🌱 The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions

[an] engineer will think in systems. A psychologist will think in terms of incentives. A biologist will think in terms of evolution

we tend to look to the leader for guidance on behavior, especially in situations of stress or uncertainty. Thus, authority figures have a responsibility to act well, whether they like it or not

Global and local maxima help us identify peaks, and if there is still potential to go higher or lower. It also reminds us that sometimes we have to go down to go back up.

In chess, the winning strategy is usually to seize control of the middle of the board, so as to maximize the potential moves that can be made and control the movement of the maximal number of pieces.

Two individuals, firms, or countries could benefit from trading with one another even if one of them was better at everything

Correct double-entry bookkeeping acts as a check on potential accounting errors and allows for accurate records

Fundamentally, the modern world operates on trust. Familial trust is generally a given (otherwise we’d have a hell of a time surviving), but we also choose to trust chefs, clerks, drivers, factory workers, executives, and many others. A trusting system is one that tends to work most efficiently; the rewards of trust are extremely high.

We tend to most easily recall what is salient, important, frequent, and recent.