One must not be squeamish about admitting this (Strauss). It would be ridiculous to be bitter about Hollywood. I don't like to say it in front of my wife, but I did sort of neglect her sometimes; I needed to study. (If anyone knows if his remarkable secretary, Mrs. OLeary, left any records or an oral history please leave links below.). ), genetics, expert judgement, finance and many other topics with the focus on how education policy has to cope in order to train problem solvers for the coming challenges. (NB. , Gershenfeld (MIT). Professor Sides Dominic Cummings Nov 22, 2022 59 134 Ask Me Anything Monday 28 November, 1900-2100 Dominic Cummings Nov 21, 2022 57 310 Youll see its very similar to Grovess principles (above). Blurb endorsement by Einstein. that will prove false like the British navy rules the waves (true and a useful heuristic for many decades then suddenly and drastically not true) and values that will seem evil/comical. This is not true of blogs like Marginal Revolution. The best book about Gdels Theorem (according to the editor of Gdels Collected Works) which explains why almost everything one reads about it including by some famous scientists (e.g. some Kay emails, Sydney Brenner interview on the hideous science funding system. Interesting on the psychology of selling and marketing. A classic on the 1972 campaign. I wrote, which has a further reading list. Many who used them went on to the famous Kolmogorov schools.). Rationality, Vernon Smith. A striking thing: notice how they take regulation and speed extremely seriously because they have direct experience of it, in contrast to most professional economists who influence media debate on regulation who have no idea of how government really works and how destructive it is to make simple things take years, how it drives people away, rewards the worst people and companies etc. . The Quark and the Jaguar, Murray Gell Mann. NB. , Robin Lane Fox. , Spivak (2008 edition). The best biography in English (probably any language) is Otto Pflanzes three volumes. Six Easy Pieces, Feynman. Steve Jobs advised Obama to do the same but it didnt happen. For this unprecedented project in world history Groves had no huge central staff, he worked with a brilliant woman and a tiny staff with truly extreme decentralisation. The Selling of the President 1968, McGinniss. The politicians soon are on the next current thing too. Something on how ideas change over different time scales. Also you cant understand our world unless you have a sense of Nietzsches profound influence on 20th Century artists, thinkers, and politics. Also though, everybody has bad luck and those who survive long enough to get good luck are very perseverant. Mr Cummings is Boris Johnson's chief adviser. People who havent studied it often mock Fukuyamas The End of History but most do not realise the last chapter is about Nietzsche and the Last Man, and this chapter is the most relevant today. A classic based on his famous Lectures. Sun Tzu. Some of the unpublished stuff in Gdels Collected Works is extraordinary, e.g his secret search for the truth about Leibniz. LKY, Boyd, Groves all say the same). Then I realised the truth. Please just ask one question as precisely as you can, it will increase the chance I answer. Fascinating. In 2018 I asked some academics to consider this and we built a crude tool. A good biography of Dirac. There is a great Commentary by Gomme and Andrewes, two of the great 20th C classical scholars. , Gustave le Bon. , very relevant to discussions on things like drones and AI in Ukraine. While some lessons are specific to time/place (e.g how the Senate works in 1950) the most important lessons from all such books are quite abstract and common and I assume this will be true of these classics. I wish there was something similar on the history of the LMB at Cambridge, one of our crown jewels which Whitehall (and the VC office) has gradually buried with stupid regulation. I started reading him around 1999 when I first got involved in politics. Most economists cant synthesise worth a damn. You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. A lot of Boyd (including getting inside your enemys OODA loop) is interpreting Sun Tzu after 2,000 years of case studies proving him right plus some modern ideas. Although Nietzsche despised nothing more than the radical left, he became extremely influential on it, perhaps because nobody else so thoroughly demolishes the foundations of liberal democracy, although, in a further twist, few of the left realise the extent to which they are influenced by him. 406. and I suspect it would be one of the most useful things to force politicians and senior officials to read. Also. The Misbehaviour of Financial Markets, Mandelbrot. . This is false. Book accompanying an OU course. , Burton. Start trial Already a paid subscriber? If you really are interested in policy and how someone tries to bring principles of high performance to government, this is essential. (NB. A Cavendish Quantum Mechanics Primer, Professor Mark Warner. I know I should like Dickens, the Russians loved Dickens, but I just couldnt enjoy it, probably a school effect, and I should retry. Someone should run a prize for the best 10,000 word essay summarising the fundamental lessons of this book (which I havent read in full, just skimmed, because of time not a judgement). Ciceros letters. Although Nietzsche despised nothing more than the radical left, he became extremely influential on it, perhaps because nobody else so thoroughly demolishes the foundations of liberal democracy, although, in a further twist, few of the left realise the extent to which they are influenced by him. The story of Turing, von Neumann and the computer. Many who used them went on to the famous Kolmogorov schools.). ): how much was the. A widely praised new biography of John von Neumann, the man Einstein, Bohr, Dirac, Pauli et al thought was the smartest person they knew. Like with ARPA-PARC its fascinating to see how funders ignore such successful examples. If youre thinking of doing a startup or just curious about how to do hard things you should read Paul Grahams essays. If youre thinking of doing a startup or just curious about how to do hard things you should read. The vaccine taskforce a) created huge value for the UK and the world, b) would no way have happened without [typo original!] I know some of them. This shows the critical meta-lesson again: those in power have no interest in high performance. Predictions on AGI can be Straussian. One must not be squeamish about admitting this (Strauss). Most educated people remain unaware of how little home environment affects IQ/education nor that modern analysis of DNA has confirmed the data from decades of twin/adoption studies. On War, Clausewitz. I wish there was something similar on the history of the LMB at Cambridge, one of our crown jewels which Whitehall (and the VC office) has gradually buried with stupid regulation. , Gertner. why some of the VL team decided to go to No10 in 2019, Thoughts on past and future of the Buffett system, , Scott Aaronson (Scientific American, 2008), Orson Welles thought Renoir the greatest director, https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/october-2020/the-eu-godfathers-wall-street-roots/, https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2021/the-sphinx-who-reshaped-europe/. Im reading this summer. Some of the. I started reading him around 1999 when I first got involved in politics. This excellent short book introduces quantum mechanics using A Level maths. A classic book on mathematical problem solving. He regarded the universe as a cryptogram set by the Almighty. Makers of Modern Strategy, Paret et al. Almost no MPs, journalists or academics have any idea about just how costly such bureaucracy truly is or how these bureaucracies truly work and the criminality and near-insanity theyre capable of. E.g Introduction to Strategic History, Modern Strategy, Strategy and Defence Planning (reading now). A big problem for UK political discussion is people focus obsessively on the immediate interest of the London media rather than trying to think about, . Likes. Follow Zvi. (Dostoyevsky was Nietzsches favourite novellist! He was a businessman who understood systems thinking and was the first head of the Policy Unit in No10 for Thatcher. RT @zebulgar: Step aside Andy Grove, I believe @chughesjohnson has written the new bible for managers Took me a while to work through my reading list so I could start this, but the writing is phenomenal, let alone the content Must-read for any founder, but especially after your Series A . You can learn from him about how to get very hard things done without admiring his character. On connections between quantum physics, computation and information theory. , Courant. Reckoning With Risk, Gigerenzer. On the 50th anniversary Munger reflected on why his partnership with Buffett had been so successful and Buffetts personality. A classic on the 1972 campaign. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's Rasputin, is happy to watch the country blow up if he gets what he wants. Two of the most important documents on the computer revolution by two of the critical figures in ARPA/PARC. , George Dyson (son of Freeman). With Bismarck you can follow the twists and turns of a true (and monstrous) genius in great detail and learn an extraordinary amount about how politics, government, war and diplomacy truly work. E.g Around 1848 nationalism was an elite opinion held by educated liberals who thought of liberalism and nationalism as naturally, and morally, connected, while uneducated peasants were less nationalistic. The title comes from. Because he looked on the whole universe and all that is in it as a riddle, as a secret which could be read by applying pure thought to certain evidence, certain mystic clues which God had laid about the world to allow a sort of philosopher's treasure hunt to the esoteric brotherhood. A short companion book to his famous lecture series, Tips on Physics: a problem-solving supplement, which was unpublished for many years and seems to be generally unknown, is super-useful. Like Hoskyns (below) genuine rare insight and almost totally ignored. Im reading this summer. The Idea Factory, Gertner. Pearl led a revolution in thinking about causation from inside the then tiny field of AI. What is moral behaviour is not the same question as what are the principles of high performance in politics! The Federalist Papers. We can now test fertilised eggs for common risk factors such as mental disorders and heart attacks and choose which egg to use for IVF. is extraordinary, e.g his secret search for the truth about Leibniz. If you havent read it dont read another modern book until you have. I googled recently after getting no reply to an email and learned to my dismay that he died of cancer last year. Anyone interested in terrorism and counter-terrorism should watch Pontecorvos movie The Battle of Algiers, one of the best movies ever made. Introduction to the Theory of Computation, Sipser (2005 edition). Warning, its an accurate portrayal of atrocities on the Eastern Front therefore truly horrific. Dominic Cummings Jul 15, 2021 39 66 Last week I wrote re: Why I went to No10 in summer 2019. , Plouffe. Mindstorms, Seymour Papert. Elite opinion in London today is dominated by very similar people with very similar education and very similar views that inevitably include. Audacity to Win, Plouffe. It amazes me how many scientists and economists know nothing or almost nothing about it. I think hes right that most academics assume models for how this works that are clearly not how people really think under pressure. Am told that the Loebs translated by Shackleton Bailey is the best translation. Nelson, biography by John Sugden. are great. For example: The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. A good introduction to P=NP?. Alan Kay, one of those present at the creation, says its by far the best history. , Dantzig (1930, updated 1953; new edition 2007). , Sipser (2005 edition). For the beginner, by a Fields Medallist. There are fields like professional mathematics and equity investing where institutions mean the best people are recognised over time. One of Britains most senior and respected civil servants, Michael Quinlan, wrote this paper after retiring, Thinking About Nuclear Weapons, on nuclear strategy. Physics for Future Presidents, and Energy for Future Presidents, Richard Muller. Then nationalism became generally despised by educated liberals, and so on We cant, how our own ideas will appear in the future but its fascinating how little we, to imagine how foolish our own views will inevitably appear to those looking back on us. Autocracy has wide variance in performance one minute you have Bismarck in charge, the next you have Wilhelm II firing him and trying to govern himself in an appalling disaster that took the best educated country in the world towards Nazism. which egg to use for IVF. Can we survive technology?, von Neumann, 1955. The most interesting intelligent person writing on American politics who a) really knows a lot of history, b) understands the rationalists but is not of them, and c) whose version of regime change includes ending democracy, is Curtis Yarvin. The difficulty comes from the fact its psychologically very hard to stick to and almost all bureaucracies operate with incentives and culture that push in opposite directions. (on maths, logic, P=NP, computational complexity), (in general, and if interested in extreme talent Steve blogs a lot on this), The most interesting intelligent person writing on American politics who a) really knows a lot of history, b) understands the rationalists but is not of them, and c) whose version of regime change includes ending democracy, is. LAncien Rgime et la Rvolution, de Tocqueville. The Checklist Manifesto, Gawande. Theres no question about this. His Art of Doing Science and Engineering is considered a classic but Ive not read. . David wrote some of the breakthrough papers on quantum computers. Dominic Cummings told Parliament that his ex-boss, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was "unfit for the job" and that government incompetence lead to thousands of excess Covid-19 deaths. Nobel-winner, Feynman sparring partner, co-founder of Santa Fe Institute, wrote a book on complex systems for the general reader. The critical meta-lesson is the same for all the below: practically nobody has any interest in extreme performance and all governments in the west will try to stop you applying these lessons. Their favourite argument is the laughable its a small island, about as sensible as a general saying Alexander the Great was using cavalry so its out of date. , Leonard Susskind (2013). 59. You often read versions of those really at the edge of this research do not predict fast timetables. The river was also burning. ), here are some books and a few papers I recommend. ), Dostoyevsky. On dynamic tools, interface design, Seeing Rooms, new ideas about programming, tools for thought, and so on, read Bret Victor, a rare genius. Theoretical Minimum, Leonard Susskind (2013). Will. Ive written a few things about his work. Vernon Smith, economics Nobel-winner, argues that TOMS provides a better basis for economic models and prediction than modern neoclassical economics. If you want to follow the cutting edge of this research follow Steve Hsus blog, which you should anyway. Reagans White House was better at communication than any other in the modern era partly because they did not rely on normal political staff but brought people in from Hollywood. Jean Monnet created the ECSC and EEC/EU. How to Solve It, Polya. All ideas welcome. What does it say about the West that their newspaper propaganda was much higher class than most elite philosophy now? Highly recommended. Cited by many professional mathematicians as an inspiration. Whenever and. Alan Kay, one of those present at the creation, says its by far the best history. His boss and predecessor was Kelly Johnson who wrote this short list of principles. Tyler Cowen, Patrick Collison and others have been trying to push some of the principles of how to do hard things into economics and government, in similar ways to some of my arguments over the years. We look back on history and abstract over decades or centuries, judging the ideas that held sway for a few decades and sneering at how formerly all the world was mad as Nietzsche put it. Remember that approxmitately no MPs and few in Congress are aware of these facts or ideas yet they speculate confidently about Putins thinking on nuclear weapons. Viz the famous lists, Yes to Renoir, Welles, Chaplin, Keaton, No to Fellini (tried to watch 8 1/2 at least five times and fallen asleep fast every time) and Hitchcock. In War and Peace, you see a world historical genius skip between vast scales of time and space, connecting tiny things happening this moment to the biggest things affecting decades or centuries to come. by Rumelt. Now, perhaps, they have some idea of what that. On Renoir and Hollywood: It would be ridiculous to be bitter about Hollywood. The classic Cummings campaign is in the Star Wars rebel-alliance mould. Almost no MPs, journalists or academics have any idea about just how costly such bureaucracy truly is or how these bureaucracies truly work and the criminality and near-insanity theyre capable of. While No 10 was trying to get a grip on the pandemic, news came in . Causality, Judea Pearl (advanced). NB. Then nationalism became generally despised by educated liberals, and so on We cant know how our own ideas will appear in the future but its fascinating how little we try to imagine how foolish our own views will inevitably appear to those looking back on us. . If you read his blogs and trusted him on covid over the entire CDC/FDA/WHO bureaucracies, youd have come out far ahead. . By Reagans pollster. Insider account of how the legendary Skunk Works worked by a guy who ran it. Those who think very fast timetables are plausible, because (partly) they worry about the effects of their comments. Governments find it very, very hard to fund such ventures. , Charlie Munger. My blog with other books HERE. He believed that these clues were to be found partly in the evidence of the heavens and in the constitution of elements(and that is what gives the false suggestion of his being an experimental natural philosopher), but also partly in certain papers and traditions handed down by the brethren in an unbroken chain back to the original cryptic revelation in Babylonia. My essay on an 'Odyssean' Education - Dominic Cummings's Blog My essay on an 'Odyssean' Education On the evening of Friday 11 October 2013, the Guardian published a draft essay of mine - ' Some thoughts on education and political priorities ' (links here and here ). I blogged a series on this great book starting. Ill do a separate list on science funding. In general Colin Grays work. Quantum Computing Since Democritus, Scott Aaronson (2013) is a brilliant introduction to many ideas about computation, physics and quantum information. Steve has a startup that is a leading player in this emerging field. A lot of Boyd (including getting inside your enemys OODA loop) is interpreting Sun Tzu after 2,000 years of case studies proving him right plus some modern ideas. He was a mathematician who got interested in how markets work. , which was unpublished for many years and seems to be generally unknown, is super-useful. Worthlin. On May 22, 2020, The Guardian and Daily Mirror newspapers in the UK published details of how Dominic Cummings, senior aide to the British prime minister, had broken lockdown rules by travelling 420 km to a family estate with his wife (who had suspected COVID-19) and child. Histories of the Standard Model: The Second Creation, Crease & Mann (1996) and The Infinity Puzzle, Frank Close (2011). If you want to follow the cutting edge of this research follow, , which you should anyway.
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