1.
It is permanently dark under rain clouds. Low lying areas are flooding. People are complaining about road work everywhere combined with rain making traffic difficult. How things change from two weeks back when it was extremely hot to now summer rains causing floods. It is not yet Monsoon.
2.
We attended a wedding engagement function. I watched the series “Made in Heaven” which was a story of wedding planners coordinating luxury weddings last year. It was curious to see the wedding planners in this function prepared with remote control to trigger the sparklers when bride entered, cannons that shot out rose petals and photographers instructing the father of the groom and groom to talk to take candid pics. Wedding functions have become elaborate affairs - maybe that industry needed to employ people who will invent more.
3.
Finished reading Book 9 of 2024, “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. It was a difficult read, but insightful nevertheless. I can identify the behavioural patterns of a few after this. Rules like “Never put too much trust in friends, learn to use enemies”, “Conceal your intentions”, “Guard your reputation”, “Learn to keep people dependent on you”, “Never appear too perfect”. I listened to a podcast interview of Robert Greene (how cool is it that in this day and age, one can read a book and listen to the thoughts of the author directly) - he did lot of research for this to collect stories in last hundred years or so to illustrate how people obtained, grew, retained and consolidated power. He says upfront that power is amoral. I initially thought this was a parody, but it is not. I think if nice guys can finish first, I hope so, but what about the machiavellis and chanakyas of the world? Social engineering is used to effectively brainwash entire societies with propaganda, can nice guys win straight in such environments?
4.
Couple of interesting reads (came across through Hacker News) -
Inner ring - CS Lewis - that there are unofficial hierarchies in any social group and when we are outside one, we pine for entering it, but it is like peeling an onion with many inner rings. By spending our energies in entering these inner circles and keeping others out, we lose some of our identity over time. Instead focus on our craft and form genuine friendships with other craftsmen that are not about excluding others.
Corporate Ozempic - Prof Galloway - that AI is like Ozempic (weight loss drug that controls craving for food) for corporates, aiding them in reducing hiring while growing profits. Large companies are reducing jobs, but profits and stock prices are continuing to increase. Is it really AI or the over hiring and inefficiencies that crept up getting cleaned up now?
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