340
·3 mins
- Blowout:
- Chapter 4: comes back to US, this time to OKC (i.e. Oklahoma City).
- Primarily talks about a guy who had a lot of charisma and, despite little technical knowledge, built a big natural gas company. It seems a major reason for him being able to do the latter was the former and the fact that the prices of natural gas were going high during his time.
- He would often embellish his own stories.
- There wasn’t a lot more in the chapter - the author was probably just laying the ground work for something bigger later on.
- Primarily talks about a guy who had a lot of charisma and, despite little technical knowledge, built a big natural gas company. It seems a major reason for him being able to do the latter was the former and the fact that the prices of natural gas were going high during his time.
- Chapter 5: continues on with OKC.
- OKC had an inferiority complex, one reason being it had a habit of giving too much weight to how the rest of the country looked at them.
- I found it surprising that a city as a whole cared about its own image as an independent thing. I’ve seen this before, in India, based on religion or language but not on a city level.
- They tried 1-2 projects to bolster the image but that didn’t work. One reason was a gruesome terrorist attack. On one occasion, OKC tried pretty hard to woo United, the 2nd largest airline in the country at the time, and it failed, despite a compelling presentation, because the CEO couldn’t image their employees living in OKC.
- Eventually, OKC and its people got together to buy an NBA team. That led to civic pride and probably tourism.
- OKC had an inferiority complex, one reason being it had a habit of giving too much weight to how the rest of the country looked at them.
- Chapter 4: comes back to US, this time to OKC (i.e. Oklahoma City).
- WebMD, And The Tragedy Of Legible Expertise - takeaways:
- Someone in power, such as CDC, have dual responsibility of being (scientifically) accurate and staying in power. If they don’t do the latter, they might just be thrown off in favor of someone who does.
- So, experts have to play so safe that they can’t openly express their opinions until they are completely sure. Lesser known individuals, who are small potatoes and therefore not as popular, can do that instead.
- A good example is WebMD: it’s written by a group of people who don’t want to be sued for the masses - therefore, all symptoms point to cancer.
- This reminds me of the book, The Education of an Idealist, where the author similarly described how every memo is dumbed down (or made politically correct) after it goes through various departments in the White House.
- Overall though, the system doesn’t, and probably can’t, put small potatoes in power. As long as we put above-average people in power - those that have decent skill sets and intentions - we should be okay.
- Someone in power, such as CDC, have dual responsibility of being (scientifically) accurate and staying in power. If they don’t do the latter, they might just be thrown off in favor of someone who does.
- We hosted a house-warming party today: 11 people (other than us), food from Fusion India nearby, drinks, gifts and return gifts etc. I’ll call it, at least, moderately successfully!