Economics of Human Energy

Thoughts about how money and human energy relate

High-quality access to information : social technologies that help people form high-quality opinions about important topics in an adversarial environment. I personally am bullish on prediction markets and Community Notes; you may have a different take on the solutions, but the point is that this topic is important.

Vitalik Buterin • Against Choosing Your Political Allegiances Based on Who Is "Pro-Crypto"

We need ways to filter, validate, and value large amounts of information. Traditionally, this has been limited to the wealthy in the form of “experts”

A PM I once worked with was struggling to persuade somebody of something. I told him to ask them the question, “What data would I have to show you to get you to change your mind?” If they didn’t have a clear answer, then he would know this was an idea they held on faith, a bit like a religious belief. No amount of data can sway a person from their ... See more

Deb Liu • Changing Your Mind

Faith requires less energy than change

Forty percent of the workforce are white-collar workers, most of whom have some of the most tedious and idiotic jobs ever concocted.

Bob Black • The Abolition of Work

“Infinite-minded leaders understand that “best” is not a permanent state. Instead, they strive to be “better.” “Better” suggests a journey of constant improvement and makes us feel like we are being invited to contribute our talents and energies to make progress in that journey.”

-Simon Sinek

Constant improvement, gains of energy via better efficiency

What is the value of work in a world on the cusp of automation, and how will humans redefine their relationship with it?

Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report

Work isn’t valuable. People are. People can set a value on the work that is done, therefore, they are the most valuable piece of the equation. Work for the sake of work has no value.

H]uman beings need all the relatives they can get–as possible donors or receivers not necessarily of love, but of common decency.

. . .

When we were children in Indianapolis, Indiana, it appeared that we would always have an extended family of genuine relatives there. Our parents and grandparents, after all, had grown up there with shoals of siblings

Austin Kleon • KURT VONNEGUT ON THE NEED FOR BUILDING EXTENDED FAMILIES

Extended Family is important. Why not choose the extended family we bring in?

Money is an important heuristic for groups to measure their capacity to support their work properly and not burn people out. Money is not the be all end all, but people get really put off by how it's been so co-opted by the capitalist, extractive system that we're trying to escape. My theory of change is, instead of running away from it, we need to... See more

Divya Siddarth • Building Capacity for Exit to Community

Creativity is not a process. creativity is not scripted.

One of the most salient traits of creative visionaries like Walt Disney and Steve jobs is the absence of process.

Process is an organized way of doing things. But they didn’t have a process. They just did the work. No strict adherence to budget or timelines. Just figure things out on the fly.

Creativity timelines aren’t predictable, so why do we try to put creative professions into timelines?

The faster the experimentation cycles, the faster the learning, the more of an advantage you have over established people and companies.

Leo Guinan • The Build In Public Manifesto

speed wins