2017-07-04
Many people observe that they don't like the way things are going in the US. The values they believe in, rational individualism, is taking a beating every day. Why is that? In physics there is this thing called momentum. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. The bigger the object, the more momentum it has. I think many of the lessons from physics can be applied to other fields. For example how a society works. Take Silicon Valley; they got a lot of momentum going for it when it comes to startups. They have venture capital firms, they have infrastructure, they have the social connections, they got the legal structures. And so a lot of people who think that starting new businesses is a good idea go there. In the same way, I think that western societies got a certain momentum. On the one hand, it's a trend of increasing secularism and less faith. On the other hand, governments are getting stronger. While many like the trends, I have ideas on how things could be dramatically better. And I don't think that I'll be able to change the US or any other country in the near future. So I think it's better to take the lessons from Silicon Valley of starting small, and then see if it's possible to build something radically different and valuable to customers. The US and the west in general is like planets they got so much momentum. It’s going to be next to impossible for an individual to change direction of these societies, except through new technology that introduces unforeseen leverage. I did the math on how long you would have to run a rocket engine to move a planet meaningfully. We’re talking quadrillions of years at full throttle with current technology. Changing direction of the US is an comparable effort. It’s much easier to start small with a different direction.
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2017-07-03
Do we need a government? If we need a government, how should it be structured? How could a well-functioning individualistic society be organized? So many people have strong opinions about this, but they are all wrong, including you. The only correct answer to these questions is “I don’t know”. If you think you know, it’s probably because you have not yet started building and implementing this thing. My huge advantage is that I have applied the scientific method in many areas of my life, and any half-good scientist loses arrogance very fast. I have assumptions that I might think have a fair chance of working. I often even assign probabilities to the different outcomes. But I only know something after I have run an experiment, and even then I am open for the possibility that I might have made an error. I know that the only way to find out is by experimenting. But how many experiments do you need? In software we’re used to feedback cycles of seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks at most. In software we know that the possible things you can build are infinite, and for this reason you need to be sure to get feedback very rapidly to avoid getting off course. Customers decide what should be built. When was the last experiment in governance? How frequent are the experiments run; once per decade or century? How can anyone with a serious face claim to know what works in governance when all you have seen is a few hundred experiments? When did your government last ask you “what do you think of our service? Do you see any room for improvements?” It never happened. The internet is awesome because there have been perhaps millions of experiments, and most didn’t work out. A few become great systems that are working well. The fact is, you don’t know what will work in governance, and neither do I. Let's be honest and say so. Then we can experiment and find out. Let’s use science and reason to build an English speaking society of rational individualism, not faith and force. 2017-06-29
In Atlas Shrugged the people of the mind escaped society to start fresh. While many think this is an option that is not realistic, to me it appears as the only viable long-term solution if you seek your own happiness. Ask yourself “is the effort I’m putting into changing current society really paying off?” What results have you had the last week? Last month? Last year? In Mindshore we’ve had a lot of progress on our project in the last few months. And every week we’re making more progress toward a distant, but realistic target; an English speaking culture of rational individualism. From trading I have learnt that “the trend is your friend”. It means; don’t bet against the trend, the trend tends to win. Ask yourself what trends you see in your society. Do you like the way things are slowly moving? If not, you could consider exiting. The current society is not working well enough for some of us. Maybe it’s time to start over based on a solid philosophy? Maybe it’s time for Mindshore? Maybe it’s time to build an English speaking culture of rational individualism? 2017-06-27
A few more drafts have been made to come up with better ideas. Changes in version 1.3: * Basin and WC is on the left. * Bed rotated 90 degrees * Shower added on the outside * Added extra desk * Better use of space * Room for extra mattress in kitchen if needed 2017-06-23
This week we had some discussions on how to progress. There are a lot of problems that needs solving, and I'm thinking a lot about MVP. Eric Ries suggest taking the original scope and budget, cutting it in half, then in half again. That's pretty much what we've done. I think that even though it's going to take a little time, we can move on to the next stage within some time. Also this week we started on reaching out to different people pretty much for the first time, setting up twitter and the like. There's been little traffic, but far more than expected at this stage. One idea that seems like a good MVP is to go to Tahiti, then start building, and then encounter the problems that will arrive. Then those problems can be solved one by one, and before too long we have facilities that are working. 2017-06-23
It's common knowledge in starting a business that you cannot produce a product for everyone. If you don't focus on a specific customer segment, you are not going to deliver enough value to those customers, and then nobody likes the result very much. Is the US trying to please everyone? Let's go through some considerations: - It was founded on individualism, but is now strongly leaning towards collectivism in practice. Socialism is no longer a dirty word in the US. - It's a place for christians, muslims and other religions as well as atheists[1] - Though English is dominant (80%) there are many other languages as well[2] What does it take for a society to work for everyone, when those people have strongly opposing values and sometimes cannot talk together? I would suggest that it's impossible to integrate opposing values. You cannot have individualism and collectivism be integrated. And in any compromise between the two, individualism will always lose. The only possible solution is for there to be rising tensions and stronger polarization. I think the fact that Trump won the election is strong evidence of a trend; a fight for power between opposing ideas and value systems. This fight will not stop any time soon, and individualism is standing in the middle between two fighting armies absorbing bullets from both sides. What we need is for people to select where they live, and people of different convictions should separate into different places. Mindshore is aiming to become a go-to place for English speaking rational individualists. It’s not a place for multiculturalism, for diversity of values, for altruists, multi-lingual prayers and “take care of me”-ers. It's a place for people who want to work and work hard to achieve their own values, and who don't accept being forced. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#Statistics [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States 2017-06-22
I've started the drawing of the first platform. It's messy and unclear, first versions often are. Measures are in cm. On the top you see the kitchen with basin, gas stove and a kitchen bench. On the upper right you see the WC. There's a lot of open space, especially facing down right. In this sketch the bed can fall down and be lifted up. This frees up a lot of space during the day. A big desk is also drop-down. There should be a door into the bedroom, since it might be windy at times. Currently I'm thinking of building the top and bottom half as two different rafts, then bolting them together. 2017-06-21
The entitlement mentality is rampant all over the place, and people who pride themselves of being pro liberty are no exception. "Give me liberty or give me death" So the saying goes. “Give me liberty”. It sounds like a demand, doesn't it? "I'm entitled to my liberty." And who shall fulfill this demand? The answer comes right after; “or gives me death”. The death-givers are supposed to give this liberty. It’s a horrible saying for anyone who wants liberty. I say: "It’s in my job description for my life on earth to build liberty. I demand of myself to work hard and smart to make my values real." Like anything of value, freedom needs to be built, to be worked for, and to be achieved. I cannot just demand liberty like a welfare recipient, expecting others to do all the work for me. I have to build a place where liberty is possible. I have to get off my butt, work hard and smart, do the engineering and the systems design. Then if this project succeeds, I have earned the right to say: "I built my own liberty. I built my own life." That's what Mindshore is about. If you want to build the future instead of just living in fear of it, you're free to join. Discussions at www.reddit.com/r/mindshore/ or leave comments below. This week we had some organizational changes.
Also I posted on some forums, and actually got some feedback on ideas. There's a lot of work to be done on creating value for the customers, so that's going to be quite a challenge. We need to overcome the cost not only of staying in Tahiti, but also the cost of the travel. In June I went to the Seasteading gathering in French Polynesia. There are quite a few people working on seasteading, so the probability that it will happen at some point is very high.
It was quite inspiring to see what was put together. Tony Hsieh of zappos.com talked about building a community, something he was doing in San Francisco. I'm certain there's a lot to learn. After watching videos of Tony, it's clear that in his previous business he didn't focus on building a culture, so he didn't enjoy going to work. So he sold his business to Microsoft. When building Zappos he was determined not to repeat the mistake, so he put a lot more emphasis on getting people who were cultural fits. This is one reason zappos is doing very well, and Tony is still CEO. The lesson is that cultural fit is actually one of the most important selection criterion. |