kinetic and potential energy always add up to 1.
a friend speculated yesterday that the mass layoffs at tech companies this month could kickstart a golden age of world-changing startups by way of unleashing 10s of 1000s of talented engineers.
i imagine the laid off workers will disagree, opting instead to dig up months-old recruiter emails and lock in their next dedicated nap pod sporting downtown office.
Korea has tools
some Korean people love to brag about their nation’s top-ranking internet connection speed. they even have WiFi and cell tower connectivity on hundreds of miles of metro and train lines, making it easy to send Kakao chats from every corner of the country.
but what is all this internet for? maybe online shopping? if so, where is Korea’s Shopify? for learning? where are Korea’s coding bootcamps? for entertainment? who is Korea’s Mr Beast?
perhaps the 2 most lucrative Korean projects to leverage this broadband power in the last decade are Parasite and Squid Games. except, crap, they were actually watched primarily outside Korea [1, 2].
Portugal has tools
during one of my trips to Portugal i attended Festa de São João, an all-day outdoor festival with live music, patriotic demonstrations, you name it.
at around 10p, the improvised street booths selling food and wine shut down. not for legal reasons, but so the owners can enjoy the fireworks. the following day, Portuguese citizens return to a $33k per capita income and money problems.
You have tools
most of us pay 20-40 cents per day for a Netflix subscription. i’m using “per day” because the average customer spends 3 hours per day watching Netflix.
we trade 10 cents per hour for a better life (learning skills, building things, strengthening relationships).
what if entertainment was the westerner’s reward for work, instead of a sophisticated means of procrastination?
we are the Prodigal Son
to whom much has been given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
they say a bad craftsman blames his tools. but at least he is a craftsman.
sometimes making a tool, and squandering it, is the same thing.
Interesting thought!