no nirvana-like un-change...................

 

How do we know that change is accelerating?  There is, after all, no absolute way to measure change.  In the awesome complexity of the universe, even within any given society, a virtually infinite number of steams of change occur simultaneously.  All "things"—from the tiniest virus to the greatest galaxy—are, in reality, not things at all, but processes.  There is no static point, no nirvana-like un-change, against which to measure change. 

-Alvin Toffler, Future Shock

Recalibrating...................................

 ..............................................success.

patience and clarity.............................

Learn to measure people by the narrowness or breadth of their vision; avoid entangling yourself with those who cannot see the consequences of their actions, who are in a continual reactive mode.  They will infect you with this energy.  Your eyes must be on the larger trends that govern events, on that which is not immediately visible.  Never lose sight of your long-term goals.  With an elevated perspective, you will have the patience and clarity to reach almost any objective.

-Robert Greene, The Laws of Human Nature 

On anecdotes and data...............

 "the thing I have noticed is that when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right.  There's something wrong with the way you're measuring."

-Jeff Bezos, as quoted here

dead media walking................

     The technological change that broke the news business was our ability to measure audience reaction to every headline and every variation of every story.  Once you can reliably measure the income potential of different approaches to the news, people who manage the news have to do what works best for profitability or else they are abandoning their responsibilities to shareholders.  On top of that, executive compensation is determined by profit performance.  From the moment technology allowed us to know which kinds of content influenced viewership the most, the old business model of the news industry was dead media walking.  From that point through today, the business model of the press changed from presenting information to manipulating brains.

-Scott Adams, Loserthink:  How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America

On measuring.........................

     The dark side of tracking a particular behavior is that we become driven by the number rather than the purpose behind it.  If your success is measured by quarterly earnings, you will optimize sales, revenue, and accounting for quarterly earnings.  If your success is measured by a lower number on the scale, you will optimize for a lower number on the scale, even if that means embracing crash diets, juice cleanses, and fat-loss pills.  The human mind wants to "win" whatever game is being played.
      This pitfall is evident in many areas of life.  We focus on working long hours instead of getting meaningful work done.  We care more about getting ten thousand steps that we do about being healthy.  We teach for standardized tests instead of emphasizing learning, curiosity, and critical thinking.  In short, we optimize for what we measure.  When we choose the wrong measurement, we get the wrong behavior.
      This is sometimes referred to as Goodhart's Law.  Named after the economist Charles Goodhart, the principle states, "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."  Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you.  Each number is simply one piece of feedback in the overall system.
      In our data-driven world, we tend to overvalue numbers and undervalue anything ephemeral, soft, and difficult to quantify.  We mistakenly think the factors we can measure are the only factors that exist.  But just because you can measure something doesn't mean its the most important thing.  And just because you can't measure something doesn't mean it's not important at all.

-James Clear,  Atomic Habits

Measure..................................

     Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.  Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits.  Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits.  Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits.  You get what you repeat.


-James Clear,  Atomic Habits:  Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results

to.............................

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

-attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti

Columbus makes a few mistakes....

     The diameter of the spherical Earth had been calculated accurately by the Greek Eratosthenes in the second century BC, and his calculation was still widely known in the time of Columbus.  Though no European foresaw what lay in wait for Columbus, since all thought mistakenly that the  Ocean Sea, empty of land, was much larger than it was, almost all who could read and had looked into the subject understood that Columbus was seriously underestimating the overall size of the Earth.*
     Columbus, basing his calculations on inaccurate assumptions, theorized that the east coast of Asia could be reached by a European ship within a few weeks of its leaving port.  The actual circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 kilometers, whereas Columbus assumed it to be closer to 25,000 kilometers.  Compounding his mistake was his misreading - in a Latin translation - of a renowned ninth-century Persian astronomer, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Faghani, known in the West as Alfraganus.  The Persian's correct measurements were given in Arabic miles, which Columbus assumed to be the same as Roman miles.  In actuality, Roman miles are about 25 percent shorter than Arabic ones.  Had the Ocean not held the Americas and the vast sea been empty of land between Europe and Asia, Columbus and his crew, heading west, would have perished in the deep and never been heard from again.  This had indeed been the fate of several earlier (and well-known) attempts.

-Thomas Cahill,  Heretics and Heroes

*No one who knew anything thought the Earth was flat.  This was an anti-Catholic fable created by a nineteenth-century Frenchman named Jean Antoine Letronne and disseminated widely to English speakers by Washington Irving in his unreliable biography of Columbus.

Ah, the "American system"...............

.....................................Is this a great country, or what?

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