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