Useful Lies
Self-deception as strategy: the best liars believe themselves.
Blue lies Evolutionary psychology Self-deception
Trails
Thematic links across books, automatically discovered by Claude Code.
Read how it works in the explainer.
Read how it works in the explainer.
Invisible Crack
Microscopic defects propagate silently until catastrophic failure.
Brittle fracture Metal fatigue gradual change
Name Game
The hunt for words that stick
Cybernetics naming Etymology Project naming Transistor naming
Ideas Mate
Weak IP accelerates innovation through collaborative copying.
Innovation spillover Japanese copying Open source
Pacemaker Principle
Constraints in one part dictate the whole.
Strait of Hormuz Throughput limitation Weakest link
Father Wound
Absent fathers forged titan ambition through unmet longing.
Childhood trauma Entrepreneurial ambition Father-son relationship
Unreliable Parts
Mega-projects orchestrate unreliable elements into coherent wholes.
Computer reliability Design redundancy Failure analysis
Desperate Pivots
Desperation, not genius, drove transformative pivots.
Hindsight bias Odeo reinvention Startup pivot
Expert Intuition
Expertise defies formalization; conscious effort defeats itself.
Intuition Mētis knowledge Tacit knowledge
Collective Brain
Why isolated groups lose knowledge and capabilities.
Collective knowledge Critical mass Knowledge transmission
Tinkering Sanctuary
Protected spaces insulated from interference enable breakthroughs.
Hands-On Imperative Project isolation Protecting new ideas
Illegibility Premium
Practical knowledge defeats rationalized systems.
Craftsmanship Intuition Procedural knowledge
Rebel Circuits
Rule-breaking as path to understanding.
First-principles thinking Hacker motivation Questioning assumptions
Self-Surrender
Ego-dissolution enables both transcendence and manipulation.
Alcoholics Anonymous Flow state Letting go
Copy Machine
Imitation powers both learning and conformity.
Cultural transmission Imitation Memes
Winner's Lock
Winners eliminate competition; victory becomes permanent control.
Coalition dynamics Dominance hierarchy Success feedback loop
Commodity Clock
Every treasure becomes tomorrow's ordinary commodity.
Creative destruction Red Queen races Temporary advantage
Proxy Trap
Metrics become mirages when optimized directly.
Incentives Objective function Perverse instantiation
False Positives
Rare signals drown in false positives.
Base rate Nuclear early warning Outside view
Polite Conspiracy
Silent agreements to avoid uncomfortable truths.
Psychological denial Self-deception Unsayable truths
Ejection Seat
Founders ousted through political power dynamics.
Corporate politics Executive conflict Founder danger
Intuitive Flow
Mastery means bypassing conscious thought entirely.
Expert intuition OODA Loop Pattern recognition
Necessary Drag
Removing friction sometimes creates chaos.
Clausewitz friction Cognitive friction Policy resistance
Winning Coalition
Organizations minimize coalitions needed to maintain control.
Concentrated power Power dynamics Selectorate theory
Multiple Discovery
Ripe ideas emerge independently across the world.
Adjacent possible Invention inevitability Simultaneous discovery
Hidden Structure
Copying forms without understanding structure guarantees failure.
Blueprint copying Rules vs. habit Tacit knowledge
Costly Signals
Actions must be expensive to be believed.
Conspicuous displays Handicap principle Potlatch festivals
Deferred Debts
Gifts, moral debts, and technical debt share logic.
Gift exchange Moral Accounting Technical debt
Joy Dividend
Joy became more productive than efficiency optimization.
Creative work efficiency Joy in work Playfulness
Mastery Ravine
Getting worse precedes getting better in skill.
Conceptual breakthrough Error embracing learning plateau
Trust Networks
Large coordination emerges from small-scale trust.
Managerial candor Pixar Braintrust Team building
Legibility Tax
Standardization enables scale but destroys local knowledge.
Central planning Decentralization Large-scale changes
Shaping Structure
Method of creation shapes what is created.
Conway's Law Embodied mind Physical constraints
Kronos Cycle
Open systems consolidate into monopoly, then repeat.
Creative destruction Disruptive technology Monopoly capitalism
Testable Thinking
Transforming vague concepts into testable frameworks.
Clarification chain Fermi estimation Intuition pumps
Hidden Meters
Building observability changes what you see.
Hawthorne effect Observer bias System monitoring
Tempo Gradient
Decision-making speed determines conflict outcomes.
Cyberstrike advantages OODA Loop Time delays
Simplification Trap
Simplification enables breakthroughs or destroys value.
System resilience Uniformity and creativity Utilitarian simplification
Information Edge
Knowing what others don't creates competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage Contrarian thinking Information asymmetry
Measuring Trust
Precise measurement creates infrastructure for distant trust.
Longitude measurement Medieval trade Standardization
Steel Box
Container shipping remade global supply chains.
Containerization Just-in-time manufacturing Labor displacement
Perfectionist's Trap
Pursuit of perfection prevents completion.
Overengineering Shipping products Worse is Better
Entropy Tax
Import order constantly or dissolve into disorder.
Material decay Open systems Second Law
Mental Maps
Simplified models systematically fail in complex reality.
Chaos theory Heuristics Mental models