August 9, 2022

  •  

[rtime]

 mins

The Paradox of Unanimity, The Great Temptation, Centrality, & More

At a glance

Welcome to the 300(!) new friends of the Mental Models, Concepts, and Frameworks newsletter who have joined us since last week!

This Week: 9 mental models for better thinking

The Paradox of Unanimity

Under ancient Jewish law, if a suspect was found guilty by all judges, they were acquitted.

Too much agreement implies a systematic error in judgment.

Beware of unanimous agreement, it might mean a bad decision…

The Great Temptation

We haven’t found aliens yet, so what if extraterrestrial intelligence has a deep tendency to be self-limiting or even self-exterminating?

Like getting obsessed with computer games or virtual reality instead of worrying about reproduction.

h/t @primalpoly

Centrality

Centrality is a measure of the extent that a node (person or company) is connected to other nodes in a network.

Typically centrality means more information flow.

Information is associated with influence and power.

So, centrality is associated with power.

Personal Monopoly

”Corporations reward conformity, but the Internet rewards people who are unique.

If you work in a creative field, strive to be the only person who does what you do.

Find your own style, then run with it.”

h/t @david_perell

Link to thread: The Internet rewards unique people.

Confusopoly

A confusopoly is an industry where price competition is eliminated by making products so confusing that customers can’t compare them—think insurance products or mobile phone services.

The world, in general, is becoming more of a confusopoly.

h/t @ScottAdamsSays

Pre-suasion

If you want to be persuasive, arrange for your recipient to be receptive to a message before they encounter it.

What we present first changes the way people experience what we present next.

The more generous your offer ‘seems’, the more attractive it will be.

Hypernovelty

The pace of change in the world has outstripped our ability to keep up.

While we’re designed to adapt to change, our biology and social systems are still ancient, causing us to be out of sync with the modern world.

h/t @bretweinstein & @HeatherEHeying

The Rich Ratio

The rich ratio is the amount of money you earn in relation to the amount of money you need to survive comfortably.

Earn ÷ Need = Rich Ratio.

Once you have a ratio greater than 1, it means you earn more than you need to survive.

This is when you’ve won.

Surveillance Society Nightmare

The internet has brought an extraordinary ability to aggregate, analyze, and use data.

With it, comes a looming threat of being in a surveillance society.

One where individuals are influenced, advised, and ultimately directed by a small few.

That's it, I hope you enjoyed reading :)

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