Hello Subscribers, New and Old.
Welcome to Weekly Wisdom, your weekly dose of highlights, quotes and notes from my notebook. If you would like to receive this in your inbox, subscribe now.
Thank you for joining me again. This week I’d like to share:
- Social Media and Public Square: An addendum on Free Speech: A few weeks ago, I wrote a primer on freedom of speech. The primer only tangentially referenced ‘Social Media Censorship’. I had to cut it out to preserve the scope. This post is the cut out material as an addendum.
On to the main event.
This week’s quotes, notes and media: **
The Value of Human Dignity
Dignity in Work is a lost concept. Bruno Cucinelli is the owner of eponymous luxury clothing brand and king of cashmere. He built his whole company around the concept of human dignity. Cucinelli pays worker 20% more than industry standard, and there is a strict moratorium on checking work emails in after hours. Here he defines what is human dignity in work.
Basically, what is human dignity made of? If we work together, say, and, even with one look, I make you understand that you are worth nothing and I look down on you, I have killed you. But if I give you regards and respect — out of esteem, responsibility is spawned. Then out of responsibility comes creativity, because every human being has an amount of genius in them. Man needs dignity even more than he needs bread.
—Brunello Cucinelli interview for the The New Yorker
Sense and Sense-ability
Author Adam Robinson discusses the concept of understanding. To be specific, he talks about understanding markets. Why can’t some people can’t make sense of the market, despite years of ‘expertise’?
You hear it all the time from even the most seasoned investors and financial “experts” that this trend or that “doesn’t make sense.” “It doesn’t make sense that the dollar keeps going lower” or “it makes no sense that stocks keep going higher.” But what’s really going on when investors say that something makes no sense is that they have a dozen or whatever reasons why the trend should be moving in the opposite direction.. yet it keeps moving in the current direction. So they believe the trend makes no sense. But what makes no sense is their model of the world. That’s what doesn’t make sense. The world always makes sense.
In fact, because financial trends involve human behavior and human beliefs on a global scale, the most powerful trends won’t make sense until it becomes too late to profit from them. By the time investors formulate an understanding that gives them the confidence to invest, the investment opportunity has already passed.
—Adam Robinson, Understanding
Choosing Life
Andre Agassi, one of the greatest Tennis Players in history, hated tennis for most of his life. His father forced him into the sport. The pressure of maintaining the discipline for the game led to a troubled life filled with drugs and personal troubles. It wasn’t until he chose his life as it was that he achieved peace.
Stuck in the depths of despair, Agassi made a choice to play instead of quit. He chose tennis, not his father. Making the choice himself re-framed the activity in his mind. For the first time, Agassi marched to the beat of his own drum instead of his father’s. Once he chose tennis, his mindset shifted. He said:
“Even if it’s not your ideal life, you can always choose it. No matter what your life is, choosing it changes everything.”
—David Perrell, The Price of Discipline
Breakthrough Horror
TikToker hotvickkrishna has been sharing cinematically cut funny videos on how the COVID vaccines work for the past year. He recently shared this video on covid breakthrough infections. Besides being hilarious, it has all the markings of perfect horror film. This is a reupload, but you can see the original here.
Thank you for joining me this week. If you know some who might enjoy this, please forward this email to them. See you next week.
Mudassir Chapra