Originally Circulated on 30 October 2020
Aweh fellow Ruminants & Groupies in Lock Down Level 1
Aweh from day 217 of lock down – now level 1.
Firstly some ruminations on death spirals. In nature there is a bizarre phenomenon called an ant death spiral. See the link with an intriguing video. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/25789/natures-creepiest-metaphor-ant-death-spiral.
The “ant death spiral” is a phenomenon noted seemingly only in army ants, which unlike other kinds of ants do not make permanent nests and are always on the move while they’re alive. There are over 200 varieties of army ants, and apparently the type featured in this video are blind, and depend on smell to navigate. Typically they follow the scent-trails of the ants before them in the swarm. The death-spiral is an example of what happens when the swarm as a whole gets misdirected — and a convenient metaphor illustrating the perils of follow-the-leader behaviour in any society or business. The ants continue blindly in this death spiral until they drop dead of exhaustion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_mill.
One would like to think we humans would be smart enough to simply walk away from death spirals but then perhaps not. One only has to think cults, Ponzi schemes and businesses with flawed business models sometimes led by charismatic leaders (think Steinhoff).
For those of you with an idle moment take a look at the Netflix documentary series, “Billionaire Bad Boys” to see how businesses which are obviously unsustainable can burn brightly for longer than you think before they flame out. The interviews with employees of these failed businesses provide fascinating insight into human nature and (blind) loyalty. Are death spirals baked into the fabric of the human condition?
And now for something completely different….. Do we get paid what we deserve? In practice, the hardest-working people (such as dedicated police and teachers) are often paid the least, and an easy job at Transnet allocating tenders pays much more than an incredibly difficult job in China. https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/03/do-we-get-paid-what-we-deserve/.
The economy might not reward hard work or sacrifice. But perhaps it rewards innovation? Ironically, an excellent counterargument to this hypothesis comes from Peter Thiel, in a lecture he delivered at Stanford. Thiel is teaching students how to build successful start-ups, and he points out something that should be quite obvious: financial success is based a lot more on whether you are a sufficiently ruthless businessman who knows how to capture a market than whether you are a brilliant innovator of new scientific and technological breakthroughs that provide value to millions of people. It’s frequently the case, Thiel says, that with “extremely valuable innovations… the people who come up with them do not get rewarded.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oKjLVECMKA&t=1805s.
This is quite a long lecture but you only need to watch the first 10 minutes. I have recently completed my Competition Law training AGAIN in order to narrowly avoid a mandatory disciplinary hearing with a mandatory final written warning.
Peter Thiel would definitely fail a competition law test and he would have to endure repeating the course more than once. His message is that competition is for losers and that monopolies generate huge value and can be good for business and society.
EPIC FAIL!!!!
Peter Thiel’s estimated net worth is $2.6 billion. Apparently noncompliance with competition law training can be quite lucrative. Will the competition authorities cut him down to size??
I hope you all get what you deserve!
Thank you very much for the many helpful suggestions and input and please keep the submission ideas flowing.
Regards
Bruce
Ruminant Pink Friday 