The Mental Pivot Newsletter: No.9
In this issue: Analogy appreciation, David Sinclair’s “Lifespan”, fake internet gurus and the “contrepreneur formula,” and a fresh assortment of new reads and listens.
I was reminded of the power of analogies while reading David Sinclair’s “Lifespan.” The book offers a fascinating look at the science behind aging. Despite being written for a lay audience, Sinclair delves into the nitty-gritty details of cellular biology. This is bewildering if, like me, you’ve forgotten some basics from school. Thankfully, both the book and internet yielded helpful analogies that made key concepts a snap. For instance, the DNA-as-yarn analogy offered a helpful model of DNA packaging. In this analogy, a DNA molecule is a long piece of yarn. Smaller subsections along the yarn are individual genes while individual fibers of the yarn might represent nucleotides. Progressive levels of coiling and bundling yield chromatins and then chromosomes (balls of yarn to continue the analogy).
While there are limitations to the yarn analogy, it nevertheless provides a useful and comprehensible basic structural model. Yes, these can be gross simplifications of reality (there are also false or weak analogies which should be avoided). A good analogy’s purpose is to illustrate and clarify concepts by relating them to familiar ideas. They are springboards or entry points to understanding; they should not be mistaken for the thing itself or viewed as an end-point to learning. I like to remind myself of the useful mental model, “The map is not the territory”. So long as we recognize an analogy’s purpose and its inherent limitations, a good analogy stands among the most effective tools for understanding.
Now onto the updates...
What’s New on the Blog:
1. Book Notes: “Lifespan” by David Sinclair
From my summary: “This is a book that will change your perspective on life, death, and aging. Sinclair's core thesis is that aging is a disease. This bucks conventional wisdom that views aging as an inevitable part of life. Frame aging as a disease and a world of possibilities arise: diseases can be prevented, treated, cured, and even eliminated.”
This was an engaging read. Sinclair is a reputable scientist and his key insight, the “informational theory of aging” might hold the keys to curing the disease of aging. Right or wrong, there’s an endless stream of awe-inspiring ideas, thought-provoking research, and tantalizing consequences to consider. Highly recommended.
Some links to whet your appetite:
Podcast: Two conversations between Sinclair and Rich Roll: Episode 436 and Episode 498.
Video: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To a talk given by Sinclair at Google in 2019.
Or go straight to my summary and chapter-by-chapter notes.
Next up on the reading list is Thomas C. Foster’s “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” which will be a nice change of pace—I like to keep my reading varied.
2. Articles and Podcasts of Note (Week of 11/02/2020)
This is my weekly roundup of interesting links and internet finds. You can read the complete post on the blog, but here are the highlights:
A Nameless Hiker and the Case the Internet Can’t Crack: Is it possible to die in the information age and truly “leave no trace”? The story of a friendly hiker who died on the Appalachian trail and the ensuing investigation to figure out who he was.
Ben Thompson’s Stratechery: A critique of Thompson’s “Aggregation Theory” and its underlying assumptions in light of big tech antitrust by Tim Wu, legal scholar at Columbia and author of “The Master Switch” and “The Attention Merchants.” Related reading: Thompson’s response to Wu.
The Cheap Pen that Changed Writing Forever: Fun look at the history of the ballpoint pen, a relatively recent innovation that only hit the mass market in the 1940s.
Common Probability Errors to Avoid: Helpful list based on Charles Wheelan’s book “Naked Statistics.”
Intelligence Isn’t Just for Government Anymore: “Tech company leaders may want no part of American national security policy or global politics, but their decisions unavoidably affect both.”
No-Code and the Ikea Effect: How Software Lock-In Evolved and Made Us Never Want to Churn: An overview of lock-in strategies (feature, format, subscription lock-in, etc.) culminating in “creation lock-in” whereby consumer effort and customization, e.g. Ikea furniture or LEGO, activates key behavioral biases: “effort that ultimately creates long-term satisfaction.”
Scientism, the Coronavirus, and the Death of the Humanities: “The dominant Darwinian approach to the college curriculum fights against humanistic values.”
Why It’s Hard to Make Decisions (Especially Good, Fast Ones): Multiple factors conspire to make decision-making difficult: the complex cognitive process itself, emotions, uncertainty.
Podcast: People I Mostly Admire: Nathan Myhrvold: Conversation with the former Microsoft CTO, polymath and inventor. If you enjoy listening to intelligent people discuss their interests, this is a fun episode.
Podcast: Wild Wild Tech: Fortnightly episodes about the crazy ways tech shapes culture. Two favorite episodes: (1) How scientists learned to respond to pandemics from World of Warcraft and (2) How an Englishman created a fake restaurant that ended up being listed as the #1 restaurant in London by TripAdvisor.
Odds & Ends:
The internet has given rise unscrupulous online gurus peddling dubious get-rich-quick schemes. These fake gurus prey on the hopes, dreams, and pocketbooks of unwitting consumers. Enter the “anti fake guru” movement: a small community of YouTubers and bloggers dedicated to exposing these charlatans and their questionable techniques. One prominent critic is Mike Winnet whose “Contrepreneur Formula Exposed” highlights the standard tactics used by these fake gurus. You can also read more about the phenomenon in this Medium article or this piece on the “Grifter Industrial Complex.”
Ground.news offers a tool for navigating media bias when grappling with current news stories. For a given topic, readers are treated to a page indexing coverage from different media outlets along with their political leanings (left, center, right). I mentioned a similar service called Allsides in a previous issue. Both are helpful services for dealing with information overload and increased polarization.
It’s hard to believe the International Space Station (ISS) has been in service for over two decades (the first components were launched in 1998). This article from Ars Technica looks at the uncertain future of the space station.
How do you decaffeinate coffee? The BBC ran an article detailing how it happens (hint: the process has to happen before roasting). I realize decaf is sacrilege for many, but I enjoy a cup late in the day or in the evening (and yes, there is residual caffeine in decaffeinated coffee).
The Dark Exploration YouTube channel features fascinating walkthroughs of abandoned buildings and facilities by Devin the “urban explorer.” Not sure about the legality of these excursions, but there’s something captivating about the decaying grandeur of these properties. Reminds me of a story about Mike Tyson’s abandoned 1980s Ohio mansion from years ago as well as another story about an abandoned ship with a well-preserved collection of vintage video game cabinets that were ultimately salvaged.
Comic-book hero Superman has long been maligned as too awesome, too powerful, and too perfect compared to more identifiable characters like Batman and Spider-Man. Samantha Nelson offers a defense for the Man of Steel in her article “Superman doesn’t need fixing because he’s more relevant than ever.”
The New York Times explores the origins of nachos: “Mexican? American? Tex-Mex? Nachos are the epitome of comida fronteriza, food from the borderlands. It’s a place where foods seem caught in a constantly evolving in-between: not from here, not from there, strongly rooted but hard to pin down.”
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