The Friday Five: Mental Models, a $1 Billion Wager, & More
Episode XIV
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Today at a Glance:
Quote: Naval on perishable inspiration.
Tweet: Chris Herd on the future of work.
Article: Shane Parrish on learning loops.
Podcast: The Unexplainable on a billion dollar bet on longevity.
Bonus: Paul Graham on an investor update razor.
One Quote:
“Inspiration is perishable. When you have inspiration, act on it right then and there.” - Naval
Inspiration is enigmatic. You can’t predict it, manufacture it, or prolong it. All you can do is act on it.
One Tweet:
A thread worth reading with a bunch of evidence-backed predictions on the future of work.
As he states in the opening tweet, the media has been mildly obsessed with this topic, but most of their prediction pieces have been purely speculative - very few were informed by real, hard data, conversations, or analysis.
This one is, so it’s worth paying attention to!
One Article:
I have been a fan and follower of Shane Parrish for a long time - his work was foundational to my own study of mental models and decision-making.
This article touches on what Shane calls “the learning loop” and its importance to understanding, developing, and implementing mental models into your own decision-making processes.
I believe that community is the key - having a community of growth-minded individuals with whom to interact and reflect is a cheat code to accelerating the learning loop.
More to come from me on that front. Stay tuned…
One Podcast:
Unexplainable: A 150-Year-Old Human
It’s called The Great Longevity Wager and it has an expected payout of $1 billion in the year 2150. Excuse me…what?!
In the year 2000, Dr. Steven Austad made the claim that the first human to live to the age of 150 was already alive. His friend, Dr. Jay Olshansky, disagreed. The two made a friendly wager, each putting $150 into an investment account (and later adding to that amount). They don’t expect to be around to see the payout, but their respective wills dictate that their heirs will settle the bet in 2150.
This podcast dives into the science of longevity, why no one has ever lived past 122 (a record set in 1997), and whether we will see a 150-year-old in our lifetimes.
Fascinating stuff!
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
One Bonus:
Paul Graham shared this helpful razor on how to tell if a startup is doing well, but it has applications that extend well-beyond startups.
The Feynman Razor:
When you ask someone for an explanation:
More words + jargon = weak understanding
Fewer words + no jargon = strong understanding
Assess and react accordingly.
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That does it for Episode XIV of The Friday Five. Join the 28,500+ others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week! Until next time, stay curious, friends!