Startups and Cultural Optimism
I make a lot of fun of the startup culture. And to be sure, there is a lot to make fun of. However, I have a secret to share. I am actually enthusiastic that this is what young people today … Continued
How to win at business (and life)
posted in: Economics, Entrepreneurship, General Wisdomusings, How to fix the world, How to human, Tech |
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All the significant success stories that I am aware of – including firsthand – have one thing in common. If you look at Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Tesla… They did nothing radically new. Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player, the … Continued
The perfect wedding
I went to a friend’s wedding this weekend and was genuinely moved by how beautiful these things can be – when you don’t try too hard to make them beautiful. The happy couple ditched every cliché, and even though a … Continued
It’s time to get outraged by internet outrage
The internet likes to get angry at things. In the sheltered existence of the western middle classes, few things offer the adrenaline rush and community spirit of righteous indignation. The feeling is so addictive that if righteous indignation cannot be … Continued
The politics of hysteria
A report by a non-profit made rounds of the media in my little country a while ago claiming that three quarters of children have experience with drugs. If your first instinct was “that doesn’t seem right”, congratulations, your common sense … Continued
“Society these days” is actually mostly fine
If you use Facebook, you’ve seen your fair share of “Society these days” memes, where people complain about alleged societal and moral decline (in reality, usually their own injured narcissism, but we’ll get to that in a moment). All share two … Continued
Paleo pseudoscience and food cults
If you’ve ever been on the internet, you ran into the so-called “paleo” diet – an approach to nutrition based on the notion that the healthiest possible lifestyle was practiced by people who died at twenty.
The folly of experts
An “expert” is: A person who is wrong slightly less often than non-experts, which is still most of the time. A person whom the speaker wants the listener to trust. Ultimately, when applied to soft disciplines such as economics (especially … Continued
“Alternative”, AKA not investment
In “alternative investment”, like in “alternative medicine”, the word “alternative” really means “not”.
What if you just don’t enjoy exercise?
Disclaimer: The following is a hypothesis based on solid observational evidence. It is, nonetheless, not rigorously tested by, for instance, analysis of blood samples post-exercise. I encourage ambitious scientists and doctors to do exactly that and report back with results, and … Continued
Practical discipline
Following up on the first part which was mainly theoretical, let’s have a look now at a handful of tips to help you build good habits in practice: Baby steps Your brain resists abrupt changes. If you motivate yourself to a titanic … Continued
How to do anything well
There is one principle of good writing that’s 1) rarely said, yet underlying all common advice and 2) shockingly applicable to everything else. Look at this horse painting. Really look at it: It’s a traditional genre, with thousands of results on … Continued
What is Survivorship Bias
One of the R.A.F.’s top priorities during WW2 was improving the odds that its notoriously expensive and strategically crucial bombers will make it back from bombing runs over Germany. The returning airplanes were rigorously scrutinised, and military experts were busy … Continued
Show me how you drive and I’ll tell you who you are
Everything you need to know about a nation, you can learn from how it does two things: 1. Queuing, and 2. Driving. Both measure the people’s ability (and willingness) to function in a reasonable system without breaking it. In fact, … Continued
The most important thing you’re probably ignoring? Sleep.
You know what’s important? Sleep. More accurately, the stuff known as sleep hygiene. When it comes to well-being, sleep is the one area where the tiniest (and easiest) change can make the most difference. It’s role in psychological health is … Continued
The Science of Douchebaggery
There is a profound and often underestimated source of the phenomenon colloquially known as “douchebaggery”: People are not very good at realistically estimating fairness, particularly when it comes to our own rights, contributions, claims and interests in general. Imagine, if you will, a … Continued
How to actually lose weight
Wanna lose weight? Odds are, you do. So…how? The worst offenders are well known – sugar, fried stuff, soda, triplemocchaventimacchiatos, eating late at night and lack of exercise. We now also know that a major and historically underestimated factor are simple carbohydrates from … Continued
Screw motivation, what you need is discipline.
If you want to get anything done, there are two basic ways to get yourself to do it. The first, more popular and devastatingly wrong option is to try to motivate yourself. The second, somewhat unpopular and entirely correct choice is to … Continued