21 lessons learned in 2021:

Engineered Serendipity

I believe that some of what we call "luck" is actually the macro result of 1,000s of micro actions.

Your daily habits can put you in a position where "luck" is more likely to strike.

Increase your serendipity surface area.

Engineer your own serendipity.

Pessimists Sound Smart, Optimists Get Rich

Pessimists look at the future and see the doors that are closed.

Optimists look at the future and see the doors that are open—and probably kick down the closed doors, too.

Surround yourself with optimists. The future is bright.

The Exponential Growth Challenge

Human brains cannot fathom the insane power of exponential growth. We consistently underestimate its impact.

When you're on an exponential growth curve—stop trying to set specific goals.

Strap in, keep your head back, and enjoy the ride.

Work Like a Lion

Most people are not wired to work 9-5.

Modern work culture is a remnant of the Industrial Age—long periods of steady, monotonous work.

If your goal is to do inspired, creative work, you have to work like a lion.

Sprint when inspired. Rest. Repeat.

The politically-captured 'Constitutional Tribunal' has decided - or rather, conveyed the decision - that the ombudsman cannot remain in office after the end of his statutory term to guarantee continuity until his replacement has been appointed by parliament.

PiS has been trying to force through candidates that are unacceptable to the majority in the Senate, and rather than attempt to work to find a compromise candidate, they have decided to use their control over the 'Tribunal' to resolve the problem to their liking instead.

This is the same procedure that was used in the case of the abortion law. What the executive cannot resolve in the legislature, it will use the 'Tribunal' to resolve.

The 'Tribunal' sat in a panel of three judges and two pseudo-judges who occupy places to which others had already been elected in late 2015. One of them is the 'Tribunal' president, who was elected to that position in breach of procedure.

Acting ombudsman @Adbodnar now remains in the role for three months, after which either PiS identifies a candidate the opposition finds acceptable (implausible), the opposition gives in (possible), or Polish citizens will be deprived of constitutionally-assured representation.

We are in an extraordinary moment, but not an entirely unprecedented one. Since the earliest days, societies have had to cope with disasters that wiped out the ability of everyday people to service their debts and thus threatened to destroy their societies.

1/

If you've read U Missouri econ prof Michael Hudson's writings on the subject, you know that for millennia, rulers in these circumstances simply wiped out the debts, declaring a "jubilee" that allowed people to rebuild after disasters rather than being trapped in debt spirals.

2/

In a new essay on @NakedCapitalism called "How an 'Act of God' Pandemic Is Destroying the West: The US Is Saving the Financial Sector, Not the Economy," Hudson reveals the abyss on whose brink we are balanced, and what we must do to pull back from

Hudson's oft-repeated golden rule is "Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid." That is to say: making it harder to declare bankruptcy, or binding debtors over to arbitration or wage-garnishing won't actually get them to pay debts they cannot afford.

4/

This is a very sharp observation in the US context. The 2008 crisis was "solved" by bailing out finance, not people - and so the finance sector was able to lend to consumers to buy things again, while consumer debt mounted to spectacular levels.

5/

The world must know what Jair Bolsonaro is doing to Brazil
[thread]

DECEMBER 12TH, 2019
Chinese scientists detect a new viral outbreak that, in the following month, would be reported as the “Wuhan virus”, the eighth most populous city in

The timeline of the news, however, is different from that of the facts. And there are several signs indicating that the virus was already spreading in Spain, France, and even Brazil – aside from China itself, of course – on earlier

DECEMBER 31ST, 2019
After 19 days of research upon detection of the virus, China informed the World Health Organization that a pneumonia caused by unknown sources had been reported in

JANUARY 8TH, 2020
Less than a month after the detection of the outbreak, Chinese scientists find out that the pneumonia had been caused by a new type of coronavirus.