Important disclaimer
What are daily insights in the system?
Daily insights are not predictions. This is because systems (economic, political, social, scientific) are largely not predictable.
Why are they important?
“Things don’t happen for a reason, but for many reasons working in concert.” Fernand Braudel, economic historian and author of Civilization and Capitalism, 15th to 18th century.
“Dynamic systems studies are usually not designed to predict what will happen. Rather, they are designed to explore what would happen, if a range of driving factors would unfold in a range of different ways.” Donella Meadows. Professor of Systems Engineering, MIT. (Now deceased.) Author of Thinking in Systems.
What can you use them for?
They are a way for one to consider other factors outside of the narrative. We do not make political or economic predictions, and try to eliminate our own innate biases.
But more importantly, they can be used to help build reasons why certain probabilities are more likely in others.
Why do so few people think in systems?
That depends on who you ask, but the general consensus is that 85% of the people in the world do not have the basic intelligence.
“The group (Bernays means in general) has mental characteristics distinct from those of the individual and is motivated by impulses and emotions which cannot be explained by the basis of what they know of individual psychology.”
“Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thoughts, it has impulses, habits, and emotions.”
“But when the example of the leader is not at hand and the herd must think for itself, it does so by means of cliché’s, pat words and images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences.”
Edward Bernays, Nephew of Sigmund Freud, and father of modern propaganda. Author of Propaganda.
Systems thinking removed group thought from the equation.
Intelligence = cognitive ability + curiosity + ambition – ego. Landon Fillmore Systems
Why some of our Insights will seem bizarre.
It’s because many if not most of the world’s effective propaganda campaigns were bizarre only in retrospect. Consider what people “believed” that turned out to be bogus.
- Saddam Hussein created the anthrax that was sent in letter bombs in the US.
- Government money printing is not inflationary.
- On January 1st, 2000 all computers in the world will shut themselves off.
- John Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman shooting a 45 dollar unsighted rifle at a moving target, getting off three shots in 6.2 seconds.
- Bitcoin is a currency.
- If you spread mortgage risk wide enough, it is not an economic threat to the system.
- Russians rigged the 2016 presidential election.
In summary.
Many people complain of bias in the media and in economic circles, but one must remember, the media is the biggest and most advanced feedback loop in history.
The media is a capitalist commercial enterprise.
It’s designed to SELL STUFF.
The information it provides is coincidental, but more importantly, designed to the intelligence level of the consumer. This is exactly the point made by Edward Bernays. It is also why we don’t allow comments.
Think of it this way. Why do they play classical music in subways? It is thought that it deters crime because of the soothing effect. But that’s not it.
It’s because the kind of people that steal cannot stand listening to it.
What can’t you stand listening to? Leftist or right-wing political thoughts? Opera? The sound of a wooden spoon on a wooden bowl? Children giggling? Rapp music? Donald Trump’s voice?
All these things, when explored, will reveal your biases. This doesn’t mean you’re wrong. It’s just another bias. From an evolutionary standpoint, if bias has no use, we wouldn’t have them.
This is why we produce Insights.
They are unbiased data from literally anywhere. We hope you enjoy them.
