BC CULTURE
Saved by @jacobhtml

1/ Here are my notes from @robertwrighter's book - Nonzero: the logic of human destiny. I enjoyed the book very much.

The basic premise of the book is that history has a direction which favors co-operation and non-zero sum games, and that causes an increase in complexity.

 2/ Starting from the first replicating molecule which co-operated with an outer layer to form first proto-cell, evolutionary and cultural history is full of examples where two entities come together to survive and progress a lot more than they would have done individually.
3/ This co-operative entity fares much better than two individual entities because of specialization. If two entities are in the same boat - that they win together or lose together - then trust is implicit.
4/ In a non-zero sum game, trust causes entities to focus on what they do best.

For example, eukaryotic cells - the ones animals and plants have - emerged when two proto-cells merged, and one took the role of energy generator (mitochondria), the other specialized in protection.
5/ Some scientists believe that even nucleus in a cell is a result of an early cell merging with another cell.

So M&A is not a recent phenomena, entities have been merging because of common interests ever since life started.
6/ Even a single cell is an emergent entity because different genes/DNA "decided" that co-operating and specializing via a single genome is a much better survival mechanism as compared to individual genes/DNA trying to replicate in the wild.
7/ By making an organism, the genes in the genes, seal their common fate. Either they survive together or they die together.

This is truly a non-zero sum game.
8/ However, within the broader non-zero sum game, there are oppurtunities for playing zero sum games.

Like, even though we're a family and there's a single ice-cream left in the fridge, you'd want to have it.
9/ After emergence of eukaroytic cells, the big leap was multiple eukaroyotic cells coming together to form a multi-cellular organism.
10/ An organism is a pact that billions of cells share that they either survive together or die together.

This "trust" enables them to specialize and co-operate together for better survival. Some become specialists at taking in oxygen, and others at writing poetry.
11/ Now onto cultural evolution.

What I thought was perhaps the most clever idea in the book: ideas that support co-operation and specialization survive and get adopted because they enable win-win deals for idea holders. (Non-zero sum games)
12/ Technologies - like hammer and spear - enable a group of humans to co-operate and do things they individually couldn't have done: like taking on a mammoth, or going to the moon.
13/ And there's a nice feedback loop in technology<--->co-operation cycle. The more people co-operate, the more they're able to specialize, which leads to more sophisticated technology.
14/ Out of all technologies, perhaps information technologies are most conducive to enabling more non-zero sum games.

As writing skill spread, more and more people entered into simple written contracts that helped people co-operate and specialize.
15/ Perhaps the biggest information technology was money and the corresponding meme of capitalism that helped people express their desires clearly and others to fulfil those desires.
16/ We have a thousand different types of shoes because shoe-makers today do not have to worry about baking their own bread. This "trust" in the larger entity of commerce helps everyone progress.
17/ This loop of technology<--->co-operation accelerates specialization and causes complexity to grow even in face of the second law of thermodynamics, which states universe tends to move towards dis-order.
18/ One good way to think why non-zero sum games are inevitable throughout history is to see that entities that co-operate overpower entities that don't.

In this way, war or threat of war actually causes people to come together as a nation-state.
19/ This threat of zero-sum or even negative sum game (of say "nuclear war" or "climate change") is the catalyst for greater levels of co-operation.

The book discusses EU and UN as early and emerging examples of a possible future "world govenment" (whataver shape it may take)
20/ So even though history is full of accidents and you can't precisely tell time and location of major shifts/innovations, you can tell that (social, information, energy and material) technologies that enable entities to co-operate are inevitable.
21/ Eye was "discovered" by evolution multiple times, and so was flight.

Similarly, the book argues, if humans vanish, perhaps our close cousins (primates) will have an oppurtunity to evolve towards greater level of co-operation and reinventing writing, capitalism and culture.
22/ That reminded me of the movie "Planet of the apes"!

Of course, tribalism is rampant today and the age of Trump and Brexit will be a good test for book's ideas. My sense is that these are hiccups and counter-trends such as crypto, Internet and UBI will enable cohesion.
23/ To reiterate: the trajectory of history pushes co-operation and complexity while the second law pushes dissolution and disorder.

Is it the old yin-yang meme at play? You decide.

That's all! The book is full of perspective-shifting insights. Hope you like my notes :)

More from Paras Chopra

Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra
@paraschopra
You can find a lot about a company's undisclosed strategy by simply looking at what positions it is hiring for.
STARTUP
Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra
@paraschopra
Here’s me trying to make sense of the unprecedented 2020 bull rally of stock markets.

(A thread)

1/ The simple answer to why stock markets are up is always that there’s more demand for stocks than supply.

So the real question is: why is there more demand for stocks?

2/ Actually, what’s happening is what should happen.

Central banks across the world, especially the fed in the US, are providing cheap liquidity across the board to institutions.

With interest rates falling to 0% and below, bonds are no longer attractive.

3/ The central banks are injecting this extra liquidity to stimulate economic activity.

They’ve made risk-free investments such as bonds so unattractive that the only place for money to go is towards relatively risky investments which are stocks.

4/ More than anything else, what central banks want is inflation.

They want things to become pricey so wages grow, profits grow and people’s perception of recession goes away because you’re getting more money than last year.
TRADING
Advertisement
Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra
@paraschopra
Recruit exceptional people by showing them a promised land.

a 🧵


1/ A recruitment strategy should be indistinguishable from a marketing strategy.

2/ Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time understanding the market, talking to customers & customizing marketing messages to customer segments.

However, they often fail to realize that recruiting people to work for you is no different from recruiting customers to use your product.

3/ It’s true that the key difference is that you’re asking for money from customers while you’re offering to pay money to prospective employees.

However, for exceptional people, money offered is a commodity because many other companies are offering them the same or higher money.

4/ Exceptional people never look for jobs; jobs look for them.
HIRE
Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra
@paraschopra
It’s a mistake to assume that open-minded people have weak opinions.

On the contrary, they are actually strongly opinionated because they actively seek evidence contrary to their beliefs which makes them converge on beliefs that are only updated if there’s compelling evidence.
PERSONAL GROWTH
Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra
@paraschopra
We may be alone in the 🌌 ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

(a thread on this bold conjecture)

🎉 It's also my 1st podcast episode https://t.co/7u2FskrhHi


1/ For my inaugural podcast episode, I interviewed @anderssandberg who is a senior research fellow at the @fhioxford.

I highly recommend listening to the entire episode. It's full of gems and insights.

But if you want key ideas, keep reading this

2/ Before we get to that, here's what we talk about in the hour-long conversation.


3/ Both history and science fiction shows us how the world can be dramatically different than what it is today.

4/ But exponential curves (like Moore's law) make it hard to predict the future because early on they look like linear
CULTURE

More from Culture

Piers Robinson
Piers Robinson
@PiersRobinson1
@bellingcat's attempt in their new book, published by
@BloomsburyBooks, to coverup the @OPCW #Douma controversy, promote US and UK gov. war narratives, and whitewash fraudulent conduct within the OPCW, is an exercise in deception through omission. @BloomsburyPub @Tim_Hayward_


1) 2000 words are devoted to the OPCW controversy regarding the alleged chemical weapon attack in #Douma, Syria in 2018 but critical material is omitted from the book. Reading it, one would never know the following:

2) That the controversy started when the original interim report, drafted and agreed by Douma inspection team members, was secretly modified by an unknown OPCW person who had manipulated the findings to suggest an attack had occurred. https://t.co/QtAAyH9WyX… @RobertF40396660


3) This act of attempted deception was only derailed because an inspector discovered the secret changes. The manipulations were reported by @ClarkeMicah
and can be readily observed in documents now available https://t.co/2BUNlD8ZUv….

4) @bellingcat's book also makes no mention of the @couragefoundation panel, attended by the @opcw's first Director General, Jose Bustani, at which an OPCW official detailed key procedural irregularities and scientific flaws with the Final Douma Report:
CULTURE
Sharon Collins
Sharon Collins
@305local
In a recent article published in the Stern, there is now a criminal complaint filed against Michael Inacker, the then CEO of the PR firm WMP for what includes allegations of the knock out payments from the emirate of Qatar to hide a dossier for their role in financing Hezbollah


That allegedly 750,000 euros, which would have been divided between Jason and Michael.


In return, "Jason" was supposed to keep to himself the information he had researched in Qatar, that a high-ranking person in the emirate of Qatar was financially supporting Hezbollah.


https://t.co/TdaAECu35a


There is an interesting point in the article, WMP (Inacker) still had PR contracts with both Qatar and Saudi and “Jason” had some information about arms deliveries organized by people from Qatar with suppliers in Belarus, Serbia, Macedonia, and Yemen.
CULTURE
Advertisement
Joy Karmaker
Joy Karmaker
@JoyKarmaker75
The Final Destination (also known as Final Destination 4) is a 2009 3-D supernatural horror film written by Eric Bress and directed by David R. Ellis, both of whom also worked on Final Destination 2.


Released on August 28, 2009, it is the fourth installment to the Final Destinationfranchise, and the first of which to be shot in HD 3-D.
The Final Destination is rated R by the MPAA for strong violent/gruesome accidents.

Eight years after the explosion of Flight 180, seven years after the Route 23 pileup and three years after Devil's Flight derailment, college student Nick O'Bannon has a premonition of a car crash while watching a race at McKinley Speedway for a study break.


which sends debris into the audience, crushing some spectators and resulting in the stadium partially collapsing, killing almost everyone present in the 180 section.

In a panic Nick convinces his girlfriend Lori Milligan, and friends Hunt Wynorski and Janet Cunningham to leave, with the quartet being followed by a handful of others who become angry with Nick after he pushes past them to escape.
CULTURE
Pak Ngah Shamsul
Pak Ngah Shamsul
@shamsul__kamal
Justice in the Wilderness

Some have asked for my review of the book. Follow the thread only if you are interested

I dont want to bore anyone unnecessarily 😊

As in many memoirs its content can be categorised into 2. Statement of facts & opinions. Where facts are concerned, I believe his recounts are true & fair with no malice or bias intended. Opinions are, well just that & it can be interpreted in many ways

I thought of writing a long one but on 2nd thoughts ill keep it as concise as i can

Truth can be uncomfortable but we need to hear it in order to move forward

And i believe TT has been very frank in his book & to truly appreciate it, one has to put aside sensitivities & listen

Key takeaways from the book; Deterioration of meritocracy & impartiality & the desecration of the judiciary by the powers that be. He has pinpointed to the events that have led to this

If we truly care for our country it is critical that we give it serious considerations

TT is a world class lawyer. Very adept, consistently exercising due care & dilligence. His commitment in following thru is impeccable, driven by his desire to deliver best results in his clients interest (Malaysia as AG) eg. his relentless pursuit of Goldman Sachs, Equanimity
CULTURE
It's TEGAN!
It's TEGAN!
@tegan_oneil5000
on a very basic level it is astounding to me that seemingly half the country is hooked on the adventures of The Vision & Scarlet Witch, whose last series together was a precise contemporary of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, and which was quarter box fodder for decades

in hindsight, of course, the idea of framing a superhero story as a suburban dramedy seems novel and fresh to people, but that’s only because other people spent literally three and a half decades sleeping on it


now, of course, many new fans who look into the history of the matter might wonder why such a seemingly popular and fecund direction for these two characters was permanently shelved in the late 80s, what set of factors could possibly have -


they were able to put back some of what was broken - in time - but they never were able to get back to the marriage, and by the time the characters had new status quos in the early 90s the company had moved away from those kinds of genre experiments, and the rift became permanent

the Vision was a humorless drip for years, doing much the same schtick as Data during the precise years ST:TNG was airing

and as a consequence of those stories Wanda permanently became the poster child of women who cannot handle their power because of female inconstancy ...
CULTURE

You May Also Like

WAKE UP AUSTRALIA WAKE UP
WAKE UP AUSTRALIA WAKE...
@WakeAustralia
Facebook originally a CIA program called "LifeLog".
LifeLog, via DARPA, terminated on Feb 4th, 2004.
Facebook was launched on Feb 4th, 2004.
Many of the LifeLog team became execs at FB.
Zuckerberg is a figurehead.
CIA allowed Cambridge to help Trump win

https://t.co/enzOXDCogV


Pentagon Kills LifeLog
BUSINESS
Aron Hyman
Aron Hyman
@aron_hyman
THREAD: The following tweets are for the purposes of stories that will appear in Sunday Times Daily. The videos and images depicted may be upsetting but are deemed to be in the public interest. This is the story of the Ayanda "Borhey" Mtila as far as we were able to verify it.


On 13 October Mtila as defacto overlord of the Boko Harram gang, allegedly carried out his penultimate cash-in-transit robbery. Sources say he sustained a head wound in a shootout with security guards. Some friends believe he was killed by a fellow

He died two days later, on 15 October, after allegedly being in a coma for more than a day. His funeral was a spectacle, held on Nyanga Sports fields on 24 October and attended by hundreds of people. Sources say it was made possible by Paarl businessman Lukhanyo "Spur" Mangena.
CRIME
Advertisement
\u2745\u1710\u170b\u1713\u170e
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ...
@uglyluhan
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods
RELIGION
Andrew Chen
Andrew Chen
@andrewchen
👇Thread.

Published a new essay: The red flags and magic numbers that investors look for in your startup’s metrics – 80 slide deck included!


This was a deck that I created on my (longish) interview process with @a16z. It was a long path, starting with meeting folks at the firm 10 years ago. But the purpose of the deck was to explain how I would use my superpower in an investing context

Here's what I explain in the deck. As investors (whether angel or VC) we're often confronted with an up-and-to-the-right graph. Is it going to go up? Or down?


One solution to forecast these growth curves is the Growth Accounting Framework, where you add up New+Reactivated and subtract churned users. In each time period that gives you the difference in monthly actives.


The problem with this is that it's a lagging metric, not a leading one. We need to go one level deeper and look at the underlying loops that drive these numbers, to understand the quality.
STARTUPS
Brian Cates
Brian Cates
@drawandstrike
A lot of people don't understand that Trump & his incoming team didn't face a normal transition period, like it was over a in a matter of a few weeks or months.

The DOJ transition period JUST ENDED when Sessions left. Almost 2 exact years to get it there.

Pompeo at the CIA took over a year before he was done and ready to shift over to the State Department.

All kinds of stuff has been going on behind the scenes nobody leaks or talks about.

We only had the barest mention of the fact the Clinton Email investigation restarted

Nobody leaked in a year that Huber was deep diving into the Clinton Foundation.
Keep that in mind as all the usual suspects continue to INSIST nothing is happening/going to happen.
POLITICS