Dubai
Turning weaknesses into strength. “Why did it work for Dubai? A big reason was that it was weak. That weakness was an asset, not a liability: The port was not huge, the Sheikh was not powerful, so if he tried… Read More »Dubai
Economics
Optimizing things in the USSR
And more like this. “To reduce the dimensionality of the problem, administrators would often track the total tonnage of a few broad classes of steel tubes in the models, rather than using a more detailed classification scheme. While their models… Read More »Optimizing things in the USSR
Why Could Lebanon Be Rich, but Is so Chaotic?
The OGs. “The Phoenicians were thus the main vector of civilization and technology spread in the Mediterranean. The Greeks and Romans are simply their technological heirs, learning from them how to navigate and trade.” https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-could-lebanon-be-rich-but-is
Why IKEA Wins
They are bad at most stuff. So what is the secret?
Unfortunately, AI Might Be Turning Us Into Peasants
Reading a lot of ACOUP, lot of issues with the video, but the idea of techno-feudalism has its logic.
How Complex Systems Fail
It is not matter of if, but matter of how. “The failures change constantly because of changing technology, work organization, and efforts to eradicate failures.” https://how.complexsystems.fail/
Why I remain a skeptic
Ouch. “We are 4 years into this ‘revolution’ and the industry has almost nothing to show for it. Software has not improved in quality, got faster, become cheaper to produce (when you exclude the mountain of poor-quality demoware that no… Read More »Why I remain a skeptic
Why US Isn’t Broke Yet
How countries go broke.
Solar Energy Solves Global Warming
Are some people counting on stuff like this so much that we do not do much now to cut emissions? “If pulling CH4 from the ground is only getting more expensive, and the energy needed to pull it from the… Read More »Solar Energy Solves Global Warming
Iran
Is this where Fremen Mirage comes from? “While it’s difficult for a lowland people to attack through mountains, it is easier for amountain-based people to descend onto the plains. This dichotomy between mountain people and plains people was evident as… Read More »Iran