On Mongrels and America

"Since races do not exist - though racism, damnably, does - mongrelism is our common lot. It may be a bitter one, as in the case of Merle Oberon, not altogether benign in such an instance as Queen Victoria, or fecund, as in that of Pushkin, but whether we want to accept it or not, we are all mongrels."

— Angus Calder

Merle Oberon (1911–1979) was a glamorous Hollywood and British film star of the 1930s and 1940s, born in Bombay to a mixed South Asian and European family. In the racial climate of early Hollywood, this background would likely have ended her career before it began.

So her studio invented a different woman entirely. Born in Tasmania, they said. European parents. Clean, simple, acceptable.

She spent decades performing two roles: the characters onscreen, and the invented self she wore everywhere else. Even close colleagues had no idea. The concealment was total, and it held.

Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) is widely considered the founder of modern Russian literature — the writer who gave the Russian language its modern form, who shaped what Russians understood themselves to be. His great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, was an African child, likely from what is now Cameroon or Eritrea, brought to Europe as a slave, then adopted and educated at the court of Peter the Great, eventually becoming a military engineer and general. That ancestry runs directly into Pushkin, into the poems and stories that Russia called its own.

The nation's purest cultural touchstone. Mixed all the way down.

This is what Calder is pointing at: the things a culture holds up as essentially, irreducibly itself — its founding literature, its iconic faces — are rarely what they appear to be. Purity is almost always a retrospective fiction. The real thing, the living creative thing, tends to be a collision. Part this, part that, and then whatever strange third thing emerges from the two meeting.

Rock and roll is the American version of this story. It came from the collision of country and blues — the whitest and the blackest streams in American music running together until something neither tradition could have produced on its own came out the other side. Still restless. Still unfinished. Still, somehow, arresting.

That's America, really. Not pure. Never pure. Just the ongoing collision — of people, genes, languages, sounds, habits and tics from everywhere — producing something that keeps mutating and hasn't settled yet.

Calder called it our common lot. It might also be our best quality.

Odd Thoughts on a Sunday

"Figure out who you are and then do it on purpose."
- Dolly Parton

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The first priority on your to do list should be doing what no one else can, doing the tasks that uniquely define you - and are uniquely defined by you.

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Conspiracy theories are just screenplays that writers couldn't get turned into a movie. They're fiction, but they're not particularly good fiction.

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"My job is to, quite simply, create the conditions whereby you [the employee] can do your life's work."
- Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of NVDIA, now the world's most valuable company

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Possible futures:
In the future, AI will present all clothing ads to you as you in that clothing. Previously, there was confusion between how good the clothes look on beautiful, handsome models and how good they look on you. Once that confusion is behind us, clothing sales will plummet. One might think this is incentive enough not to run such ads but it'll increase the online population as people choose to stay virtual rather than step outside to be seen as their less than ideal selves.

Labor and Financial Markets Roughly One Year Into Trump's Second Term - Not Impressive

A few items of note.

On a positive note, the job creation rate since Trump took office is still positive. However, in 5 of his first 12 months - including last month - the economy lost jobs. (For comparison, in each of the 48 months of Biden's presidency, the economy created - and never once lost - jobs.)
I'm sure it's all just a coincidence. Or misunderstanding.

The stock market is still up since Trump was elected. In fact, it is doing even better than it did during Bush 2's time in office.

Stochastic Parrots and Politicians - Kensy Cooperrider's Conversation with Melanie Mitchell on How Metaphors for AI Might Shape Its Direction

Just listened to Kensy Cooperrider's latest episode with Dr. Melanie Mitchell on how the metaphors we use for AI shape our understanding, use and development of AI. It's fascinating because it is a reminder that AI is so often discussed as if it were a storm brewing off the coast of Florida and we don't know whether it will become heavy rain or violent waves and wind. And it seems to me that the metaphors we use really can shape how we shape AI itself.One of metaphors that has been often used with AI is "Stochastic Parrots." As Google AI itself describes it, this ... metaphor suggests that while LLMs can create fluent, human-like text, they lack true understanding, reasoning, or consciousness. LLMs are "parroting" patterns found in their training data.

Essentially, this metaphor suggests that AI doesn't really have any model of reality but instead is simply choosing what word to generate next based on probabilities found in texts it has (to use another metaphor) digested.

I think it's fascinating and couldn't help but wonder - for a brief moment - whether Trump - who seems so disconnected from the real world and consequences - might be thought of as a stochastic politician. But I digress.

Kensy's latest episode on "7 metaphors for AI" can be found here:
  https://disi.org/seven-metaphors-for-ai/

If You Could Time Travel Only Once, Would You?

You can time travel either into the past or future by up to 200 years. But you can only travel once. Whenever you land, that is your new time.

Do you do it? And wherever you'd land, which time would you choose?

I would -- as I am nearing the end of life -- choose to travel 100 years into the future. Worst case, I get to see what life is like then and die shortly afterward, as I was going to. Best case, life is enormously better and they chuckle that I was about to die from such trivial causes and extend my life by another 30 years in a new, strange time.

What about you?

Corporate Culture, Conference Rooms, and a Curious Juke Box

My first instinct was to think they'd comically misconstrued the consultant's advice about culture. It took me some time to realize that what they had done might have actually been genius.

No other corporate boardroom had a juke box. When meetings bogged down, when conversations went awry, when tempers flared -- someone would wander over to the juke box, scan the song titles, and pick a song that took them out of themselves for a short while. It changed the mood and then the perspective. And almost inevitably redirected the conversation into a more helpful direction.

Juke box management. Three minutes to change the mood and focus.

The sequel - juice box management - is tailored to preschools.

Optimism as a Sign of Sophistication

One of our goals should be to create a culture in which optimism is seen as a sign of intelligence and sophistication and cynicism is a sign of a failure of imagination and indigestion.

Used to be a Fax Checker

“I used to be a fact checker.”

“Fax checker, Bob. You used to check faxes.”

“That’s what I said!”

“Well, not to be all fact-checky about it, but no. No, you did not.”

"Anyway, as a nation we gave up facts for texts and fancy memes."

“You did, Bob. Some of us only gave up on faxes — and still look longingly for facts.”

Free Will Isn't Free

Once he had been interested in free will. Now it simply felt like too much work.

It was easier to move with the current.

Whatever free will was, it certainly wasn’t free — and at this stage of his life, it cost more than he was willing to pay.

Democracy is Like a Bicycle

“Democracy is like a bicycle. It must move forward in order not to fall over.”
- Edgar Faure, who served twice as Prime Minister of France during the Fourth Republic (1952 and 1955–56)

When societies don't make progress, or that progress isn't widely felt, democracies become vulnerable.

A Call for More Medals at the Olympics

Top 10 in the world but you don't medal. That seems a little stingy, what with all the metals in the world. In addition to gold, silver, and bronze, we could have medals made of lead, copper, and platinum. We have 8 billion people on this planet -- surely we could acknowledge more than the top 3. I would love to hear someone come back excitedly saying, "I tin-foiled at the Olympics!"

What Is Most Systemic is Most Intimate - says Peter Senge

"When we say 'the system,' what we are really talking about is a pattern of interdependency that we enact. There is no system. It's purely an abstraction. But there are patterns of interdependency. And they are created every day. Every hour. Every minute. Through our thinking. Through our actions. So as Carl Rogers said, what is most personal is most universal. What is most systemic is most intimate."
- Peter Senge

Perhaps another way to put this is that we talk about "the system" as if it is some entity "out there." The system has its power because it is actually what defines how we interact, and it is something we've internalized. The system is in us. We sustain it.

Rough and Tumble Fighting in the South

In the antebellum South, a brutal form of combat known as "rough and tumble" fighting, or "gouging," was prevalent. This fighting style aimed to maim opponents, with eye-gouging being a particularly notorious tactic. Combatants often sought to gouge out an opponent's eye, and some even sharpened their teeth to bite off ears, noses, or fingers. Such fights were common in rural Southern areas during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

This culture of violence extended beyond individual brawls. Homicide rates among White Southern males were significantly higher than those of their Northern counterparts, especially in rural regions. Notably, these elevated rates were primarily associated with argument-related homicides, reflecting a societal norm where personal disputes frequently escalated to lethal outcomes. In a region in which 40% of the population was enslaved and had no rights, this sort of dehumanization was hardly anomalous.

On a related note, in this last election Trump won in the former confederacy by 6.9 million votes and lost by 4.7 million votes in the rest of the country.

Prediction: In a Generation Wealth Will Be Another Right of Citizens

Per Google's Gemini Model:

As of early 2026, Norway's sovereign wealth fund—the Government Pension Fund Global—has surpassed a value of $2 trillion. With a population of roughly 5.4 million to 5.6 million people, this translates to approximately $340,000 to $360,000 per citizen. It is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, investing oil and gas revenues into global stocks, bonds, and real estate.
Purpose: To manage oil revenues for long-term stability and to fund national budgets (healthcare, education, infrastructure).

My prediction? In a generation, wealth will be another right of citizens.

Checks and Balances are Not Working

 

During Biden's administration, Americans agreed 2 to 1 that checks and balances were working.
Now in Trump's administration, Americans agree 2 to 1 that checks and balances are not working. 

Checks and balances seem like a fairly clean definition of the difference between living in a democracy or autocracy. 

Lincoln: Right Makes Might

In a speech about slavery during his 1860 campaign, Lincoln said,"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

It is a dramatic reversal of the common phrase, "might makes right," and it suggests a principle that moral clarity creates political power, not the other way around.

Hitchhiking as Uber 1.0

 Hitchhiking was arguably Uber 1.0 - the beta release before getting strangers to pick you up became an app.

Proposal for a Dog Museum

No paintings on the walls. No hushed docents.

Instead, along the baseboards: scents.

Each accompanied by a tasteful placard:

• Dropped Sausage (One Bite Taken, Floor Contact: 3.2 Seconds)

• Coyote After-Thought

• Eau de French Poodle in Heat.
  (One of six rotational pheromonal exhibits. Please allow your dog to linger only briefly to prevent congestion.)

• Fresh Mud After Rain

• Frightened Human

• Suspicious Delivery Driver

• Pine Tree (Upper Bark, 3½ Feet High)

Interactive wing:
“Fire Hydrant, Urban” — a collaborative installation refreshed hourly.

Gift shop sells nothing visible.

William Deci on Autonomy Supportive Relationships

William Deci made a distinction that has greatly influenced me.

He argues that parents, managers and teachers have three options: control, abandonment or autonomy supportive.

Control is when you dictate, monitor and manage goals and process for your student, child or employee. Abandonment is when you simply say, "Do what you'd like." You give them freedom but not support. Autonomy supportive suggests that you defer rather than dictate goals but then offer support - teaching, processes, resources - that enable them to achieve those goals.
My sense is that every decade there are more parents who are autonomy supportive. The parent who says, "He wants to be a skateboarder. We're doing what we can to get him to tournaments and fund lessons," is considered interesting today whereas in the 50s they'd be considered crazy. (But to be fair to folks in the 50s, skateboards were so bad back then that you'd be right to be outraged.)

Among the many things meant by the popularization of entrepreneurship is this notion of autonomy supportive. Rather than dictate processes, you support their goals. What might this look like?

Ricardo Semler - in Brazil - had a fascinating model in his factory. He would have half a dozen workers side by side, each with their own arrangement. One was getting paid by the hour, another by the month and another by piece. Yet another was working in the same area but paying for access to the machinery and then selling the product on her own. It was not haphazard. Each was working to a negotiated arrangement. The person who wanted less risk also had less opportunity for rewards. The person who could get what she could sell the product for had to - of course - find the market for what she was making. Given where they were in their life, their skills and goals, different arrangements might advantage them differently. As so often is the case, as the employees did better, so did the company. As is so rarely the case, employees had a variety of ways to do better.

If work is going to look more entrepreneurial, by definition it will be less defined by someone else and more defined by the worker. And yet the array of resources, skills, and knowledge needed to be successful in any endeavor suggests that there is a huge gap of possibility in the large gap between a traditional entrepreneur who creates a new business and the employee who simply takes a role in such a business. To allow individuals to slide the scale between conformity and autonomy rather than toggle from 1 to 10 suggests all sorts of intriguing possibilities in the relationship between employer and employee, a redefinition of work. Chief among the shifts is moving into a relationship that lets employees define the goals and then supporting them in that.

There was an old quip that customers of the Model T could have any color they wanted as long as it was black. Ford's dominance of the American auto industry was eclipsed by General Motors who offered a wide array of car models and prices. And colors. The notion that you would accommodate the various desires of various customers was revelatory and also resulted in a huge gain in value.

One of the more stunning stats of the modern world is that Amazon offers more than 300 million different products to America's 300 million people. The notion that those same customers as workers might similarly want variety in their work and how they create value is something we still haven't embraced quite yet. We're still in the "any process or objective you want as long as it is our processes and objectives" stage of employment. My prediction? The shift into autonomy supportive relationships with employees will create even more value than corporations shifting from dictating consumer choices to broadening them.

A Korean Project Managers' Perspective on American and Japanese Employees

The Korean PM I was working with in 2022 worked with Americans and Japanese. I asked him how he would describe the differences. He said (paraphrasing),

"Japanese are very methodical. Very process oriented. All the same.
Americans? You don't know what you are going to get. They are very different."

And that, I thought, is our strength and weakness.

What Mardi Gras Evolved Into

Terms evolve. 

Mardi Gras became Fat Tuesday, which somehow became Taco Tuesday.
From sacred ritual to cultural celebration to something you can sink your teeth into.