other animals. Black garden ants keep aphids in a manner similar to how humans keep livestock. Via Kevin Kelly.
Simon Wilson on how to code with LLMs. His point around manual testing certainly matches my experience!
Musings
You don’t own the story, but you do own the execution.
A common thread I noticed between Paul Graham’s The Origins of Woke and Tanner Greer’s The Euro American Split: the importance of generational change in culture change. We are always either rebelling against or seeking the approval of our elders.
Having a new child is like meeting your spouse, having your first date, falling in love, and marrying them in the span of a moment.
Being boring is a choice.
A little bit of fun
A half baked business idea: The Anti-Recruiting Firm: You identify the lowest performers at your company; we land them plum roles at your rivals, simultaneously improving your productivity while tanking the competition.
The Polymerist on the Courtship of Sampling. Making a self reminder to write down my thoughts on this one at some point.
Things I learned
The only right protected in the main body of the US Constitution is the right to intellectual property (remember that the Bill of Rights were amendments added later). It seems fitting to me that in the American Brain, the right to own ones ideas is even more primal than the right to free speech. Also, the first patent examiner for the United States was none other than Thomas Jefferson. Via ChinaTalk.
People need a certain amount of structure to create bonds. You need the conference schedule to create the interactions that lead to friendships. It’s like the coral for the fish.
“It never gets easier you just go faster” - Greg LeMond
Culture and values are underrated for explaining the behavior of people and nations. This point was made by Prof. David Kang on ChinaTalk when describing why Asia doesn’t exhibit the same international relations patterns as Europe, but it also made me think of the book I’m listening to Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. When someone’s values and their material self interest align, you always know what they’ll do. When they conflict, though, often people’s values win out over what would narrowly benefit them.