“What maps do, is they abruptly take you from the darkness to the light.”
Maps are one of those inventions, the timekeeping, that are vital but overlooked. Think for a moment, how could the modern world operate without maps?
Category: technology
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People called it a thinking machine, but Ada knew better. The intelligence was not in the machine itself, but in the genius of its designer.
– Diane StanleyAda Lovelace understood where the genius of the Difference Engine came from – Charles Babbage.
Does this quote still apply today? Is the genius now in the machine?
Again, picture books, children’s books, are underrated.
Stanley, Diane. Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer. United States, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 2016.
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“for the vast majority of its history, Stripe has, I think, attracted people who are drawn to unglamorous infrastructure challenges and problems. We are not a company that specializes in making beautiful cars. We make roads“
Patrick CollisonAlways encouraged to do better after hearing Patrick speak. Dwarkesh’s podcast remains underrated.
Full transcript here
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What Carson did was to approach the study of how to create X by turning the question backward—that is, by studying how to create non-X. The great algebraist Jacobi had exactly the same approach as Carson and was known for his constant repetition of one phrase: “Invert, always invert.”83 It is in the nature of things, as Jacobi knew, that many hard problems are best solved only when they are addressed backward.
– Charlie MungerIt’s not only Charlie’s bits of wisdom that leave you in awe, the number and variety of thinkers Charlie Munger references in each chapter is astonishing.
In this speech alone he draws on Samuel Johnson, Cicero, Johnny Carson, Moses, Benjamin Disraelias, Croesus, Issac Newton, Epictetus…
Stripe Press’s online version of Poor Charlie’s Almanack is what digital reading should be.
More to come.
https://www.stripe.press/poor-charlies-almanack/talk-one?progress=66.79%25
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A man with a large family . . . stands a broader mark for sorrow. But then, he stands a broader mark for pleasure too!
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Bishop Shipley, 1788A quote to remember as we approach Christmas.
Another for the children’s books are underrated files…
Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life. United Kingdom, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014. pp14
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Musk’s indisputable work ethic was forged in Canada?
Musk started doing some work on his cousin’s farm. He grew vegetables and shoveled out grain bins. Musk celebrated his eighteenth birthday there, sharing a cake with the family. Throughout the rest of the year, Musk hopped from city to city, working odd jobs. At one point, for example, he learned to cut logs with a chainsaw in Vancouver, British Columbia.
pp44Musk also took on hazardous jobs for better pay. Reminds me of Richard Linklater’s years on oil rigs off the Texas coast…
Musk found some of his jobs by going to the local employment offices where companies posted requests for work. He was told that the best-paying job–because of the hazards involved–was cleaning boilers at a lumber mill, so he decided to try that. “You have to put on this hazmat suit and then shimmy through this little tunnel that you can barely fit in,” Musk said. “Then you have a shovel and you take the sand and goop and other residue, which is still steaming hot, and you have to shovel it through the same hole you came through. There is no escape. Someone else on the other side has to shovel it into a wheelbarrow. If you stay in there for more than thirty minutes, you get too hot and die.” Thirty people started out at the beginning of the week to give the job a try. By the end of the week, it was just Musk and two other men doing the work.
pp44, 45This is not TIME Person of the Year Elon Musk, and yet somehow it still is.
Picture books are underrated, but I’m learning children’s books are underrated. This adapted version of Ashlee’s Vance Elon Musk biography has been inspiring so far.
Blazing through it.
Also see John Meacham’s adapted version of his Thomas Jefferson biography: Thomas Jefferson President and Philosopher
Vance, Ashlee. Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers’ Edition. United States, HarperCollins, 2017.
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We believe in the romance of technology, of industry. The eros of the train, the car, the electric light, the skyscraper. And the microchip, the neural network, the rocket, the split atom.
We believe in adventure. Undertaking the Hero’s Journey, rebelling against the status quo, mapping uncharted territory, conquering dragons, and bringing home the spoils for community.
To paraphrase a manifesto of a different time and place: “Beauty exists in struggle. There is no masterpiece that has not an aggressive character. Technology must be a violent assault on the forces of the unknown, to force them to bow before man.”
We believe that we are, have been, and will always be the masters of technology, not mastered by technology. Victim mentality is a curse in every domain of life, including in our relationship with technology – both unnecessary and self-defeating. We are not victims, we are conquerors.
– Marc AndreessenImportant.
*post post thoughts:
When this post dropped it had the feel of a surprise album release. With all of the podcasts, reviews, criticisms, and raves. Will more online writing have this feel upon publication?
Anytime I see a title with “Manifesto” included it sparks intrigue. Where have all the manifestos gone? The internet seems like the ideal medium for them. Will this one inspire an uptick manifesto publishing?
More optimism is needed. You can argue the merits of Marc Anderson’s piece, but the world could use more optimistic writing that inspires action.
Andreessen, Marc. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. Marc Andreessen Substack. October 16, 2023.
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Beer incentivizes science.
From Will O’Brien’s piece in the Fitzwilliam
Taken over its entire history, Guinness may just be the most successful company Ireland has ever produced. In 1930, it was the seventh largest company in Britain or Ireland. It is one of our oldest companies of note. Considering that it predates the Bank of Ireland and the State itself, it could even be said that Guinness is the longest-running successful large institution in Ireland.
Will O’BrienThe Irish brewing company has relentlessly innovated on multiple fronts.
- Workplace benefits
- Annual leave
- Free meals (today would be a company cafeteria)
- Family trips
- Healthcare
- Pension
- Housing!
- The creation of a Guinness Research Laboratory
- The Easy pour system (1959) – Invented by mathematician Michael Ash. Allowed lesser skilled bartenders to serve a quality pour.
- Project ACORN (1969) – Advanced. Cans. of. Rich. Nectar. The first attempt to improve the can or bottle pour.
- “widget” – a gas filled, tennis table sized ball at the bottom of the can that releases a gas that creates bubbles. This greatly improved the taste of home-served pints.
- Branding – Guinness is good for you, Guinness is bad for you, The Guinness Book of Records, producing a Nigerian action film.
Guinness is proof that companies who endure, innovate across multiple areas of their business over an extended timeline. Innovation doesn’t pause.
A must read piece if you’re interested in history, economics, marketing, or beer.
- Workplace benefits
Floodlights and Goalposts 