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Ma22-NOTES.pdf
(The below text version of the notes is for search purposes and convenience. See the PDF version for proper formatting such as bold, italics, etc., and graphics where applicable. Copyright: 2022 Retraice, Inc.)
Ma22: Delusion Hunting 2 - The Rest
Margin by Retraice^1
There are many danger zones for delusions to hide in.
Air date: Saturday, 15th Oct. 2022, 9:35 PM Eastern/US.
Danger zones
Delusions could be anywhere, but there are only a few key places where they could be threatening the dream.
The money
This (Retraice) is a business. But there are so many distractions from that fact, distractions from the bottom line. "It's" not "just about the money"; but the business side is. We're all in `it' (business, not life) for the money.
`The money' is a delusional black soil.
Solve the money problem.
Our costs are low. We're not delusional about spending. We've put about $7,000 into the business entity, of which $2,000 is left. But we could fund it in perpetuity. This and the fact that this business exists at all is only because of our good fortune, without which you would never read this sentence. This is a selection effect which means it probably applies to all such content you might consume.
The substance of the content
"What's GOOT?" Seriously?
People want more info? Are you sure?^2
Personality might be as important as, or more important than, content.
auto
Who gets listeners?
Based on status: o good catalog o storied career o from institution
Based on content: * hot topics, e.g. news * sticky topics, e.g. conspiracy, celebrity, gossip
We're going to have to join at least one of these groups, or a similar one.
Subscriptions vs. ads
At this point, I would welcome the problem of having advertisers breathing down my neck over content, because that would mean I have an audience! Maybe forget about subscriptions until we're big enough to have that problem.
Solopreneurship
Hiring requires capital. People are expensive, and hard to keep happy.
Which is worse? Having to hire and deal with a person (one who's within your reach), or having to build and maintain the code? We currently don't have the hire option, but that's temporary. The real question is: if we did have the option, what would we choose?
But we should focus on attracting highly capable talent in the future. And we're going to need to compete with Google, McKinsey, etc., as everyone does.
The production checklist
This has a lot of regular contact with data and reality. It's probably not hiding delusions.
Margin itself
Is it self-indulgent? Navel-gazing? Useful at all?
Volitional necessity
This business, these decisions--they usually don't feel like decisions. They feel like volitional necessity, "the sense a person has when they can or cannot do something for reasons that are neither logical nor causal, and in a way that does not tend to entail feeling helpless."^3
Also: go before you're ready.
_
References
Frankfurt, H. G. (1988). The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge. ISBN: 978-0521336116. Searches: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=978-0521336116 https://www.google.com/search?q=isbn+978-0521336116 https://lccn.loc.gov/87026941
Meek, J. (2018). The club and the mob. London Review of Books. 6 Dec. 2018. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n23/james-meek/the-club-and-the-mob Retrieved 30th Sep. 2022.
Retraice (2020/11/10). Re13: The Care Factor. retraice.com. https://www.retraice.com/segments/re13 Retrieved 10th Nov. 2020.
Footnotes
^1 https://www.retraice.com/margin
^2 See, e.g., Meek (2018), especially the last paragraph: "Humility in respect of people who just aren't listening is less satisfying than humility towards hostile sceptics; the struggle to find out what's really going on in the world isn't as wearying as the realisation that on the rare occasions you do find out, not everyone is waiting eagerly to hear about it. That doesn't mean the struggle isn't worth it, just that if a certain humility is required in the more conscientious newsrooms, it's in recognising that the `we' of a single readership, the `we' of believers in public interest journalism, and the `we' of the public as a whole, are three very different `we's. It is a stretch even to get them to touch."
^3 Retraice (2020/11/10); see also Frankfurt (1988).
View all episodes
By Retraice, Inc.(The below text version of the notes is for search purposes and convenience. See the PDF version for proper formatting such as bold, italics, etc., and graphics where applicable. Copyright: 2022 Retraice, Inc.)
Ma22: Delusion Hunting 2 - The Rest
Margin by Retraice^1
There are many danger zones for delusions to hide in.
Air date: Saturday, 15th Oct. 2022, 9:35 PM Eastern/US.
Danger zones
Delusions could be anywhere, but there are only a few key places where they could be threatening the dream.
The money
This (Retraice) is a business. But there are so many distractions from that fact, distractions from the bottom line. "It's" not "just about the money"; but the business side is. We're all in `it' (business, not life) for the money.
`The money' is a delusional black soil.
Solve the money problem.
Our costs are low. We're not delusional about spending. We've put about $7,000 into the business entity, of which $2,000 is left. But we could fund it in perpetuity. This and the fact that this business exists at all is only because of our good fortune, without which you would never read this sentence. This is a selection effect which means it probably applies to all such content you might consume.
The substance of the content
"What's GOOT?" Seriously?
People want more info? Are you sure?^2
Personality might be as important as, or more important than, content.
auto
Who gets listeners?
Based on status: o good catalog o storied career o from institution
Based on content: * hot topics, e.g. news * sticky topics, e.g. conspiracy, celebrity, gossip
We're going to have to join at least one of these groups, or a similar one.
Subscriptions vs. ads
At this point, I would welcome the problem of having advertisers breathing down my neck over content, because that would mean I have an audience! Maybe forget about subscriptions until we're big enough to have that problem.
Solopreneurship
Hiring requires capital. People are expensive, and hard to keep happy.
Which is worse? Having to hire and deal with a person (one who's within your reach), or having to build and maintain the code? We currently don't have the hire option, but that's temporary. The real question is: if we did have the option, what would we choose?
But we should focus on attracting highly capable talent in the future. And we're going to need to compete with Google, McKinsey, etc., as everyone does.
The production checklist
This has a lot of regular contact with data and reality. It's probably not hiding delusions.
Margin itself
Is it self-indulgent? Navel-gazing? Useful at all?
Volitional necessity
This business, these decisions--they usually don't feel like decisions. They feel like volitional necessity, "the sense a person has when they can or cannot do something for reasons that are neither logical nor causal, and in a way that does not tend to entail feeling helpless."^3
Also: go before you're ready.
_
References
Frankfurt, H. G. (1988). The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge. ISBN: 978-0521336116. Searches: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=978-0521336116 https://www.google.com/search?q=isbn+978-0521336116 https://lccn.loc.gov/87026941
Meek, J. (2018). The club and the mob. London Review of Books. 6 Dec. 2018. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n23/james-meek/the-club-and-the-mob Retrieved 30th Sep. 2022.
Retraice (2020/11/10). Re13: The Care Factor. retraice.com. https://www.retraice.com/segments/re13 Retrieved 10th Nov. 2020.
Footnotes
^1 https://www.retraice.com/margin
^2 See, e.g., Meek (2018), especially the last paragraph: "Humility in respect of people who just aren't listening is less satisfying than humility towards hostile sceptics; the struggle to find out what's really going on in the world isn't as wearying as the realisation that on the rare occasions you do find out, not everyone is waiting eagerly to hear about it. That doesn't mean the struggle isn't worth it, just that if a certain humility is required in the more conscientious newsrooms, it's in recognising that the `we' of a single readership, the `we' of believers in public interest journalism, and the `we' of the public as a whole, are three very different `we's. It is a stretch even to get them to touch."
^3 Retraice (2020/11/10); see also Frankfurt (1988).