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We usually complain about systems ‘getting in our way’, with arbitrary criteria that determine success. But this goes the other way too. Much of my success and that of those around me is similarly mechanical. Not luck, effort, or nepotism.

Mechanical success vs nepotism and luck

Article

People will often say something along the lines of: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Largely this is true. Nepotism is a very greasy grease. But I want to talk about some under-rated alternatives. An alternative that often looks a little like luck. Bad luck, to be specific. But we can flip it.

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betterment gratification on-being-fruitful wealth-architecture

article

Nudging doesn’t work because people aren’t thinking hard enough. Everything is choice architecture, so look to the way you build things in the first place or turn to our deepest motivations—our communities.

Everything is Choice Architecture

Article

Nudging is a buzzword that floats around places where consultants or policy-makers can be found. In their mouths it refers to the act of encouraging some meaningful change in behaviour by making a small change to… you know… something or other. And then everyone kind of trails off. I will leave you to read around about the criticisms of nudging. There are plenty. But I think these criticisms often miss something that really is worth thinking about.

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betterment collective-architecture connection digital-architecture gratification on-(un)happiness on-being-fruitful on-culture on-leadership on-politics-and-power somatic-architecture wealth-architecture

article

Hydraulic despotism is the idea the critical resources are used to control populaces. Once, water. Now tech. To counter this, we should learn to recreate more basic systems from scratch, fostering self-reliance and innovation.

From Zero

Article

Control the water, control the people. This key idea, that some resources act as a kind of control mechanism for certain entities is an attractive one. But it seems as though technology is characterised by this dynamic. New technology is created and monopolised. And when the monopoly is broken, we are content to hand over control to various political and corporate entities. This state of dependence seems not only unnecessary, but untenable. And so, we explore how to recreate them from zero.

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gratification on-being-fruitful on-culture thought-architecture wealth-architecture

article

Focusing on edge-cases of “trans-regret” is missing the point. If you actually care about these cases, then the interesting issue are the underlying vulnerabilities that lead to regrettable decisions. But probably you shouldn’t care.

The true meaning of family ties

Article

It’s no secret that we are lonelier than ever. We have many complaints of modern society, but our growing isolation is a common one. There are two reasons for this unhappy accident—the difficulty of finding people in ever more crowded cities, and the fact that we have lost sight of what a community is really made of. This article is about the latter.

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betterment collective-architecture connection on-(un)happiness on-culture on-friendship on-love wealth-architecture

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