Economics of Human Energy
Thoughts about how money and human energy relate
by Leo Guinan · updated 6h ago
Economics of Human Energy
- Keeping a good thing going is hard, and if you have the skills to do it, it kinda makes sense to focus your use of those skills in domains that are more rewarding. This creates “missing markets” that are only served by thankless volunteers who are suckers for pain.
from writing a facebook status in 2024
Leo Guinan added 6h ago
This feels extremely profound. We end up creating broken systems sustained by masochists.
- Despite my tendency to procrastinate, I’ve gotten (mostly) good at not being late for things because I spend a lot of my energy trying to not let other people down.
from TRUSTWORTHY TRUST
Leo Guinan added 4d ago
How much energy is lost for the sake of trying to maintain some level of “adulting”?
- “AI will lift the ceiling, leading to more creative outputs made possible by more powerful tools; it will also lower the floor, making it easier for anyone to design and collaborate.”
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
When the gap between the ceiling and flow increases, the way to prevent unrest is by adding more steps between. It’s important to see clearly how to level up to the ceiling, and not only enable people who have the ability to make the leap between the existing steps. More people being able to do something shouldn’t threaten the existence of anyone currently doing the thing.
- As Brian Merchant argues in his book, Blood in the Machine , the rebellion was more nuanced than we realize, standing “not against technology per se but for the rights of workers above the inequitable profitability of machines.”
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
This is what abundant systems recognize. It’s not about the machines or the data, it’s about the humans. When we build abundantly, we ensure that everyone is taken care of, because that builds the best possible long-term future.
- Each technology not only unlocks a new state of expanded acceleration (that will be hardcoded into our lives as the new basis for our survival), but will also be used as the basis for new technologies to continue that process. The vast majority of people do not experience this technology as ‘liberating’ them. Rather, they experience it as something... See more
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
Because we don’t think about valuing the work to be done in the future, only the work to be done now, we don’t give people space to explore what the future holds. Instead, we stress people out by giving them vague possibilities of an uncertain future with no time to explore them. By giving people the time, space, and freedom to explore what the future might hold, they will find abundant futures that are bright and exciting. Those are the futures they will work to actively create.
- What is the value of work in a world on the cusp of automation, and how will humans redefine their relationship with it?
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
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.
- And more than anything, it feels particularly, uncomfortably, acutely uncertain.
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
The biggest thing we can do is give people a sense of a secure present from which to explore potential abundant futures.
- the future belongs to those who think about it.
from Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Leo Guinan added 10d ago
When you think about the future, you spend a little energy now to optimize what will come later
In practice, a startup nonprofit has several important distinctions from traditional nonprofits: 1) it begins with a large goal and works backwards to identify incremental steps to achieve that goal, 2) it has an iterative, experimental mindset, and 3) it is an internet first organization.
from Startup Nonprofits by marklutter.com
Leo Guinan added 10d ago