Notion States 2
A recent podcast made me revisit the utility of a nation state. While I have never been a fan, this time I also tried to make a case for defending it in the medium term.
Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe
The book combines a bunch of subjects ranging from history and geopolitics to economics, network theory and cliodynamics (itself a transdisciplinary area) viewed through the lens of catastrophe and decision-making. What makes it worth a read is a rich dose of history and specifically disaster (mis)management, but what I missed was a narrative structure.
How the World Works
The book is more than a decade old, but it does a couple of things well – provide an introduction and in a way, synopsis of Chomsky’s worldview, and do that in an engaging manner because this is based on media interactions. The book was published in 2011, and while the topics might seem dated, the beauty is that his insights are timeless.
A proxy life
I have forgotten where I first came across Goodhart’s Law. It was probably Farnam Street. It states that “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” An illustration should help. In the organisational context, it serves as a great lens to evaluate strategy and progress. As the illustration above shows, […]
Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro has a knack for digging deep into what makes us human. In this book, he uses Klara an AF (Artificial Friend) to create a layered narrative on what a sentient AI could tell us about ourselves.