Luca’s newsletter – On the idea chasm, placebo surgeries, and more (2021-01-23)

Quotes of the week

Wittgenstein’s ruler

If an idiot receives a Nobel Prize in economics, we can jump to one of two conclusions: the idiot might be smarter than we thought, or the Prize might be less smart than we thought.

This is Wittgenstein’s ruler: the idea that measurements are informative both of what is being measured and who is measuring it. I’ve previously explained the concept here.

Last week, David Boxenhorn found a hilarious application. 

Education

“Teachers should prepare the student for the student’s future, not for the teacher’s past.” – Richard Hamming

Higher education is a favorite topic of mine. I’ve written 10 theses on higher education, on the opportunity cost of teaching Latin, and on the importance of default choices in education.

On good intentions

Alsek Dreams, a wild fish entrepreneur and one of my favorite Twitter accounts, had a great thread whose argument I can simplify in: some use good intentions to shield themselves from accountability (“I had good intentions”) thus circumventing skin in the game, with the ultimate result that the dangerous can stay in power.

Science vs. art vs. engineering vs. politics

If you can’t replicate the work and get the same outcome, then it’s not science. If you can replicate the work and get the same outcome, it’s not art. – Seth Godin, link

“Scientist: There’s no reason why it shouldn’t work. Engineer: It isn’t tested, therefore it doesn’t work.” – David Boxenhorn, link

“You know what you get when you mix politics and science? You get politics.” – Dave Collum, link

The chasm of ideas

The Adoption Curve is an important idea (if you don’t know what it is, here’s a quick summary I wrote a few years ago, with helpful charts). The term “chasm” refers to the difficulty that ideas and technologies have in jumping from early adopters to mainstream. 

A question some had is, why is there a chasm if (in theory) people are distributed on the adoption curve as a continuous spectrum?

In a recent essay, Ben Thompson proposed an explanation. Many ideas spread as follows: Twitter users produce ideas for free, subscribers-supported newsletters distribute early ideas to early adopters, chasm, and ad-supported newspapers distribute mainstream ideas to the masses. Whereas people are on a continuous spectrum, outlets aren’t. Subscriber-supported newsletter naturally must focus on “hedgy” ideas appealing to visionaries willing to pay for it, whereas ad-supported newspapers must discuss already-mainstream ideas to ensure that the masses read their articles (and their ads).

The chasm in monetization exacerbates the difficulty of early ideas in getting mainstream.

Of course, the chasm can be crossed in many ways other than media outlets – for example, by having a product using the idea to cross the chasm. Also, it’s not like the idea chasm cannot be crossed without solving the monetization chasm problem. It’s just that it’s less likely.

(As a side note, last December, I wrote about the Lindy Effect. It’s interesting to consider that, on the one hand, yes, ideas that spread like wildfire at their beginning are also likely to spread fast a few weeks later; on the other hand, the chasm is a natural bound that prevents us from extrapolating an idea’s mass spreading potential from its early spreading velocity – an idea can spread fast between early adopters and never reach the mainstream, for example.)

Neediness

“The need to be approved by others highlights the fact that you do not approve of yourself.” – Strategic Revolt, link

Placebo surgeries

A thread on placebo surgeries (link). I’ve previously written on the topic, on placebo in general, and on the nature of pain as a signal of vulnerability in one of my most popular essays, here.

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Teams Are Adaptive Systems

On the 2nd of February, I will officially publish my 7th book, called “Teams Are Adaptive Systems: 12 Principles For Effective Management.” This is the last chance you can get it at the pre-order price; on publication day, I will raise the price by 25%.

If you want your friends to benefit from the pre-order price while it lasts, send them this link now.