The great and eccentric systems theorist Stafford Beer, one of the father’s of modern management consulting had a heuristic maxim: “The purpose of a system is what it does. There is after, all no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly
Language is notoriously unreliable because language can betray us. Words can have dual meanings, implied subtext, or suffer from ‘semantic drift’ over time where a secondary meaning all but subsumes the original definition of what a word meant - i.e., “He’s quite gay,” originally meant that someone was
“A monarch’s neck should always have a noose around it—it keeps him upright.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls One of the earliest history lessons that American children learn is that of the American Revolution against the English monarchy. The patriotic seed of independence and
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Focusing on our aural capacity, this near universally-known saying works as a metaphor for the communication of an idea as being effective or not based on the required presence and
i. Some Background In 2011, as the world continued to reckon with the immediate aftermath of both the Great Financial Crisis and people saying things like "winning" and "YOLO," investor and Man-Shaped Egg Person, Mark Andreessen, co-founder of the eponymous Silicon Valley venture capital fund, Andreessen
I've had a number of conversations this week with people that I both love and respect that went something like this (paraphrasing, of course): Other Person: "Wow, [insert morally reprehensible right-wing ideologue/policy here] is crazy. These people have no idea what they are doing. What a
After some inordinately long periods of sickness over the holidays, followed immediately by the need to evacuate my home for ten days with my family during the Eaton Fire, I have not felt much like writing. My head has been a blender filled with scattered thoughts and ideas mixed with
Time seemed to dilate more than usual this year. It was January, and then, rather abruptly, it was December again. I prepare to make this list all year long, starting on January 1, and take it quite seriously, probably too seriously, as I enter my tenth year making it. But
Think of your favorite dish at an overly-priced but delectable restaurant that you frequent. Envision the plate as it arrives at your table. The satisfying clunk as the waitstaff sets the plate down and invariably warns you that it’s too hot to touch (but still sets it too far
As the title implies, mixing metaphors is confusing. While you could potentially (maybe) convey the same message using disparate parts of separate metaphors, it would require the listener to both know and understand the original metaphors and also not immediately think that you are having a stroke. But in our
Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film Children of Men is one of my all-time favorite pieces of art, film or otherwise. Seeing it in the theater while in college, fully whacked out of my gourd on what I can imagine must have been three to four bong rips and one-third
Writing with consistency is difficult because writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised constantly lest it atrophy. Life is busy, complicated, and kind of confusing, and I am often too mentally gassed by the end of the day to be able to work on the lengthy and research-intensive