Circle Three 72 / What Christmas Means to Me
I reflected on Paul Graham’s recent post on reading, particularly this quote:
You can't think well without writing well,
and you can't write well without reading well.
And I mean that last "well" in both senses.
You have to be good at reading, and read good things.
Any recommendations for my 2023 reading list? I’ll be sharing some before the new year.
Contents:
brain bites: Culture
Billie Eilish: Same Interview, The Sixth Year
brain bites: Psychology & Health
A Psychologist Spent Five Years Studying World Cup Penalty Shootouts
brain bites: Business & Investing
Volcano Bonds—An Imminent Paradigm Shift in the Bond Market and What It Means.
A forgotten banking scandal suggests FTX is the tip of the crypto iceberg
brain bites: Technology
AI and the Intelligence Explosion
Lyric: What Christmas Means to Me by John Legend, Stevie Wonder
brain bites: culture
Billie Eilish: Same Interview, The Sixth Year. Here. Impressed by her consistent effort, growth, and acceptance of her younger self.
brain bites: psychology & health
A Psychologist Spent Five Years Studying World Cup Penalty Shootouts. From the WSJ, while the world is tuned into the World Cup’s tense penalty shootouts. Fascinating research, namely that even though one player kicks at a time, teamwork plays a large role in success or failure.
Also, it helps to be a goalie:
Goalkeepers are heroes when their teams win and rarely get the blame when they lose, which frees them from some of the stress facing the players standing a dozen yards away.
brain bites: business & investing
Volcano Bonds—An Imminent Paradigm Shift in the Bond Market and What It Means. From Doug Casey’s International Man here.
TL;DR: El Salvador is saying a massive F.U. to the traditional bond choices (Wall Street, IMF, China) and raising a $1 billion bond offering to buy and mine bitcoin. I’m an optimist when it comes to innovation, and this could pay off in a big way when by bond maturity in 2033. Also…
That’s where El Salvador has another golden opportunity. It is going leapfrog constipated Western countries to craft a modern framework for regulating digital assets with the clear intention to make it as easy and as business-friendly as possible.
A forgotten banking scandal suggests FTX is the tip of the crypto iceberg. Here. SBF and FTX comparisons are rampant, but I think it’s just the beginning of what might be revealed behind the FTX-Tether-Deltec-Alameda relationship. The details of and similarities to the BCCI fraud are honestly chilling.
“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”
brain bites: technology
AI and the Intelligence Explosion. Thread here. The representative tweet below.
Lyric: What Christmas Means to Me by John Legend, Stevie Wonder
Christmas is my favorite holiday. Gatherings, gifts, and (hopefully) gluhwein will mark the next few weeks.
Lots of snow and ice,
Everywhere we go.
Choirs singin' carols,
Right outside my door.All these things and more
That's what Christmas means to me, my love
Stay Curious,
Dan