Episode 151 β June 20th, 2024 β Available at read.fluxcollective.org/p/151
Contributors to this issue: Erika Rice Scherpelz, Scott Schaffter, Neel Mehta, Boris Smus, MK
Additional insights from: Ade Oshineye, Ben Mathes, Justin Quimby, Dimitri Glazkov, Alex Komoroske, Robinson Eaton, Spencer Pitman, Julka Almquist, Lisie Lillianfeld, Samuel Arbesman, Dart Lindsley, Jon Lebensold, Melanie Kahl, Kamran Hakiman, Chris Butler
Weβre a ragtag band of systems thinkers who have been dedicating our early mornings to finding new lenses to help you make sense of the complex world we live in. This newsletter is a collection of patterns weβve noticed in recent weeks.
βReality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesnβt go away.βΒ
β Philip K. Dick
ππ Valuing our multitudes
We all have behaviors or beliefs that do not serve us wellβ¦ sometimes, weβre even lucky enough to recognize them. For example, a leader may express their intention to delegate tasks and avoid micromanagement but somehow still find themselves immersed in the details despite conscious effort not to. When we act in a way that contradicts our stated goals, it may feel tempting to dismiss it. Our hypothetical leader might think, βI value autonomy and know I canβt handle all the details myself, so clearly, this was just a special case.β
However, when we repeatedly act in ways that counter our professed preferences, itβs worth zooming out of the particular cases and reflecting on the patternβs origins. Typically, both the professed and revealed preferences serve us in some way. Until we understand how they serve us, we will remain stuck, unable to find a path forward.
What does it mean to say that a belief, whether professed or revealed, serves us somehow? It means we derive some value from that belief, even if it's unacknowledged. Sometimes, this value is obvious: perhaps micromanaging makes us feel more in control, or maybe we believe it reduces risk. Maybe professing the value of autonomy helps us view ourselves as the kind of leader we admire.
The more intriguing value often comes from deeper introspection beyond the things we already know we believe. A leader might discover that they delve into details because it revives their sense of domain competence. Perhaps they find that diving in gives them that special joy theyβve been cravingβand makes their day-to-day role tedious and unfulfilling.Β
As with all self-reflection, we must avoid fabricating answersβ¦ or only accepting the easy answers. We contain multitudes that are often in silent conflict with each other. Each part plays an important role and is an indelible and essential part of ourselves. The part of the leader that wants to delegate and the part that keeps pulling closer to genba have our best interests at heart. If we donβt learn how to value and love our parts β and truly value the beliefs that drive them βΒ we are unlikely to find ways out of being stuck.
Identifying the ways our beliefs serve us opens the door to creative possibilities. Maybe the solution to a leaderβs micromanagement issue is finding a trusted person to delegate to, or perhaps the answer is for the leader to take on a personally interesting project. Understanding these dynamics allows us to create more effective strategies that align with our genuine needs and aspirations, even the ones we are unaware of.
π£οΈπ© SignpostsΒ
Clues that point to where our changing world might lead us.
ππ¦Ί The US is launching a βclimate corpsβ of 9000 young green energy workers
The American Climate Corps, initially announced in 2020, is now hiring young Americans to work on sustainability projects across the country, including installing solar panels, managing forests, and promoting sustainable farming practices. The program aims to help young people βjump-start green careersβ while paying them around $11 to $28 an hour. Nine thousand people will be deployed in the coming weeks, and the government expects upwards of 20,000 to join in the next year.
ππ₯© Huawei is selling beef online, perhaps because of Western sanctions
Chinese electronics company Huawei was spotted selling beef in its online store. This seems like a strange choice for a telecommunications firm, but commentators came up with a plausible explanation: since Western sanctions make it hard for Huawei to sell goods for money, Argentinian firms could be paying Huawei in some of Argentinaβs famous beef instead. (This theory hasnβt been officially confirmed, though.)
ππ³οΈ An AI is βrunningβ for mayor in Wyoming
A resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming trained GPT-4 on βthousands of documents gleaned from Cheyenne council meetingsβ and announced that the resulting bot, named VIC (the βVirtually Integrated Citizenβ) will be running for mayor. The botβs creator said heβd be the βmeat puppetβ who would operate the AI and act on its behalf, but the bot would be the brains of the operation, deciding on votes and how to run the city. However, Wyomingβs Secretary of State contends that non-humans like VIC canβt run for office.
ππ₯ Biotech companies are getting plants to create key components of cowβs milk
Some food science startups have been getting plants and bacteria to produce some signature proteins from cowβs milk: one company has engineered soybeans to produce casein, the polymer that gives cheese its βfloppyβ and stretchy texture, while another company has gotten yeast to produce a key protein in whey, which is popular for protein supplements. Food scientists hope that this βsyntheticβ cowβs milk could avoid the methane emissions (and, potentially, diseases!) that come with raising cows, while also helping create more sustainable dairy products like cheese and ice cream.
πβ³ Worth your time
Some especially insightful pieces weβve read, watched, and listened to recently.
Simple Sabotage for Software (Erik Bernhardsson) β Inspired by the CIAβs famous Cold War handbook on sabotaging companies from within, shares some common anti-patterns that CTOs, product managers, and hiring managers succumb to that wreck productivity and sap momentum.
Only a Fool Gets Rich Twice (Allocator Mindset) β Investigates what to do if you have a hugely profitable investment: do you sell now and potentially lose greater gains in the future, or do you hold on at the risk of losing your gains? You must realize the decreasing marginal value of money and hold an βattitude of epistemic humilityβ by admitting that you donβt know what the future will hold. Practically, your best bet is to sell a moderate amount with a predefined selling plan.
Fast Crimes at Lambda School (Benjamin Sandofsky) β A longread on the rise and fall of Lambda School, the once-buzzy coding bootcamp. To the author, itβs a good example of a company with poor fundamentals buoyed by the tailwinds of the late 2010s tech boom: easy money, a burgeoning tech hiring market that hadnβt hit saturation yet, and credulous media coverage. But itβs a more classical reason β the hubris of Lambdaβs founder β that ultimately did it in.
Everything We Canβt Describe in Music (Hazlitt) β An inquiry into musical timbre; is it perhaps a bucket for everything we canβt describe in words? Just like wine-tasting notes, our musical notes require inventive evocativeness, like the sound of βsomeone slapping a steak on a corrugated tin roof.β
πποΈ Lens of the week
Introducing new ways to see the world and new tools to add to your mental arsenal.
This weekβs lens: API-defining assumptions.
An API provides a well-defined, stable interface for interacting with software. It encapsulates and enshrines fundamental API-defining assumptions about how a system operates, and changing them is not trivial.Β
We at the FLUX Collective spend a lot of time in Discord, and we find its API a fun example of this. Discord began as a tool for gamers, and its API still uses Guilds, a gaming term, to refer to servers. This naming has persisted even as Discord has expanded beyond the gaming community.
Humans and organizations are similar. Our fundamental assumptions, once established, are like the names in the early versions of an API. Changing a name might seem straightforward, but it requires careful consideration of the broader implications and dependencies.
Despite the difficulty, it is sometimes necessary to make such changes. Rearchitecting an API or changing your assumptions can fundamentally open up new possibilities. It can help spark new ideas or abandon prior views that no longer hold true.Β
When it is time to engage in change, we must recognize the paradigm we are moving toward. Shifting to a new paradigm means re-evaluating and reconfiguring foundational assumptions. If we donβt know where weβre going, weβll find ourselves with a confused mishmash of assumptions and values. If we know where weβre going, many decisions become easier and require less energy.Β
Understanding and articulating these fundamental assumptionsβour stable APIβis vital in both software development and personal growth. They identify the core elements that shape our interactions and provide a roadmap for meaningful change. By acknowledging the difficulty of these changes and approaching them with a clear vision, we can more effectively navigate the complexities of transformation.
Β© 2024 The FLUX Collective. All rights reserved. Questions? Contact flux-collective@googlegroups.com.
βIdentifying the ways our beliefs serve us opens the door to creative possibilities.β I guess that is what coaching or even therapy is about?