Friday Finds (Palantir, Amazon, Hayek, Philosophy, Liberalism)

Hi friends,

Greetings from Austin!

​Write of Passage kicked off this week.

To my utter amazement, we have more than 300 students and a course staff of 33 people to help them. It’s becoming less like a traditional course and more like a choose-your-own-adventure journey, which is determined by your goals as an online writer. If you’re curious about the specifics, I outlined them in this YouTube video. ​

Speaking of production, I'm hiring a Production Operations Lead.

The Production Operations Lead will be the go-to person for all my creative projects — from this newsletter, to my YouTube channel, to Write of Passage, to an epic new production studio I'm building in Austin, to a new podcast I'm thinking about launching. Here's the job description (which I encourage you to share) and the link to apply.

Next week, my friend Tiago Forte is hosting a Second Brain Summit. He’s the go-to guy in the world of knowledge management and considering that you’ve made your way onto Friday Finds, I think at least one of the events will interest you.

Here’s what I want to share this week:

1. How Philosophers Think: I study philosophy not just to understand the ideas but to pick up new patterns of thinking. Philosophy teaches you how to grapple with ideas from multiple angles on your way towards the truth. Read my essay here or watch my YouTube video on the subject.
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2. ​Write of Passage Podcast: One of the best ways to learn the basics of my online writing method, which is built on three principles: (1) write from abundance, (2) write from conversation, and (3) write in public. All the episodes are 4-8 minutes long and there’s absolutely no fluff. Each one covers a different principle of online writing. Listen to my podcast here (iTunes | Spotify | Overcast).

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Today’s Finds

​The Use of Knowledge in Society: The most important economics paper I’ve ever read. It shows how price signals can help societies make the best use of resources, especially in an ever-changing world that’s impossible to plan for. The price system allows people to coordinate at scale. If there’s a shortage of a given material like copper, the price will rise and thereby incentivize people to produce more of it. When the price fall, the opposite will happen. By following the price system, individuals can contribute to a spontaneous global order by following their incentives. Here’s an excellent summary, and here’s Hayek’s original paper.

​A World Split Apart: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist and critic of both communism and the Soviet Union. In his 1978 commencement speech, he warned against the West’s wholehearted embrace of individual rights and the decreasing responsibilities towards God and society. Voluntarily self-restraint is almost unheard of now. Sexual and economic norms have been forgotten. Ideas like sacrifice and selfless risk aren’t celebrated like they once were either. Instead, in the name of liberation, the West has caved into the allures of consumption, hedonism, and short-term thinking.

​Why Liberalism Failed: People increasingly see freedom from attachments as an unalloyed good. But Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen argues that the push for freedom from the constraints of family, tradition, and religion has actually reduced liberty. The more individualistic a culture becomes, the more it needs a big state to support it. If you’re interested in the ideas but aren’t ready to commit to the book, I recommend this talk with the author and this podcast (with a worthy list of critiques in the comments section).

​Amazon Logistics: A tour through Amazon’s mind-bogglingly complex logistics system. My favorite part was seeing how the incentives of Amazon, as compared to UPS and FedEx, influence their flight routes.

​Alex Karp Interview: A two-part conversation with the CEO of Palantir, who is a fascinating guy. He runs a controversial company, and he addresses many of the critiques in this interview with admirable levels of intellectual rigor. Just as interesting, he has a PhD in what amounts to progressive philosophy from the Frankfurt School in Germany. For more about Karp’s background, here’s an excellent long-form essay about his academic career.