Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy.
Loyalty and Freedom. When do people choose to advocate for change rather than leave? As a resident, customer or group member, you must choose. I am thinking about this again after reading Rob Henderson’s summary of Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States by Albert Hirschman. “Generally, exit is used in economics and voice is used in politics. A dissatisfied customer of one product can purchase another (exit). A voter dissatisfied with one politician can express their unhappiness (voice) by voting for someone else.” How much of that is due to the higher costs of moving to another legal jurisdiction? Is it true that “Americans have historically favored exit over voice”? Does commitment to places or groups come before they are good? Both for psychological reasons (I value what I have worked for) and because choosing not to exit channels resources and energy towards improvement. How do you choose what to be loyal to?
Practical Freedom. We don’t want a digital panopticon. But you wouldn’t be able to tell with all the internet connected cameras we’re installing at work, on cars and at home. Given GPS in phones and the ability for AI to recognize people by gait, your location is increasingly recorded. We have more experience reasoning about the morality and legality of surveillance. We should consider more carefully the role of AI in enforcing the law or contracts. Bruce Schneier’s piece in Slate is worth the read. For example: “And this brings us to the heart of the issue: If you’re accused by a computer, are you entitled to review that computer’s inner workings and potentially challenge its accuracy in court?” (And if you’re not reading his Crypto-Gram newsletter, you’re missing out.)
Discovering Books. How do you find books to read? For me it's usually podcasts, newsletters, other books and friends. A good used bookstore is wonderful but I don’t go that often. I recently enjoyed exploring the visual book explorer designed to give you a used book store feel online. If you’re wondering how to read more books, I like this list of 7 habits to increase the amount of reading you do. And instead of just keeping your want to read books in your wishlist, you can keep physical books on your nightstand and plenty of samples in your Kindle app.
Until next time,
Miles