Every so often, things fall apart.
In the words of those who lived it, here are the vibes and the semantic signatures of the twentieth century’s most devastating social collapses.
From the meaning in their words, wisdom for our future emerges.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
The cure for the cancer of gun culture and police culture is not to be found in reform laws around guns and police, but in reform ideas around culture, ideas that create a new dimension of American society that rejects LARPing and LARPers alike.
Inflation
What made Bitcoin special is nearly lost, and what remains is a false and constructed Narrative that exists in service to Wall Street and Washington rather than in resistance.
The Bitcoin narrative must be renewed. And that will change everything.
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Crypto
Recent Notes
We are Second Foundation Partners
Epsilon Theory began in the spring of 2013 as a series of emails I wrote to myself and a few colleagues, trying to make sense…
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose
What to DO when Things Fall Apart. How to make your way in a fallen world, where the electorate is polarized, the market is monolithic, and everyone seems to have lost their damn minds.
It’s not an Answer. It’s a Process.
From Thugs to Douche Bros: the Evolution of the Surveillance State
The Russians managed their surveillance state with banal thugs. We’re building our own surveillance state in America and throughout the West, managed not by thugs but by our own version of banal evil – the douche bro.
A Game of You
We’ve reached a new height (depth, really) of what I call “mirror engagement” on social media. If you don’t see yourself in the Missionary you follow, you get mad. How dare you not reflect my views!
Schrödinger’s Senate Hearing
Most people confuse Schrödinger’s Cat with the Observer Effect. It’s a lot weirder and more important than that. In the Widening Gyre of our political dialogue, it is a powerful illustration of we live in completely different realities.
Notes from the Diamond #1: Always Something New to Learn
Part 1 of a multi-part series that seeks to enhance readers’ deployment of both human and financial capital through the exploration of parallels between money management and professional baseball.
Deadly. Holy. Rough. Immediate.
It’s hard to be larger than life in a smaller than life world. It’s hard to be authentic in your art without being artificial. Good theatre does just that. We’re hoping to do the same in Epsilon Theory.
Missionary Body Language
Google “[name] + finger pointing”. Odds are, there are several shots of that politician shaking his or her finger at you, admonishing you with body language to LISTEN UP, BUB. Because that’s what a Missionary does to create Common Knowledge.
The Chinese Panoptistate
A Twitter user coined the term “Panoptistate” to describe what China is doing with its social data monitoring effort. It’s a good opportunity to revisit the classic ET note about the Panopticon.
Guest Post: The Two Worlds of Data Infrastructure
There are two systems states use to control our data: The Black Mirror version in China, and the western system that is well on its way there. There is another way.
Mailbag: Mastering the Art of French Cooking
In which a fellow Slummerville old-timer writes in with a Savenor’s update: A dream job has been posted, and is now available. But who can afford a dream anymore? Oh, also I got an email from my mom. Hi, mom!
It's a Floor Wax AND a Dessert Topping
Coinbase – do they run a prop desk or don’t they run a prop desk? My answer: it’s not a prop desk. No, what they are doing is worse and less fair to clients than a prop desk.
The Curse of Category
In investing and in life, we are always quick to judge the book by its cover. We’re quicker to judge a book by who wrote it. We’re quickest to judge a book by what shelf it’s on.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
In which I discuss that one time I followed Julia Child through a grocery store in the least creepy manner I could manage, and the most delicious white corn I’ve ever enjoyed.
But Our Interests Are Aligned!
The modern use of stock-based compensation is a confidence game, in the true sense of the word, that would be very familiar to the Music Man (but he doesn’t know the territory!).
Notes From the Road: Roadkill
Part 2 of the Notes from the Road series, about the value of and problems with adaptive frameworks. In this installment, an exploration of…
You Provide the Pictures and I’ll Provide the War
Billionaires don’t buy media properties as vanity projects, because they care deeply about them as institutions, or for profit. They buy them because they understand the political and economic power of Fiat News.
True Freedoms / Hollow Freedoms
Our liberty is our birthright, not granted to us by the State or the Oligarchs. It is not theirs to give. It cannot be taken away. But we can give it away. Don’t.
Lehman and the Meta-Game of Trading
Everyone has their Lehman war stories. Everyone at least in their 30s, anyway. Here’s one of mine that was particularly formative for Epsilon Theory and our stories about stories.
Hunt's Law: An Experiment
Hunt’s Law – fake news drives real news out of circulation – is a perversion of Gresham’s Law about currency that applies everywhere today, even to Hunt. Especially when it comes to social media.