currently what's in my head:
6.01.20 - Cappuccino.
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Simple. One simple mixture of espresso and frothed milk. How is it that a concoction of such simple ingredients - coffee beans, milk - is the magical elixir to my relentless angst? Some call it an addiction. I say it's more of the antidote to my addiction...to my own thoughts. The heat of the liquid evokes warmth and settles my worries, the slightly burnt smell wakes my senses, the healthy dose of caffeine refreshes my mind —my daily meditation in a cup, maintaining my equilibrium. I can't afford to miss a day, in fear that by doing so, my personal rhythm will be disrupted.
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Relief. As I clasp the warm cup of cappuccino in my hand, I feel nothing more than relief. However cold the weather may be, however cloudy my thoughts can be, however many worries I can perceive. Somehow the liquid soaks up the parasites like a sponge, dissolving its detriments, and releasing its purest form back to me, delivered with compassion.
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Maybe it is an addiction.
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5.24.20 - incentives: benign or threatening?
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"If you would persuade, appeal to interest not to reason"
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Incentives are indeed superpowers, as I've seen across my numerous growth experiments I've run in the past (the ethicality is debatable sometimes)
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What it's created is this inevitable ubiquity of incentive-caused bias...
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Our capitalist society promotes this structure, as every product, business, and even relationship (some) operate around incentive alignment - those who fail to understand the interests of the other party will find themselves annihilated by competition
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Some of the greatest creation and destructions started from incentives: the internet, iPhone, cash register...to the financial crisis of 2008, spawned from mis-incentives around mortgage-backed-securities, and the surgery and diabetes-inducing coca-cola
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5.21.20 - multidisciplinary education
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by becoming too narrowly focused on one particular discipline or topic will develop a myopic view of the world
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one should instead focus on gaining as much wisdom as possible while connecting between disciplines
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history to mathematics to physics, and to ​psychology and economics....list goes on
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reading reading reading...more reading. avoid summary notes - e.g., blinkist, TED talks, etc. they avoid the full story behind the learnings
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at a reading rate of 1 page per 90 seconds, if one spends 30 minutes reading everyday, she will expect to finish 240 books in 10 years (if we assume average book to be ~300 pages)
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4.19.20 - creative destruction
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Back in 1942, Schumpeter coined the term "creative destruction" to describe the idea that the destruction of old industries and practices are necessary for new innovations to arise.
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Marx refers to this as the annihilation of wealth under capitalism, as the "creative-destructive" forces will ultimately lead to its end as a system
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e.g., uber and lyft had to dismantle previous transportation systems and norms a in order to provide their services -- taxi drivers and the whole industry lost out as a result
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Personally, I don't believe creative destruction is what society should aim towards. Without the right policies in place to support those left behind, we will see growth ensue at the expense of inequality
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Perhaps with the right regulation and policies in place, we will be able to find a middle ground that benefits both parties, but unregulated promotion of innovation simply won't do.
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4.7.20 - what was going on in the world before COVID-19 hit
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elections all over the world (that are now postponed)
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impeachment of trump
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near war w/iran (after the killing of Suleimani)
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HK protests
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social problems: refugee travel ban, immigration policy, homelessness, mass incarceration
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wildfire in Australia
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numerous tech investigations on data privacy
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unrest in arab countries (e.g., Yemen still at war right now)
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discrimination against muslims in india
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concentration camps in Xinjiang
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france's pension reform
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kashmir
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brexit
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maybe i'll write a long form piece about all this.