Collecting Shells on the Beach of Time
This free sign-up post will update regularly over time. It organizes the list of authors, researchers, books, and papers mentioned in the previous posts. It also summarizes key points to-date.
By way of an analogy: Walking the beach, looking at shells, flotsam, and jetsam dropped by the crashing waves reflects the process of reading research. Authors and researchers move like waves full of sound and fury, until they crash on the beach to be replaced by the next wave.
Some waves release shells of wisdom on the beach of time, that we beachcombers of knowledge can pick up as we go.
The Scale of Shells
Shells of knowledge on the beach of time range from the very small to very large. See below, a mind-map to organize the wide scale of findings.
The inner, yellow box structures observables by size, ranging from universe-sized objects to the quantum: a range of 43 orders of magnitude.
Observables, from the bottom and reading up, range from Particles, to Elements, to Life, to Systems, to Space & Time.
Each observable shows a characteristic scale expressed as a range in powers of ten with meters as the unit of account, as well as a characteristic example shown in square brackets.
Finally, each observable lines up with its matching areas of knowledge.
The outer, green box identifies the types of decision-making models that we can develop given such observations:
- The “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” models the known & knowable.
- Narrated heuristics guide us as we move in the darkness of the unknown & unknowable.
Readers with an interest in such mind-maps will find Katy Börner’s work of great interest, starting with the following book, and the picture on page 13 in particular
Source: Börner, Katy (2010, Atlas of Science: Visualizing What We Know, The MIT Press
Organizing Authors and Researchers
The following citations come from the posts published since January 8, 2022. The bold, italicized, and underlined sub-titles come from the knowledge map shown above. The percentages in brackets show the relative number of citations for each sub-title.
Known & Knowable - Mathematical Models (11%)
Derman, Emanuel (2011), Model.Behaving.Badly. Why confusing illusion with reality can lead to disaster, on Wall Street and in life, Free Press
Frankfurter, George M. and McGoun, Elton G. (1996), Toward Finance with Meaning, The Methodology of Finance: What it is and What it can be, Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, Volume 80, AI
Hamming, Richard W. (1996, 2020), The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn, Stripe Press
Hamming, Richard W. (1985), Methods of Mathematics, Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics.
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2012), Antifragile, Random House
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2004), Second Edition, Fooled by Randomness, The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, Thomson TEXERE
Thompson, Ken (1984), Reflections on Trusting Trust, to what extent should one trust a statement that a program is free of Trojan horses? Perhaps it is more important to trust the people who wrote the software? Communications of the ACM, August 1984, Volume 27 Number 8
Space/Time [Energy] - Cosmology: Earth Sciences, Astrophysics (3%)
Garrett, Timothy J. (2009 -online), Are there basic physical constraints on future anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide?, Climatic Change (2011) 104:437-455
Liu, Cixin (2006, 2014), translated by Ken Liu, The Three-Body Problem, a Tor Book
Systems [Nodes] – Humanities: Environment, Economics, Social Science (31%)
Arendt, Hannah (1971), Thinking and Moral Considerations, Social Research, 38:3 (1971: Autumn) p.417
Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe, et al., 6th printing (2021), Trades, Quotes and Prices, Financial Markets Under the Microscope, Cambridge University Press
Buchdahl, Joseph (2016), Squares & Sharps, Suckers & Sharks, The Science, Psychology & Philosophy of Gambling, High Stakes Publishing
Chernov, Dmitry, and Sornette, Didier (2016), Man-made Catastrophes and Riks Information Concealment, Case Studies of Major Disasters and Human Fallibility, Springer
Chernov, Dmitry, and Sornette, Didier (2020), Critical Risks of Different Economic Sectors, Based on the Analysis of More than 500 Incidents, Accidents and Disasters, Springer
Cipolla, Carlo M. (1987), Whole Earth Review: Access to Tools and Ideas, No 54 Spring 1987, POINT, pp2-7
Ebeling, William H., Doorley III, Thomas L. (1983), A Strategic Approach to Acquisitions, The Journal of Business Strategy Vol. 3, No. 3 Winter 1983
Jack, Rachael E., Garrod, Oliver G.B., Schyns, Philippe G. (2014), Dynamic Facial Expressions of Emotions Transmit an Evolving Hierarchy of Signals over Time, Current Biology – January 20, 2014
Junger, Sebastian (1997), The Perfect Storm, A true story of men against the sea, Norton
Heinlein, Robert A. (1973), The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, p 9
Knox, Bernard (1957), Oedipus at Thebes, Sophocle’s Tragic Hero and His Time, Yale
Pennington, Malcolm W. and Cohen, Steve M. (1982), Michael E. Porter Speaks on Strategy, January Planning Review
Plutchik, Robert (1980), A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotions. In Plutchik R. & Kellerman H. (Editors), Emotion: Theory research, and experience: Volume 1, Theories of emotion (pp 3-33), Academic
Porter, Michael E. (1979), How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy, Harvard Business Review (March-April 1979)
Porter, Michael E. (1980), Competitive Strategy, Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press
Ropeik, David and Gray, George (2002), Risk! A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in The World Around You, Houghton Mifflin Company
Scott, James C. (2020), Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, Yale University
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (1974), Live Not By Lies
Spinoza, Benedict de (1677), Opera Posthuma - translated from Latin) R. H. M. Elwes (1901), Improvement of the Understanding, Ethics, and Correspondence, M. Walter Dunne Publisher
Life [Genes] – Biology: Genetics, Bio-chemistry, Evolution, Health Care, Mental Health, Brain Research (11%)
Bloom, Howard (2000), The global brain: the evolution of mass mind from the big bang to the 21st. century, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp 42-44
Darwin, Charles (annotated by James T. Costa) (2009), the annotated origin, A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species, Belknap Harvard
Eigen, Manfred and Winkler, Ruthild (1981), The Laws of the Game, How the Principles of Nature Govern Chance, Alfred A. Knopf
Kendrick, Malcolm (2021), The Clot Thickens, the enduring mystery of heart disease, Columbus Publishing
Rothschild, Michael (1990), Bionomics, The Inevitability of Capitalism, Henry Holt
Sutton, Mike (2010), SPINACH, IRON and POPEYE: Ironic lessons from biochemistry and history on the importance of healthy eating, healthy skepticism and adequate citation, Internet Journal of Criminology
Strozzi-Heckler, Richard (1984-1993), The Anatomy of Change, A Way to Move Through Life’s Transitions, North Atlantic Books
Elements [Atoms] – Chemistry: Physical, Analytical, Organic (2%)
McFarland, Ben (2016), A World from Dust, How the periodic table shaped life, Oxford
Particles [Quantum] – Physics: Quantum, Materials, Fluid Mechanics, Applied Physics, Thermodynamics (2%)
Peters, O., A. Adamou (2018-2019), Ergodicity Economics Lecture Notes. (From the reference list in: Gadenne, Francois (2021), Ergodicity Economics in Plain English, Retirement Management Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp61.65)
Unknown & Unknowable: Narrative Heuristics (40%)
Boulenger, Jacques and Scheler Lucien (1955), Rabelais, Oeuvres completes, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, Gallimard
Campbell, Joseph (1949), The Hero with a Thousand Faces, MJF Books
Carse, James P. (1986), Finite and Infinite Games, A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility, Free Press
Carse, James P. (1994), Breakfast at the Victory, The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience, Harper Collins
Carse, James P. (1997), The Gospel of the Beloved Disciple, Harper Collins
Carse, James P. (2008), The Religious Case Against Belief, The Penguin Press
Carse, James P. (2017), PhDeath: The Puzzler Murders, OPUS
Eco, Umberto (1983) The Name of the Rose, translation of Il Nome della Rosa (1980), Harcourt Brace Javanovich
“Farnam Street” (2019), The Great Mental Models, Vol. 1 and Vol.2, Latticework Publishing, Inc.
Foster, Thomas C. (2003), How to Read Literature Like a Professor, A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, Harper
Gigerenzer, Gerd, Hertwig, Ralph, and Pachur, Thorsten (2011), Heuristics, The Foundations of Adaptive Behavior, Oxford University Press
Groos, Rene and Schiffrin, Jacques (1954), La Fontaine, Fables et Contes, Gallimard
Hayakawa, S.I., and Hayakawa, Alan R. (first copyright date 1939), Language in Thought and Action, A Harvest Original, Harcourt, Inc.
Hofstadter, Douglas R. (2007), I am a Strange Loop, Basic Books
Kay, John and King, Mervyn (2020), Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers, W.W. Norton & Company
Korzybski, Alfred (2000) Science and Sanity, 5th ed. (second printing), Institute of General Semantics
Osinga, Frans P.B. (2007), Science, Strategy and War, The strategic theory of John Boyd, Routeledge
Rucker, Rudy von B. (1982), Infinity and the Mind, The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite, Birkhauser
Perry, Ben Edwin (1952), Aesopica, University of Illinois Press
Perry, Ben Edwin (1965), Brabrius and Phaedrus, Fables, Loeb Classical Library
Peterson, Jordan B. (2018), 12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos, Random House Canada
Peterson, Jordan B. (2021), Beyond Order, 12 more rules for life, Penguin | Portfolio
Popkin, Richard H. (2003), The History of Skepticism, from Savoranola to Bayle, Oxford University Press
Safranski, Mark (Editor) (2008), The John Boyd Roundtable, Debating Science, Strategy, and War, Nimble Books
Practical Uses
These Substack posts present results from authors and researchers whose work has practical significance from the perspective of a start-up entrepreneur. To date, these include:
- Minds exist to navigate territories
- A map is not the territory
- Become the client to bring your map closer to the territory
- Learn to fail successfully
- Function in disaster, finish in style
- Replace math models with reference narratives when facing radical uncertainty
- Recognize the decision-making propensities of your metier
- Formalize your reference narratives
- Winning mind-maps come from the authentically personal
- Walk-away from people that damage themselves and damage others
- Change course when winning a finite game means damaging the Infinite Game.
- Continuously increase the flow of energy in your business ecosystem
- Continuously improve your efficiency as a foil in that flow of energy
- Different life trajectories come from:
different growth dynamics,
path dependencies, and
understanding of the meaning of ensemble vs. time average growth rates
Continuing Content Schedule
Reader input provides the following guidance:
- Chunk posts to present a single topic, similarly to the first Cipolla post.
- More graphics like the Cipolla matrix, and the Business Ecosystem Template.
- Publish free sign-up posts every other day to avoid reader in-box overload.
- Use the weekly subscriber posts to dig deeper in earlier topics
Developing…
At the end of each post, we ask the following question before publishing it:
“What is an individual member of the next generation supposed to do with this?”
Personal practices based on this post, include:
(i) Read the posts that catch your interest.
(ii) Like, Share, Sign-up, Forward, e-mail me, Subscribe, and Comment!
Minds are closing down under stress. People are tired of ideas. They want to know how to survive. “CTRI by Francois Gadenne” connects the dots of life-enhancing practices for the next generation, free of controlling algorithms, based on the lifetime experience of a retirement age entrepreneur, and as the co-founder of CTRI continuously updated with insights from Wealth, Health, and Statistics research performed on behalf of large companies.