Things I Learned Today: April 25, 2020

1. The Diminishing Returns of Everything

The first couple hundred lines of code of your project will have a much larger impact than the last few thousand lines of code ever will.

The same rule goes for the amount of time you spend on a project:

  • For instance, I spend the past two days working on a single CSS file, in an attempt to center-align some stupid buttons (a futile attempt, since they are still not aligned). In comparison, at the beginning of the project, I built out the entire REST backend of the web app in a single afternoon.

This applies to the size of a corporation. The 13th employees of a company will likely have a disproportionally larger impact on the company's future than the 750,013th (according to Wikipedia, Amazon had 750,000 employees as of 2019).

The same goes for abs. The first ten thousand set-ups you do just may give you that 6-pack abs you want, but another thirty thousand sure won't get you the 7-pack.

And, interestingly, this also applies to certain automations that don't scale very well:

  • For instance, if it takes me 5 hours to figure out how to turn on my bathroom light with my voice (saving me roughly 5 seconds per day for not having to flip a switch), then in 5 years it will only have saved me 2 hours, netting a 3 hours time loss from the automation.

The only exception to this rule I can think of is McDonald's fries. The more you eat, the better they become. It is true.

2. Lesson: Don't Do It Again

Today I learned the valuable lesson that, after 14 straight hours of working, I do not feel great.

Even as I type out this sentence, my eyes drift across the screen, my brain whirls incoherently, and I can't find the letter "e" on my keyboard. Maybe, some would say, it is time for me to learn time management.

Things I Learned Today: April 24, 2020

1. The Falsity Of "Shareholder Values"

From John Kay's illuminating book Other People's Money, on the rise of financialization and its consequence:

  • In 1987, ICI's annual report stated:
    • "ICI aims to be the world's leading chemical company, servicing customers internationally through the innovative and responsible application of chemistry and related science... Through achievement of our aim, we will enhance the wealth and well-being of our shareholders, our employees, our customers, and the communities which we serve and in which we operate."
  • In 1994, ICI's annual report stated:
    • "Our objective is to maximize value for our shareholders by focusing on businesses where we have market leadership, a technological edge and a world competitive cost base."
  • The company then proceeded to sell off its commodity chemicals business to finance new acquisitions, many of which failed to integrate. Ultimately ICI was taken over by a Dutch company AkzoNobel on June 2007.

2. On Having No Head

Today I discovered a crazy meditation technique called headless meditation. It is mind-blowing.

Ready? Here's what you do:

  1. Sit in a chair.
  2. Keep your eyes open, meditate*.
  3. Now, look into the air. Don't focus on anything in particular. Keep the gaze soft.
  4. Do you see your head? No.
  5. Notice that, in your consciousness, the idea of having a head is itself a part of your consciousness.
  6. Notice that the feeling of "meditating from inside a head" slowly dissipates, and you're left with just the space of consciousness itself.
  7. You no longer have a head.
  8. Continue to meditate. Perhaps close your eyes. But it is easier with your eyes open.

*If you have never meditated, here's how: pay close attention to your breath, the sensation of your body, the sound you hear... yadi yada. And if you ever find yourself distracted by a thought, notice the thought itself and come back to your breath.

Pretty cool.

3. Pineapple Infancy

It takes two goddamn years to grow a pineapple. Yes, 24 months for one pineapple.