Entertainment Eats Art; Distraction Eats Entertainment
“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”—John Schaar
Slip Stitch & Stumble: NPAs That Refuse to Go Away: The slow-burn liberalization of the economy in the 1980s, which saw a new breed of entrepreneurs testing the system, collided against what was still a capital-scarce economy in which even banks exercised severe funding restrictions. The RBI would decide which organizations deserved credit, and how much, based on some internal formula, and at a pre-determined high rate to cross-subsidize other concessional loans. This gave rise to what is known as gold-plating, a euphemism for entrepreneurs inflating their project costs, borrowing in excess of the project’s requirements and siphoning off the excess. The money would usually come back in the form of the promoter’s equity contribution to the project or would be diverted to finance another project. Sometimes the siphoning off also occurred to finance the entrepreneur’s lifestyle. There are also well-known examples now of promoters siphoning off the entire loan amount and using illegal channels to transfer the funds overseas.
https://foundingfuel.com/article/npas-a-problem-that-refuses-to-go-away/
How to Be an Expert in a Changing World: It's ok to have working hypotheses, even though they may constrain you a bit, because they also motivate you. It's exciting to chase things and exciting to try to guess answers. But you have to be disciplined about not letting your hypotheses harden into anything more. I believe this passive m.o. works not just for evaluating new ideas but also for having them. The way to come up with new ideas is not to try explicitly to, but to try to solve problems and simply not discount weird hunches you have in the process.
https://paulgraham.com/ecw.html
Art is Eaten by Entertainment is Eaten by Distraction: If you thought the drug cartels were rich, wait till you see how much money the dopamine cartel is making. The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction. Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity. The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.