Hey Everyone,
Welcome back to The Chomp—your weekly dose of the best content from the internet and beyond, designed to expand your mind and get you thinking. Let’s dive into it.
Quick Bites
Rethinking Fear: “We don’t need to live in fear to stay safe. A better approach is to be aware of the risks we face, accept that some are unknown or unpredictable, and do all we can to be prepared for any serious or imminent dangers.” In his book, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence, Gavin de Becker explains that we misunderstand the value of fear in thinking that being constantly hypervigilant will keep us safe. We also often conflate anxiety with fear. In reality, they both have different triggers. Being able to discern between the two can actually help us leverage fear to our benefit. Check out this quick read to better understand why. (4 min)
COVID and Cascading Collapses: “We are having a similar kind of external shock to the one that reset the print ad market in 2008/9, and a lot of new services and infrastructure have built up penetration and capability that is not perhaps captured by gravity. And now we’re all forced to try to use all of them. A bunch of industries look like candidates to get a decade of inevitability in a week.” In his most recent post, Benedict Evans highlights the 'Wile E Coyote effect' and its impact on the advertising, tv, and retail market. The 'Wile E Coyote effect works like this: "you’ve run off the cliff, or the cliff has disappeared from under you, but there’s a brief moment while your legs windmill in the air before gravity kicks in. It can take a while for the inevitable to happen, but then, as Lenin pointed out, you get a decade of inevitable in a week." He presents an array of interesting charts and data that offer a compelling case for where these markets are likely headed next. (6 min)
Deeper Dives
50 Ideas That Changed My Life (David Perrell): This past week, David Perrell shared an awesome list of 50 key ideas that have shaped his world view. Many of these have been quite impactful for me as well. I also found a host of new ideas I wasn't familiar with and am excited to incorporate in my thinking going forward. Below are several that resonate the most with me. (10 min)
Occam's Razor: If there are multiple explanations for why something happened and they are equally persuasive, assume the simplest one is true. In the search for truth, remove unnecessary assumptions. Trust the lowest-complexity answer.
Mimetic Theory of Desire: Humans are like sheep. We don’t know what we want, so we imitate each other. Instead of creating our own desires, we desire the same things as other people. The entire advertising industry is built on this idea.
Convexity: If you want to be lucky, look for opportunities with big upsides and low downsides. In addition to increased optionality, your errors will benefit you more than they harm you. Convex payoffs let you tinker your way to success and innovation.
Hock Principle: Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.
State of the Markets: “In a world filled with uncertainty, there is one belief we have the utmost conviction in: volatility will persist at levels unseen for many years and tactical investing is the only path to wealth preservation and gains. With great uncertainty, also comes great opportunity. Those humbled by the experiences of previous cycles and real track records trading macro markets will thrive.” This recent note from my friends over at Bracket Capital offers an excellent overview of the current state of financial markets. In it, they provide a breakdown of each leg of the ‘risk market stool’: the real economy, government & central bank action, and passive investing & Wall Street. I agree with the vast majority of their analysis and recommend giving this a read. (24 min)
Media
While not too surprising, this interactive graphic from the NY Times offers an excellent look at the mass exodus from NYC as a result of COVID-19. Click on it to explore in more detail.
Tweet of the Week
Song of the Week
Apple Music Link
Books
Currently Reading
Recently Read
This was a masterclass on the topics of command and leadership. Through analysis of Alexander the Great, Wellington, Grant, and Hitler, John Keegan does an incredible job of distilling 2,000+ years of military command into 350 pages. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in history or leadership in general. (5/5)
![Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by [Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5c01aad-011e-4b99-8568-eec905fa717b_329x500.jpeg "Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by [Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili]")
This book was a real struggle for me to get through. While there are many interesting takeaways from it, I should have cut my losses and stopped reading it after the first hundred pages. It’s incredibly science-heavy and many of the topics went a bit over my head. Skip this one in favor of a YouTube or TedX video on the subject unless you have a deep interest in quantum mechanics and biology. (2.5/5)
Parting Thoughts
This Week in History
On May 14, 1804, one year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. (Source)
“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." — Marcus Aurelius
If you found something that piqued your interest this week, please help me out in expanding the reach of The Chomp by forwarding it along to a friend or sharing it with others in your network. Until next week.
-Cody