yowayb

Rugged Individualism. The Hero's Journey. Jesus Christ. The ethos of the one weird man and the one weird trick. None of these have anything to do with prevention. The myths of the western world are all about story arcs: conflict + resolution. And this is very much embedded in any venture, whether private-sector or public-sector. We much prefer to read the harrowing article of a poor brave man saving someone from a ridiculous dangerous situation than preventing it to begin with.

This truism, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", is so true...that like so many truism, it has become a minor, persistent annoyance of thought. It can be safely filed away with the Austrian school of economics.

i personally think that incompetence is actually the norm. that such things like trains even exist, imo is very much due to extraordinary people being incentivized to do extraordinary things. trains are extraordinary to me. this is not to diminish your sentiment in any way.

in fact, i think your sentiment is fundamentally the same that drives extraordinary people to do extraordinary things! it's a deep dissatisfaction with the way things are, and when it's coupled with resources, support, etc., that's when impressive things happen!

this also means that i don't think it helps much to shame people broadly or politicize the matter.

it's odd to me this comment is so far down. my mind immediately went to "picks and shovels". am i old?

Outside of engineering, nomading and migration in general creates a form of social decoherence (eg, difficult for foreigners to get things done, hard to make friends, etc.).

great explanation, thank you!

aside, re: 'socialism', Moscow has no ads, and I have to admit it certainly helps with aesthetics.

This was cited in the Austrian school of economics. I've found the Austrian school of economics to be sensible. But...actual American economics is like the opposite.

I think this is true. I also think a lot of co-workers actually like each other.

I have fond high school memories at gas stations

I once paid $3500 for a very deep and low chaise lounger/sofa. It was very high quality. You did have to get used to having your feet on the seat because it was so deep, but it was a great guest bed.

But more importantly, to me, at the time, it looked very cool in my tiny downtown apartment.

Simple but true. I think some famous people said something about this. I think true from every vantage point. I think this is also very compatible with the parent post. Some leadership are not very good at creating good incentives. Actually, I've never been in leadership but I suspect it's also just really hard and there's potentially external factors that obviate even the best incentives.

A lot of money is made this way. It'll take an act of Congress (or something on that level) but many of us are already "on the take" so to speak, so I doubt it'll ever happen.

Years ago I joined a spiritual workshop called The Art of Living in San Francisco. There was a lot of mindfulness, and the instructor followed the curriculum, except for one particular exercise.

The exercise was 2 parts. First, you put away your mat slowly. Second, you put it away quickly.

I immediately thought, oh wow this is interesting. We've spent all day on slow stuff, but now the curriculum has varied to show us that speed can also work when required. I began to think there was more depth to the workshop than I originally thought.

But she ended the exercise as soon as we did the 2nd part, and she clearly didnt like the exercise.

I don't personally believe that everything is better done slowly. A lot is, but there's no reason to banish speed.

There's never been a single day in history without war. Indeed, there's never been a moment in all of biological life without violent conflict.

In high school, I had a visitor from West Point. My dad (Killing Fields survivor) was so excited. I (16 year old boy who only knew video games, porn and comics) later threw an impressive tantrum that defeated my father.

I threw away a golden ticket to see the world for what it is (instead of from within my cocoon in the suburbs of Los Angeles) and become a man at a more appropriate age.

Instead, I became an overpaid Peter Pan in San Francisco.

Theres some effect, I can't remember the name, where experts in one field (engineering) think they understand other fields (war) because they're so smart at their own field. I think this very much applies here.

If you're at Palantir and think you're the bad guy, first make the honest effort to convince yourself otherwise.

Failing that, leave and make room for patriots.

I don't like hurting others, but you really need to understand there are others that absolutely want to hurt you for basically no reason, and that hurting them first is highly effective, and as both firepower and intelligence (Palantir) improve, it becomes less fatal (clear historical trend).