Category: Reading

• Human (frontal), chimp (limbic or emotional), and computer
• The chimp is not good or bad, it just is
• “You are not responsible for the chimp but you are responsible for managing it.”
• The chimp puts together ideas through emotions
• The chimp often does the thinking first
• “Fight, flight, or flock” needs an action or decision
• There are always leopards about in the trees

Note: I did not complete this book.

• There is only one factory in the world that can fabricate Apple’s newest processors
• It all comes down to making switches
• Semiconductors work by limiting electron flow when no field is applied
• “Chips” are chipped off a large wafer
• Early chips focused on meeting military needs but took off as prices dropped
• Sony had a vision for the use of chips
• Japan had a vision for what was possible with the new chips
• The French scoffed at the Japanese as “transistor salesmen”
• “The best weapons are cheap and familiar.”
• Intel started with a generalized DRAM which helped them for the world with cheap, effective chips
• The military started Silicone Valley but consumers sustained it
• The Japanese became known for superior implementation
• Japanese conglomerates were able to leverage their breadth into cheap loans
• US firms lobbied hard to get congress to subsidize their research
• Simplot (of potato fame) jumped into the memory market as it become a commodity
• Pivoting chip design from a manual, fabrication-centric process to a systematic one, was important to designing with speed
• The USSR struggled to design and manufacture chips
  • Even when they could, they did not have the US’s global network for mass production
• Taiwan crafted an industry of printing anyone’s chips, without fear of competition
• China “woke up” and started changing from “1st machine imported, 2nd machine imported, 3rd machine imported” to “1st machine imported, 2nd machine China built, 3rd machine exported”
• ASML started growing by investing in new lithography technologies
• Intel fostered extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) but did not want to get into fabrication itself
• Intel saw mobile devices coming but refused to explore it because the PC business was too good
  • (Being worried about margin seems ridiculous. Instead, growing new businesses is best when the margins are good.)
• Graphics helped fabless solutions succeed
• Nvidia developed free software that allowed generalized compute on their chips
• Qualcomm and Nvidia really benefited from fabless solutions too
• ASML flexed its Supply Chain Management skills as much as R&D skills
• EUV is so precise that new techniques were needed, you so not just imprint the pattern
• Intel did not adopt EUV as quickly as others, leaving them mostly out of the market by the time they picked it up
• Beam forming directs radio signals only towards your phone helping improve signals in a crowded space
• Military efforts are leaning ever more into tech
• The US tried to just “run faster” but that was not adequate for the China strategy
• Building a single-country chip supply chain is impractical given the level of technical skill it requires
• The post-COVID chip shortage was not about capacity (we produced more chips than ever) but that previous chip orders were cancelled, losing their “spot” in the production line

• GLP-1 helps us feel full
• “Snack” and “quick” food started to appear in the mid-70’s
• “Fresh food rots quickly”
  • Sugar and fat slows bacteria
  • Salt preserves it longer
• “Processed” food is made to look like “real” food with coloring and agents
• Chewing breaks our eating enough for brain signals to catch up
• Artificial sweetener deprives your body of the energy the taste told it to expect
• High fat and sugar only naturally occurs in breast milk
• We have highly developed senses of taste which are totally confused in the modern world
• Diabetes complications are medically much worse than HIV complications
• GLP-1 stimulants are a medical solution to a societal problem
• The biological weight set-point is acquired over time
• “You can’t run off a bad diet.”
• They tend to dampen all chemical addiction
• We eat “junk food” as an antidepressant
• Eating can be because we do not know how to self-soothe
• “Overweight is overseen”
• Taking away overeating will expose any underlying mental issues

• Britain introduced alcohol to much of the world
• Empire changed the world’s agriculture
• Many of Empire’s laws that exploit have morphed into protective laws
• NGOs are often created to continue the legacy of Empire
• Relying on an NGO undermines national rights
• Homophobic (and sodomy) laws were spread to discourage Imperial workers from infidelities
• Gay marriages were common in Africa mining communities
• Indian homosexuality was common pre-colonial
• The Victorian era was obsessed with controlling sex
• “Britain is basically governed by investigation”
• Skin color was ancient novelty but not grounds for discrimination
• Former Spanish colonies tend to have more stable democracies than former British ones

• We have an average of 2-3 significant relationships in our life
• We feel betrayed by violations of ambiguous agreements
• New definition of a relationship
  • Secrecy
  • Sexual alchemy
  • Emotional involvement
• Fire needs air to burn
• Often, the secrecy is what intrigues us
• “Confusing ideal and the real never goes unpunished.”
• We get divorced because we think we could be happier
• All parties are shocked by the revelation of the affair
• We need to transfer vigilance from the betrayed to the betrayer
• Volunteer information to remind the betrayed that you still remember the wrong
• Be careful to recognize the pain rather than trying to solve problems
• We (in the West) take pride in our “lack of jealous”
• We want to know that our partners came back to US, because they want us not because they had nowhere else to go
• Jealousy is a late developing emotion
• “We feel most vulnerable where we are most insecure”
• Contributing to the environment that made the affair happen is different from being responsible for it
• Without a chance to retaliate, we tend to move on faster
• Truth
  • Is it honest
  • Is it helpful
  • Is it kind
• Sometimes silence is kindness
• “Do you really want to know or do you want your partner to know that you have the question?”
• Ask investigative questions not detective questions
• Cheaters do not forfeited all rights to privacy
• Sometimes we are looking for another version of ourselves, not a new partner
• We balance wanting security and adventure; these comes from different places
• Infidelity is most disdained but is still legal
• Breaking the rules is sometimes the point
• “Eros is a light sleeper”
• Time never exists on its own, it is what you do in that time