“We are ants dancing on crème brûlée.”
- Pirry (Colombian Journalist and Documentary Film Maker)
Over Thanksgiving, we spent a few days in Magdelena Bay chasing the most beautiful creatures of the ocean. A truly incredible and inspiring experience. One of the members of our group was an acclaimed Colombian documentary filmmaker who made a quote that stuck with me when describing the reality of humans standing on planet earth above miles and miles of molten hot lava and ground.
More goods from the internet. Enjoy.
Cole
what we are listening to…
Uptime Podcast: Why time’s up for mindless scrolling
In an episode full of fantastic insight and advice, Patrick talks about the importance of pausing when egos might dictate otherwise; how taking time to recruit ensures you capture people "whose purpose becomes their profession"; and having the confidence to "follow your bliss".
what we are reading…
Decentralized Finance is booming, but it has yet to find its purpose (The Economist)
It is common, in the minds of economists, academics and most regular folk, to think of the real economy and the financial economy as separate but interlinked spheres. This is the essence of the “classical dichotomy” at the heart of the neoclassical school of economics, which considers money “a mere veil” obscuring real underlying activities. Those labouring in the real economy grow wheat, write articles and build houses. Financiers simply shuffle money around on top of that. Yet at its best financialisation makes possible real activity that could not otherwise occur. This is apparent for a loan made to a startup, or a bond that enables the building of a new factory. But it is also often true of more complex areas of finance, such as exchanges and derivatives. It is here that 2022 will see exciting innovations. (more)
Inside Your Dreamscape (Aeon)
Advertisers have begun invading our sleep in an attempt to place their products in our dreams. This is neither metaphor nor fiction; it’s a fact. The night before Super Bowl LV, the beverage company Molson Coors ran what they called the ‘world’s largest dream study’. They explicitly aimed to place images of Coors beer, along with positive imagery (of refreshing alpine rivers, for instance), into dreamers’ minds. They hired a Harvard psychologist to design dream-incubation stimuli, incentivised participation with offers of free drinks, and, in a marketing coup, had the pop star Zayn Malik agree to sleep on Instagram Live while having an incubated Coors dream – though he did mention the whole project was ‘kinda messed up’. (more)
Neo-Medievalism and the Sovereign Individual Age (The Sovereign Individual Weekly)
We are living through a breakdown of the standardized lifestyles that became popular in the late industrial and early information age. It’s a direct consequence of the expanding internet, digital incomes, and access to a global population of infinite styles and preferences. These diverging lifestyles and opportunities create lasting consequences to societies motivations, how we form communities, and how we create the policies that govern us. This breakdown of standardization is neo medievalism. And it creates a massive opportunity for the emerging Sovereign Individual Class. (more)
#coletakes
tipping culture: I was in LA last weekend and I ordered a takeaway coffee and the iPad flipped with the options for 30%, 35%, 40% tip. Maybe I’ve been out of the states for too long, but that seemed crazy for takeaway. What is going on?
reading Sapiens: truly a great book, but it feels like it has become a millennial prop. Most of the people I see “reading” this book seem to have it an accessory in their beach or travel bag to prominently position it to their surrounding audience.