ethnomusicolog

I don't want to go into the details of this specific case. I just want to point that what you call rational is in itself a set of values someone has to suscribe to. It is a moral decision. It just happen to be the most common.

It's an open secret to management . It buy you so much from your employees (ideas, loyalty, goodwill, money, initiative,...), for so little that I am kind of puzzled so few people get it. Actually, everytime I saw a great boss operating, it was more or less in this fashion.

I don't know but I used to have a kind of contrarian opinion on early einstein work and I just want to share it for the sake of the discussion. When I was a child and the concept of relativity where explained to me I used to think of einstein has having done something unique in the history of mankind. But the more I started to study and really get soaked in the spirit of the time of the evolution of maths, of physics of other brilliant ideas. the more I came to think of einstein as someone how had a "strategic" action managed to leverage that to the maximum effect. Now in that light he still "qualify" as a genius but not of the lone genius kind. To draw a comparison, I 'll rather put einstein in a "zuckerberg" genius bucket than a "jeff dean" (of google) genius. It's just a picture though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I wanted to join but it seems you can't do it with your twitter account alone. Is there an obvious reason I am missing?

one thing that has always fascinated me is how the spread of "civillisation" is often akin to some "auto-domestication" in the traits that appear in a general population.

what are your thought on building a business model around that trend ?

I think algolia might count soon given their last funding round.

At this point matter is almost a supersition and it's exciting.

I agree with you and I made a provocative comment I knew was going to be downvoted. But at least I expected some people to voice a contratrian opinion. Thank you for you straightness

I am not trying to argue how the game is played. But take the google founder. Here is the son of a computer science academic migrant, who kind of hacked his way into corporate power, without needing to show all the ruthlessnes of the past centuries titans. Now you could say that he was more privileged than your average joe. And It's true. But he is less privileged that you usually needed to be to attaign that level of success. It's true of him, true of Larry Ellison, and countless untold stories. And with them, of all the people they brought into the adventure. Te be fair, It has always been true that self-made giant could come from any avenue of life. The difference is that it has never been so well documented.

Yes, but the demographic constituency who can play the game is expanding. It's getting easier to hack your socio-economic status.

What you are saying is exactly the point of Peter Thiel. Basically he is saying that Google is a search company, with a monopoly in search, and they try to pass as a an advertising company (the Ericschmidt quote). According to Peter thiel that is SOP for companies that have a monopoly in a market. they do this for many reasons, including evading regulatory oversight. So it seems to me you are agreeing with him.

greatest comment ever

I am going to say something totally non-PC, and I apologize for that. Find a bunch of people you would consider not very bright (from your POV) and do your best to hang out with them at all cost. I can't totally put words on it, but it seems to me the more "brainy" your daily thoughts, your social circles are, the more you are at risk of losing your instinct for social relationships... and the cure is to be realeased in the "wild".