Jay Matthews

modern societies are filled with institutional rules which function as myths depicting various formal structures as rational means to the attainment of desirable ends.

To the American way of thinking, respect is bound up with honesty, and honesty is essential to personal responsibility. Hiding, dissimulation, and other forms of deception amount to disrespect. You lie only to those beneath you—children, constituents, employees.

On Ecommerce and Marketplaces: Look for 1. Positive unit economics on the product, positive contribution margins on products sold. 2. Logistics: how long does it take to get to you? Will people pay for convenience. 3. Ability to browse as a human and connect, products that delight the customer, 4. Hooks the customer going forward, 5. The future is... See more

This is why science, as a mode of inquiry, is fundamentally antithetical to all monolithic intellectual systems. In a beautiful essay, Feynman (1999) talks about the hard-won "freedom to doubt." It was born of a long and brutal struggle, and is essential to a functioning democracy. Intellectuals have a solemn duty to doubt, and to teach doubt.... See more

Maria Popova reflects on the different worlds of Lightman's book, describing the different ways in which different worlds relate to time.

“Frank is really collecting this kind of brainpower around him,” says Niemi. “He’s the attraction, the magnet who gets people to come together.”

Having an institution geared to producing really top-rate people who play within the system is not going to set the world on fire, but maybe we don’t  want  a world on fire.

When I arrived at the old Qlapaw tribal site, I accidentally discovered the abandoned hut of a mountain farm. It was a shelter built with canvas printed campaign portraits, bamboo and wood of various lengths. It looks like a nest woven with plastic straps in order to lay eggs by parent birds who weave its nest in the wastes of the modern world. It... See more

Systems where defects are swept under the rug, or “will be dealt with at the end of the project” inevitably gain that unshakeable perception of being “buggy”, which will harm your digital product, no matter how innovative it is.