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- The root of culture (140)
Welcome back to the 1st Law Newsletter.
I just want to know Im capable of greatness before I die.
What is the root of culture?
Perhaps, hundreds or thousands of years ago, culture was natural. A result of time, gradual learning, and developing preferences. No doubt, in the last 20 years, culture has been changing. Not only is culture itself changing, but the way culture is shaped is changing. Instead of being time tested wisdom, passed down through generations, it is being shaped by profit. I heard this mentioned once, and I think there is some truth to the following:
Society and culture are downstream of media. Media is downstream of profit. Profit is downstream of corporate business models.
Therefore, business models are defining our modern culture. Examples: using iPhones at dinner, a direct result of Apple pushing more and more functionality into the phones. They want us to be using them at all times, attention = profit. Another example: fashion. Fashion goes through fads, which get pushed by the media and ads. Why is everyone wearing baggy jeans? The billboards have sexy models wearing baggy jeans.
The only way to fight this (aside, is there even a point of fighting this?) is to be radically individual and independent. Think critically and know yourself. Be an outlier. But then again, no point in being an outlier just for the sake of it. The point is that you must be radically yourself, immune to the trends. Do you like wearing baggy jeans? Or will you, in 3 years when the style inevitably swings back to skinnys, revert back along with everyone else to avoid ridicule?
One of the most American things I have seen
There is a warship stationed just off of New York, the USS Intrepid. It has been stationed there so long (out of commission now I believe) that it has become a tourist attraction. People can pay to go on tours of the ship. The tourists get hungry after walking all over the ship, deck to deck, galley to ballast to bridge… They have now built a McDonalds in the warship. This seems so American, so patriotic. Thought I’d share.
The AE Koolaid
Not only applicable to Account Executives (AE’s). The idea is that, once you get promoted, once you attain the title/ salary/ position, your ego blows up. You are no longer a lowly SDR, you’re an AE, and you feel invincible. Confidence soars, and blindspots appear. Don’t drink the AE koolaid. Know that you are not immortal. Protect yourself and prepare for the inevitable change that will occur. This too shall pass.
What other ideas have I had recently?
I have been looking for alpha. I have been on the hunt for information that will give me an advantage. Honestly, twitter is a great place for this. So many incredibly thoughtful and interesting people, many who want to remain anonymous, post solely on twitter. There are definitely gems to be uncovered. Where else can I find alpha?
Quote to go
“When compared to past generations, and in fact, millenia of evolution, we find that modern society is less likely to invest in family because it is decreasingly rational in an economic sense. Family is a low time-preference endeavor, which has little place in a high time-preference society. I would say that this is highly detrimental to everyone, because the family represents the center of society. It is no coincidence that the dissolution of the family has come as a result of the implementation of the economic precepts of a man who never had any interest in the long term.”
Thanks for reading!
Lucas