Macromegas #3
Hi friends,
Useful Knowledge
The structure of corporations changed the structure of society
No doubt one of the most foundational essays I have this year. Plus extremely well-documented, well-structured, and entertaining. A short summary below but I would strongly recommend to anyone to take the time to read it.
The human world can be reduced to four fundamental forces: culture, politics, war and business (in order of increasing legibility).
It is technology, acting through business and Schumpeterian creative-destruction, that drives monotonic, historicist change, for good or bad.
The proportion of economic life organised by corporate forms varied through ages (Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Industrial Revolution, etc.)
The ideology behind corporations also tremendously evolved, from Smithian Growth (mercantilism, i.e. zero-sum control of land as the foundation of all economic power) to Schumpeterian Growth (technological progress). Before the Industrial Revolution, the corporate form therefore spent almost 200 years (1600-1800) — nearly half of its life to date — being shaped by Mercantilist thinking, a fundamentally zero-sum way of viewing the world.
In terms of the two functions that Drucker considered the only essential ones in business, marketing and innovation, the Mercantilist corporation lacked one.
Mercantilist corporations had more shaping influence on the world order, but industrial ones had more global reach (absolute lowest proportion of free agents in the US in 1980 - ~20%, vs. ~80% in 1780).
After the 1600-1800 Mercantilist/Smithian Era and the 1800-2000 Industrial/Schumpeterian Era, we are entering the 2000+ Information/Coasean era.
Mercantilist Corporation teaser
At a broader level, the East Inda Company (EIC) managed to balance an unbalanced trade equation between Europe and Asia whose solution had eluded even the Roman empire. Massive flows of gold and silver from Europe to Asia via the Silk and Spice routes had been a given in world trade for several thousand years. Asia simply had far more to sell than it wanted to buy. Until the EIC came along.
Schumpeterian Corporation teaser
The Schumpeterian corporation did to business what the doctrine of Blitzkrieg would do to warfare in 1939: move humans at the speed of technology instead of moving technology at the speed of humans.
Coasean Corporation teaser
Coasean growth relies on attention. Read the essay for more
Read the essay here: Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100
The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet...
From Wannacry. If you don't know what WannaCry or the Darknet are, this is a very non-technical way to learn what you need to know about it.
Great storytelling, feels like reading a short story.
Random teaser to share the tone:
When the worst of the danger was over, Neino was concerned enough for Hutchins' well-being that he tied part of his employee's bonus to forcing him to get some rest. When Hutchins finally went to bed, a week after WannaCry struck, he was paid more than $1,000 for every hour of sleep.
Read the full story: The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet
Personal Growth
"If you had a manager that talked to you the way you talked to you, you’d quit.
If you had a boss that wasted as much of your time as you do, they’d fire her.
If an organization developed its employees as poorly as you are developing yourself, it would soon go under."
- Seth Godin
Read more: The Worlds Worst Boss
Yak Shaving: "Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on."
- MIT AI Lab
Read more: Don't Shave That Yak!
Thanks for reading - talk to you next week,
V
PS: as usual, if you have questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas to explore, feel free to write: simply hit reply.