4 ms·

In the case of animal farm, it’s not so much that the dogs are more intelligent than the other animals as that Napoleon takes advantage of their disposition to

In the case of animal farm, it’s not so much that the dogs are more intelligent than the other animals as that Napoleon takes advantage of their disposition to unshakeable loyalty and need for a master. Likewise, unfortunately, in life. If you have to rank the animals by intelligence, second (or first, even?) is certainly Benjamin the donkey.

082349872349872 2y ago
Looking through Rao's prism (in which disposition to unshakeable loyalty is a "clueless" trait), Benjamin is a clear "sociopath" candidate: he's (a) laconic, and (b) underperforming. [In the 80s, Rabinovich was allowed a tour of Europe. He sent telegrams from everywhere: "Greetings from free Bulgaria. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Romania. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Hungary. Rabinovich" "Greetings from Austria. Free Rabinovich"]
- smogcutter 2y ago
  In Rao’s model, the sociopaths and losers share an understanding that the organization exists for the benefit of the sociopaths, they just respond to it differently. It’s only the clueless who are bamboozled. So idk if it’s a great lens for AF, where all the proletarian animals are more or less equally taken in. But anyway, Benjamin is definitely a loser, not a sociopath! He comes closest to understanding what’s happening, and his response is to put his head down, so his job, and seek meaning outside the political game. A Ryan-type sociopath candidate would ditch work to make a political play. Benjamin is Stanley.
  - gradschoolfail 2y ago
    Tiny nitpick: Benjamin certainly would not want to become a sociopath, but the incumbent sociopaths would doubtlessly love to promote him into their ranks, surreptitiously. Confidence in the power of power to corrupt! (Usually misplaced, thankfully, despite media) (To abuse a Ridley Scott favourite: slip a Marechal’s baton into his rucksack) [this is opposite of the Rabinovich “strategy”, which hints that YC are not sociopaths] EDIT: I dont think this is comparable to Steve Jobs’ 100-Person Retreat without more insider data, e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41416275 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41416275 Would be interested to know if anybody got promoted as a result of these retreats, my hunch is, no, because everybody knows about the 100-person retreat. EDIT 2: another system to compare with, kind of the opposite of Rao’s model, is the Lambeth race, thats more like openly favouring the tortoise? So that no rabbit would sign up in the first place. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41468567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41468567
    - 082349872349872 2y ago
      Then again, in the universe of Benjamin/Squealer fanfic, who's to say we couldn't find the following convo? — ... Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself. — Is it possible to learn this power? — Not from a pig.
      - gradschoolfail 2y ago
        SPJ’s innovation, was to keep it bipartite and below— making sure type IIIs didnt feel like they were a higher class & everyone else was type II (Imagine an army with only NCOs and officers, but the NCOs are type IIIs) No proles (grunts) in the orgchart of a very large design agency..culturally, designers often happy to work like grunts anyway! (Painters = painters) This trouble with the proles (app store, actual store, icloud, contractor relations, PR screwups.. ) ultimately stems from that failed pancreas transplant, so that they no longer had an IV to keep entropy in its place.. [plus maybe the programmers n ee types started to feel they werent fully designers (Bret Victor, later, pple like Lattner?)] [Check out the wwdc videos.. the sw engineers dress like.. they havent read the canon] https://culturology-journal.ru/en/article.php?id=309 https://culturology-journal.ru/en/article.php?id=309 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_la_maréchale https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_la_maréchale See cultural references in the less misogynistic (misandric?) en wiki Equoid Lagniappe: the surnames 司馬 and Marshall have a common origin >the recipes in which are infamous for reducing the population of anarchist cooks >I then began thinking about the other aspects of the bizarre parasitic life-cycle of the unicorn
        gradschoolfail 2y ago
        Contrast also the scale of the engineering consultancies/art/design coops that are purportedly the talent-dense equivalents of Mondragon, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arup_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arup_Group
        082349872349872 2y ago
        > So that no rabbit would sign up in the first place. I liked Добро пожаловать, или Посторонним вход воспрещён (1964), in which the summer camp director plays a very soviet version of an Eric Berne Transactional Analysis* game, "Everything I do, I do it for you". According to wikipedia, it's infamous in russian for the lines: — Children, remember! You all are the owners of the camp. [All of] you! What do you all [therefore] need? — [children in chorus] Di. Sci. Pline! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_V2HgK6i8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_V2HgK6i8 Thx for Equoid! Not having started in on it yet, all I have for now is pedantry, for the commenters on Stross' blog who are making horse analogies (as well as the wonderful Unicorns From Hell vid) are way off base: horses are Perissodactyl, but unicorns are Artiodactyl. * I'm not sold on TA, but learning to tune out as soon as you notice the opening moves of a TA game? That's sanity-preserving material right there. PS. I've lost the source for the roman trichotomy; plz remind?

082349872349872 2y ago

Looking through Rao's prism (in which disposition to unshakeable loyalty is a "clueless" trait), Benjamin is a clear "sociopath" candidate: he's (a) laconic, and (b) underperforming. [In the 80s, Rabinovich was allowed a tour of Europe. He sent telegrams from everywhere: "Greetings from free Bulgaria. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Romania. Rabinovich" "Greetings from free Hungary. Rabinovich" "Greetings from Austria. Free Rabinovich"]

smogcutter 2y ago
In Rao’s model, the sociopaths and losers share an understanding that the organization exists for the benefit of the sociopaths, they just respond to it differently. It’s only the clueless who are bamboozled. So idk if it’s a great lens for AF, where all the proletarian animals are more or less equally taken in. But anyway, Benjamin is definitely a loser, not a sociopath! He comes closest to understanding what’s happening, and his response is to put his head down, so his job, and seek meaning outside the political game. A Ryan-type sociopath candidate would ditch work to make a political play. Benjamin is Stanley.
- gradschoolfail 2y ago
  Tiny nitpick: Benjamin certainly would not want to become a sociopath, but the incumbent sociopaths would doubtlessly love to promote him into their ranks, surreptitiously. Confidence in the power of power to corrupt! (Usually misplaced, thankfully, despite media) (To abuse a Ridley Scott favourite: slip a Marechal’s baton into his rucksack) [this is opposite of the Rabinovich “strategy”, which hints that YC are not sociopaths] EDIT: I dont think this is comparable to Steve Jobs’ 100-Person Retreat without more insider data, e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41416275 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41416275 Would be interested to know if anybody got promoted as a result of these retreats, my hunch is, no, because everybody knows about the 100-person retreat. EDIT 2: another system to compare with, kind of the opposite of Rao’s model, is the Lambeth race, thats more like openly favouring the tortoise? So that no rabbit would sign up in the first place. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41468567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41468567
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    Then again, in the universe of Benjamin/Squealer fanfic, who's to say we couldn't find the following convo? — ... Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself. — Is it possible to learn this power? — Not from a pig.
    - gradschoolfail 2y ago
      SPJ’s innovation, was to keep it bipartite and below— making sure type IIIs didnt feel like they were a higher class & everyone else was type II (Imagine an army with only NCOs and officers, but the NCOs are type IIIs) No proles (grunts) in the orgchart of a very large design agency..culturally, designers often happy to work like grunts anyway! (Painters = painters) This trouble with the proles (app store, actual store, icloud, contractor relations, PR screwups.. ) ultimately stems from that failed pancreas transplant, so that they no longer had an IV to keep entropy in its place.. [plus maybe the programmers n ee types started to feel they werent fully designers (Bret Victor, later, pple like Lattner?)] [Check out the wwdc videos.. the sw engineers dress like.. they havent read the canon] https://culturology-journal.ru/en/article.php?id=309 https://culturology-journal.ru/en/article.php?id=309 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_la_maréchale https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_la_maréchale See cultural references in the less misogynistic (misandric?) en wiki Equoid Lagniappe: the surnames 司馬 and Marshall have a common origin >the recipes in which are infamous for reducing the population of anarchist cooks >I then began thinking about the other aspects of the bizarre parasitic life-cycle of the unicorn
      - gradschoolfail 2y ago
        Contrast also the scale of the engineering consultancies/art/design coops that are purportedly the talent-dense equivalents of Mondragon, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arup_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arup_Group
      - 082349872349872 2y ago
        > So that no rabbit would sign up in the first place. I liked Добро пожаловать, или Посторонним вход воспрещён (1964), in which the summer camp director plays a very soviet version of an Eric Berne Transactional Analysis* game, "Everything I do, I do it for you". According to wikipedia, it's infamous in russian for the lines: — Children, remember! You all are the owners of the camp. [All of] you! What do you all [therefore] need? — [children in chorus] Di. Sci. Pline! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_V2HgK6i8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_V2HgK6i8 Thx for Equoid! Not having started in on it yet, all I have for now is pedantry, for the commenters on Stross' blog who are making horse analogies (as well as the wonderful Unicorns From Hell vid) are way off base: horses are Perissodactyl, but unicorns are Artiodactyl. * I'm not sold on TA, but learning to tune out as soon as you notice the opening moves of a TA game? That's sanity-preserving material right there. PS. I've lost the source for the roman trichotomy; plz remind?