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Techno-nationalism is a mercantilist ideology linking technological innovation directly to national security, economic prosperity, and social stability. It involves governments prioritizing homegrown technology, restricting foreign technology access, and treating high-tech sectors (like semiconductors, AI) as vital national assets, often in a zero-sum competition.
Key Characteristics
"The wonderful thing about archaeology is that what people find tomorrow could completely change our understanding." - Eric Cline [00:04:59]
"History does rhyme even if it doesn't repeat, so I'm a little wary that it might be we might be due for it anyway." - Eric Cline…
Electronics manufacturing expands the number of metals demanded from refineries, which in return justifies investments in companion mineral extraction capacities. Goods such as air conditioners and batteries increase the scale of major metals demand. And in metals processing, larger scale lowers costs.
Large volumes of metals consumed by prior iterations of appliances, combined with China’s production in…
"China produces 200 million televisions and 1.5 billion smartphones per year. Producing the TV sets guarantees offtake of 25 to 30 metals, while the phones require close to 60 metals. Televisions require the same critical minerals for which many governments are trying to develop alternative suppliers, but there are far fewer potential buyers outside of defense-related supply chains because commercial demand for…
Excerpt: Technology over the long run
The big visualization offers a long-term perspective on the history of technology.1
*"The timeline begins at the center of the spiral. The first use of stone tools, 3.4 million years ago, marks the beginning of this history of…
Investment Philosophies - The 2026 Edition by Aswath Damodaran [43 Video Lectures] #Playlist
In the world of business, where numbers often guide decisions, there's a fascinating principle called Goodhart's Law. Coined by British economist Charles Goodhart, this law states:
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
Key Takeaways
Note: The presentation has images. Do watch it for better comprehension.
"Sanskrit is really sometimes been dubbed the most scientifically organized language of all time with a noun system that has eight cases three genders and three numbers." - Clemency Montelle [00:03:09]
"If you write something in a book and you lose the book you're finished…
"mental models are realities that when we encounter them for the first time surprise us... but when we incorporate them into how we make decisions, we'll start getting advantages versus other humans." - Mohnish Pabrai [00:01:01]
"you take a simple idea and you take it seriously... you have to go all in and if you don't go all in, then…
@balajis : If Iran wins, it's the end of five eras. 1991-2026: the unipolar era 1974-2026: the petrodollar era 1945-2026: the postwar era 1776-2026: the union era 1492-2026: the Western era Specifically, the end of the petrodollar (1974) would also be the end of the unipolar moment (1991) and the postwar order (1945). It would mark the moment when Eurasian…
1000 Years of Technological Disruption #BofA
"When Odysseus finally returns, he reminds everyone in Ithaca of a simple truth: a man’s home is not truly his unless he is willing to fight for it."
A powerful scene in the Odyssey happens when Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca after twenty years of war and wandering. You would expect the story to end with celebration, with the hero coming home, the family reunited, and order restored. Homer does something…
"To be a scientist is to publish your results and share them with a community of other scientists so that they can test them so that the whole human civilization progresses a little bit. Leonardo does not want to contribute to human progress... this is actually a saboteur of human progress." - Ada Palmer [01:10:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAIhVfGbREA&t=1h10m27s)
"To be a scientist is the ultimate act…
Image Source: VD
Adam Ferguson's Rule (or Ferguson's Law), posits that a great power ceases to be great when it spends more on interest payments for its public debt than on its national defense. It warns that mounting debt service diverts resources from defense, making the state vulnerable to collapse.
"States have endeavoured, in some…
An Extract...Prescient?
“The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. ... The Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The…
The Roosevelt Corollary, established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, acts as an extension of the Monroe Doctrine, which was initially articulated in 1823.
While the Monroe Doctrine prohibited European interference in the Western Hemisphere, the Roosevelt Corollary asserted that the United States would intervene in Latin America to prevent such interference.
This shift was prompted…
Jevon's Paradox is the counterintuitive idea that improvements in efficiency (in this case fuel) tend to increase, rather than decrease, overall use of that resource (in this case fuel).
In 1865, William Stanley Jevons, a British economist, observed that despite significant improvements in coal efficiency in steam engines, total coal consumption actually rose. Rather than saving fuel, efficiency made…
When you’re 5 years old, a year is 20% of your life. And when you’re 50 years old, a year is 2% of your life. This is an explanation given why time speeds up as you age. It's called Janet's law...
1. Executive Summary
This podcast features Yossi Cohen, former director of the Mossad, discussing the inner workings of Israel's intelligence agency. Cohen provides insights into the unique recruitment process for Mossad operatives, emphasizing the importance of human intelligence (HUMINT) and the specific qualities sought in agents, including bravery, adaptability, and the ability to act under cover.
He…
Source: ArchaeoHistories
During WWII, Hanns Scharff served as the Luftwaffe's master interrogator at Ausburg, responsible for questioning captured Allied fighter pilots. While his colleagues employed harsh physical and psychological torture, Scharff developed an entirely different method. He treated prisoners as guests rather than enemies, taking…
The Rise of Dopamine Culture - Ted Gioia
The graph visually supports the idea that the rate of progress is accelerating exponentially.
It illustrates the exponential acceleration of evolution and key milestones in life on Earth over the past 4 billion years. The time between significant events decreases dramatically - over vast spans of time - to decades - to years, suggesting an accelerating pace of change leading towards a potential technological…
6000 Years of World History in 1 Picture - Knowledge Archivist