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I’ve read an article in The Guardian about a potential falling out of Britains with social media use. One of the passages stands out to me: “ A central issue driving the data is the changing nature of social media itself. The rise of apps such as TikTok and the popularity of video features including Instagram’s Reels mean that people are consuming social media more passively and are less likely to…
The Deutsche Bahn, the almost monopolistic, state-backed company running trains in Germany, is notoriously unreliable, terribly often late etc. A constant source of shame and anger for Germans. The usual story goes to say that a lack of investments, compounded over decades, has made this reality a necessity with huge investments over long time-periods being the only possibility to ever improve…
Last week, I finished reading the wonderful Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez. The book is mostly a diary Rodriguez wrote when writing, directing and then selling his first feature film, El Mariachi , at age 23. It is a great book, steaming of youthful fuck-it-let’s-do-it energy and extremely inspiring in that regard. Against all advice and common wisdom, Rodriguez managed to shoot a full…
There is a German TV-show, “Biene Maja”, from the 70’s that I loved as a child and re-watched with my daughter. Maja is a curious bee living on a beautiful meadow, experiencing all kinds of adventures. Listening to an audio version of a contemporary Biene Maja story, I was struck by the stark difference half a century has had on how the story is told. I believe this reflects a deep cultural shift…
When reading Peter Drucker's The Practice of Management , I stumbled upon the following passage: “In its own interest, management should encourage serious outside interests on the part of its executives. […] To be known as a minor poet (as was the late Field Marshal Lord Wavell) is an asset rather than a liability in that otherwise unpoetic institution, the British Army. To be known as an ardent…
There is an important distinction between thinking as accumulation and reciting of knowledge and thinking as an active appropriation and practice. I argue for the importance of the practice of thinking, using examples from my own studies in philosophy and ‘borrowed conviction’ in stock-picking. Finally: an excursion into how this point might be a source of hope in the discourse on AI. After having…
Benjamin Graham’s “Margin of Safety” reveals a tension in long-term thinking — between a radical focus on the present and future orientation.
Most of our failures stem from giving up early. We have to address that: Who continues to play eventually wins – under one crucial condition. Alex Hormozi finishes his book $100 M Leads with the following parable: Imagine two friends playing dice against each other. One of them gets a die with 20, the other one with 200 sides – however, neither of them knows which one they got. Each die has one…