This week’s highlights: Building Utopia, Uncertainty, and Walking
Issue 379
by David Wells – Nashville TN
Happy Friday –
Fifteen on Friday is back this week after taking a socially distanced holiday to the Gulf Coast. In keeping with the general pace of the year so far, much has changed in the last 14 days. Much has been said and continues to be said by those far wiser and more qualified about current events, a fact I want to be sensitive to.
As I discussed a number of weeks ago in Society, Not Your Life, Will Change Post COVID-19, the last 20 years have seen numerous crises that have revealed to us the fragility of the governance structures we have put into place both in the United States and globally. While my thoughts at the time were focused on the failure of the public health infrastructure, I concluded by noting “that we must face the fact that the task of the next 10-20 years is to re-architect how our society functions in light of the weakness that have and are being revealed.“
George Floyd’s tragic death rings a clarion call that part of this re-architecture must be a complete and enduring extension of the unalienable rights which under-gird the American experiment in self-government to to all people.
Content I wrote this week –
Fifteen on Friday is back this week after taking a socially distanced holiday to the Gulf Coast. In keeping with the general pace of the year so far, much has changed in the last 14 days. Much has been said and continues to be said by those far wiser and more qualified about current events, a fact I want to be sensitive to.
As I discussed a number of weeks ago in Society, Not Your Life, Will Change Post COVID-19, the last 20 years have seen numerous crises that have revealed to us the fragility of the governance structures we have put into place both in the United States and globally. While my thoughts at the time were focused on the failure of the public health infrastructure, I concluded by noting “that we must face the fact that the task of the next 10-20 years is to re-architect how our society functions in light of the weakness that have and are being revealed.“
George Floyd’s tragic death rings a clarion call that part of this re-architecture must be a complete and enduring extension of the unalienable rights which under-gird the American experiment in self-government to to all people.
Content I wrote this week –
- When Both Sides are Right – The Problem of Paradox As F Scott Fitzgerald noted, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
Best,
David
Food for Thought
- Buzzfeed – I Don’t Feel Like Buying Stuff Anymore Our economy is built on Americans of all class levels buying things. What happens when the ability — and desire — to do so goes away?
- NYT – In Lockdown, a Neighborhood Opens Up. Grab a hyperlocal bakery loaf and a copy of the kids’ newspaper, and we can discuss over stoop cocktails.
- Outside – The Business of Building Utopia. Nestled in Chattahoochee Hills southwest of Atlanta, the Serenbe community is designed to deliver everybody’s favorite buzzword: wellness. You can’t argue with the gourmet wine dinners, leafy walking trails, and goat yoga, but be aware that Paradise doesn’t come cheap.
- ODD – How Big is the Racial Wealth Gap? It might be hard to believe, but the typical White household has 10 times as much wealth ($171,000) as the typical Black household ($17,000) in the U.S.
Business
- HN – 7 Sales Tips There is more than 100 trillion dollars in the global economy just waiting for you to breathe it in. Good luck.
- Supercast – Joe Rogan Got Ripped Off How Spotify tricked him into giving up billions
- Oaktree – Uncertainty II – Thanks TP – The importance of epistemic humility. Favorite line – “People who lack the cognitive skills required to perform a task typically also lack the metacognitiveskills required to assess their performance.”
- Forbes – Inside Kylie Jenner’s Web of Lies – Any Why She’s No Longer a Billionaire – Hell hath no fury like Forbes deceived?
- BFM – The Experience of Opening a Bank Account In today’s world, use experience matters. For example, 1 UK bank required 120 mouse clicks to open an account vs. 1 that only required 24. Executives need to be aware of how user interface design affects the hassle of being a customer.
Culture/Tech/Science:
- RyanHoliday – Do Yourself a Favor Today… and Go For a Walk We are an ambulatory species and often the best way to find stillness—in our hearts and in our heads—is to get up and out on our feet.
- The Drive – The Incredible Story of the US Army’s Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains
- CalNewport – The Lost Satisfactions of Manual Competence
- EV – Don’t call time on the megacity
- NYR – The Very Drugged Nazis They demanded purity of blood, body, and mind. But nobody became more dependent on drugs than Adolf Hitler, and no armed forces did more to boost troop performance than the Wehrmacht did by using methamphetamine.