First Principles

• Astrobiology: until I see some new evidence, I’m in the Silentium universi camp.
• Empiricism: Cut flowers theory
• Epistemology:
  • It’s hard to get smarter without reading
  • As a society we may be increasing our knowledge base and growing technologically, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to wisdom.
• History:
  • Preserves and reminds us of useful ideas that may be as good/better than today’s thinking
  • Useful in helping us realize how good/easy we’ve got it
• Personal finance: financial benefit != economic benefit (e.g., housing rent vs. buy calculation)
• Soteriology / Teleology: (See notes on Catholicism)
• Technology:
  • It’s great—I’m very much an enthusiast—but it ain’t gonna save us
  • We need a decentralized web (see Farcaster and Read Write Own posts)

Useful Frameworks / Theories

• Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy
• Goodhart’s Law
• Abilene Paradox