1) It’s a common lament in the business world: We’re data-rich but insight poor. With SO many numbers floating around, I tend to anchor certain key statistics to help me keep up. We ingest a whole bunch of these in school, like the number of planets, global population, Boston’s inability to win a World Series, etc. But those anchors move, albeit slowly.1 Called “mesofacts,” these seemingly fixed bits of knowledge pose a particular challenge. Revisit them too often and you’re wasting time, ignore the change entirely and you may pipe up in a meeting with “Global mobile device penetration is over 50%!” like that’s new news.
2) Like it or not, our society runs on consumption, specifically people buying things, using/discarding them, then buying more things. And we generally know and understand the levers of this process.2 But one thing I hadn’t considered was non-consumption, in this instance, meaning to acquire a material good then NOT use it. Evidently, if we acquire a thing then don’t use it quickly, we assign a higher degree of value and specificity to it, thus decreasing in our minds the number of appropriate occasions for its use. This might explain a drawer full of sophisticated corkscrews or vintage sports jerseys…just saying. ;-)
3) I’ve been sharing more bits related to cryptocurrencies here lately, and in full disclosure my understanding of that area is tenuous at best. That’s partly b/c it’s complicated and partly b/c the news largely focuses on the rise and fall of Bitcoin and how much someone paid for a digital image of a cat. The underlying infrastructure of it all, blockchain, on the other hand, provides the possibility of vast changes in our financial system through it’s transparency and reduction of “middle people.”3 This piece from the Economist clearly outlines the key components and movements of this phenomena. Worth keeping our eyes on it…definitely NOT a mesofact….
BONUS LINKS!!!
B1) Do yourself a favor: Eat less sugar. Though arguments exist whether it should be classified a toxin or not, the short story is that sugar causes us bodily harm and modern food is full of it4. This New York Times article outlines some practical ways to become more aware of our consumption and now to moderate it. I’m not saying we need to live joyless, guilt-filled culinary lives full of faux deserts (carob, anyone?) and wheat bread that tastes like a sweat sock. Let’s just pick our spots purposefully and reduce overall intake.
B2) With the budget ceiling fast approaching, I have this strange feeling that gun control will bubble back to the surface as a wedge issue. As weird and inappropriate as that might be, if it does happen, I think it’s useful to boil off the abstraction around the argument and get clear on what happens when people get shot. This piece from Jason Fagone via Huffpost5 provides a panoramic view of the gun violence ecosystem.
B3) The New Yorker Festival starts on October 10…go here to buy tickets. Some intriguing sessions: Dave Growl and Kelefa Sanneh, Emily Ratajkowski and Amy Schumer, Aimee Mann, Merrick Garland and my celebrity doppleganger Stanley Tucci.
MUSIC TO START YOUR WEEK OFF RIGHT
I’ve been a bit nostalgic lately, thinking about my grade school years. Here are two songs in heavy rotation during that time:
Steely Dan “Reelin’ In the Years”
Jimmy Cliff “The Harder They Come”
I’m pretty sure this cognitive challenge has a specific name, as it provides a key component to our mammalian ability to learn and adjust. If we see one of our tribe go into a cave and never come out, we logically deduce that “Grok no come back. Cave is bad.” And in a funny twist, it’s our ability to keep trying new solutions and make mistakes that produces progress, sending more Groks to an uncertain outcome.
At its core, an automobile provides conveyance btwn Point A and Point B, yet we knowingly and willingly participate in the charade that it also conveys key aspects of our social worth, personality, etc.
You know, the banking system gatekeepers, like, well, banks, brokerage firms, title companies, loan officers, etc. If you’re feeling snotty we can just call them “rentiers.”
Deep rabbit hole here, full of mesofacts, agendas, etc. But regardless, no evidence that people suffer when they decrease their sugar intake.
Not my favorite outlet, to be clear.