A simple model to think through (for flaws as well as merits): industrialization was a process with efficiency as the core competitive dimension, informatization is a process with learning as the core competitive dimension -- in a coarse grained model this would almost correspond to the different dimensions in evolution; the first adaptation to the… Continue reading Red queen evolution and industrialization / informatization
Category: Commentary
The US Supreme Court, ENA and institutional reform
It is probably correct to say that there has never been as much pressure to reform the US Supreme Court as right now. President Biden has proposed a commission to report in 6 months on court reform, and today a number of democrats presented a bill that would lead to expanding the number of justices… Continue reading The US Supreme Court, ENA and institutional reform
The Lost Art of the B-side
So, kids, when artists of old released what we called singles - individual hits - they would release a record, and that record would have the hit on one side - called the A-side, but then they would be left with the problem of what to put on the other side of the record. That… Continue reading The Lost Art of the B-side
The myth of profit maximization
The FT editorial today deals with Danone and its shift to a "purpose driven company". The shift has been less than successful and its architect was unceremoniously removed. The editorial then goes on to note that there is a tension here between the Milton Friedman vision of companies as socially responsible when they maximize their… Continue reading The myth of profit maximization
The US returns to the endless frontier?
The organization and funding of science is a key geopolitical competitive advantage - and badly underrated across most economies. The European Union has failed at organizing tightly around scientific challenges, relying on large flagship programs that fragment into systems for distributing money across member states and the US has lost track of the post-world war… Continue reading The US returns to the endless frontier?
Have you had a good day?
As we reflect at the end of the day we all know what it feels like to have had a good day. A day that has left us feeling content with our accomplishments and connected to the world, to other people and to ourselves. We also know what it feels like to have a bad… Continue reading Have you had a good day?
Whiteout in the mountains and the sorrow over time compressed
We are in for a snowstorm tonight, the reports are saying. There is something about being at the mercy of weather that really is refreshing. I have, over the years, become more and more skeptical about city-living, and have enjoyed being ice-locked on an island in the archipelago and now huddling next to the fireplace… Continue reading Whiteout in the mountains and the sorrow over time compressed
Goals and solution spaces (Mental models XII)
The way you formulate your problem at least weakly determines your solution space. Let’s take a simple example. In Sweden, we have set a goal to have zero deaths in traffic every year. This is proudly referred to as a zero-vision, and is the overarching narrative around how we think about traffic safety. Sweden has… Continue reading Goals and solution spaces (Mental models XII)
Planning and progress
Tesla has been building factories, and building them fast. Whenever we see a process speeding up, our natural inclination is to believe that it has to do with a change in technology - but in a recent interesting analysis professor Lars Stehn (in Swedish) suggests that there is no such technology at work here. What… Continue reading Planning and progress
A note on “What Tech Calls Thinking” by Adrian Daub
Adrian Daub's book on Silicon Valley thinking is intended as a criticism of the ideas that underpin the Silicon Valley-ideology, if there is one. This in itself is a worthwhile project, and teasing out the intellectual underpinnings of different spheres in society is in itself a good form of critical philosophy. It is fair to… Continue reading A note on “What Tech Calls Thinking” by Adrian Daub