The first day of 2021. Here is to a better version of 2020. What are you looking forward to this year?
Knowledge
Innovation in Miami: Miami is trending in the tech world. It's mayor, Francis Suarez, has become a figurehead for attracting value-adders to Metropolitan cities. He has recently become successful in attracting major players and talent, in what is a rare sight from public servants. In doing so, a thread by @baljais has proposed the question of what it would look like if this type of behaviour was incentivized. Commission and carry for civil servants proportional to the prosperity they bring to the city. A proposed example of this would be to tie compensation to hard-to-fake metrics like delivering $1000 in sovereign fund returns to all citizens.
Civil servants control enormous flows of money, but aren’t officially supposed to partake of any of it. In many areas of government this leads to a revolving door. Regulate, then make money consulting when out of office.
Performance-based pay is a time tested way to improve productivity. Civil servant pay that is not contingent on impact is a sure way to breed mediocrity in policy outcomes and civilian welfare.
Wisdom
Life is Short: Reflecting on the shortness of life (although somewhat morbid) can be beneficial. Being consciously aware of its shortness can help us avoid being inevitably surprised by how short it really is. Paul Graham provides three ways to make sure our time is not wasted:
Relentlessly prune bullshit
Don't wait for things that matter
Savour the time we have.
The usual way to avoid being taken by surprise by something is to be consciously aware of it. Back when life was more precarious, people used to be aware of death to a degree that would now seem a bit morbid. I'm not sure why, but it doesn't seem the right answer to be constantly reminding oneself of the grim reaper hovering at everyone's shoulder. Perhaps a better solution is to look at the problem from the other end. Cultivate a habit of impatience about the things you most want to do. Don't wait before climbing that mountain or writing that book or visiting your mother. You don't need to be constantly reminding yourself why you shouldn't wait. Just don't wait.
Insight
Structuring Society: There are many ways to answer this question. Here is one of them. John Rawls Theory of Justice explains that the world should not be organized from our own perspective, but society should be organized from the perspective of not knowing where you end up in the genetic or geographic lottery. Many advantages in life are given by luck, not earned. Where you start is not a matter of choice. It can be interesting to think of John Rawls’ “ideal world” in the context of the world we actually live in. A vast majority of modern societies would not live up to his definition.
Does this make them structurally unfair?
Tweet
Today
Recommendation
I did not think this would work, but it does. Great interview.
Notes
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