SGI Newsletter Volume 5 | Why Being Right Is the Easy Part

Hi,

Think about the sharpest person you know. Odds are they can take apart almost anything—a policy, a company, a movie—in about ninety seconds flat. Now try to remember the last time that same person handed you something they had actually built.

I'm not saying their criticism is wrong. Most of the time it's dead accurate, and that's exactly what makes it so easy to mistake for the work itself. That gap is the whole subject of this month's essay.

"To sit home, read one's favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men's doing."
- Theodore Roosevelt

"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference."
- Nolan Bushnell

"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine."
- Nikola Tesla

Criticism is the cheapest form of intelligence. Spotting the flaw costs a fraction of what designing the fix costs, which is exactly why so much of what passes for engagement never leaves the diagnosis stage. It gives you the feeling of having contributed without the inconvenience of having done anything.

This essay works through what it takes to convert that same discontent into the thing that replaces what you are complaining about, and why almost nobody makes the trade.

Read the full article

Perfection vs. Excellence
Why waiting until it is flawless is just criticism pointed at your own work.

Agorism
A whole philosophy built on the idea that you beat a system by building the alternative, not by arguing with it.

Solvable vs. Manageable
How to tell which problems deserve a fix and which ones only ever get handled.

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe