Management
Humans think linear, not being capable of mentalizing all variables and consequences of any decision. Our brain sets the limit 1. In general, we can create and maintain a culture with institutions and technologies to overcome.
But because of mentioned limits we do act irrational with hindsight and are ultimately bad with predictions. Even experience does not help as Peterson and Wu write:
[As] entrepreneurs gain experience across projects, their future projects include additions that lead to more and more unforeseen interdependencies that they do not account for when making ex ante predictions. 2
Knowledge is a “bitch”. Experience is “Engelchen und Täufelchen zugleich”. Both seduce to create (unnecessary) complexity. And given most (corporate) cultures lack foresight they lack the tools to build, maintain and share knowledge gained from experience — most of it stays tacit and is not transformed.
So when Karpathy says:
I think the most I’ve learned [from Musk] is about how to sort of run organizations efficiently and how to create efficient organizations and how to fight entropy in an organization. […] [It’s] process […] and […] inefficiencies and that kind of stuff. 3
It struck a chord: always simplify! The things, regardless of being a manager or leader, one should keep in mind: simplify, focus on interactions within organizations and interdependencies; create options and tackle risk first while being aware of your environment.
Zimmermann. “Das Nervensystem — nachrichtentechnisch gesehen”. In: “Physiologie des Menschen”, 176-183.↩︎
Peterson and Wu. “Entrepreneurial learning and strategic foresight”, Strategic Management Journal, 2357-88. 2021. 10.1002/smj.3327.↩︎
Lex Friedman. “Andrej Karpathy: Tesla AI, Self-Driving, Optimus, Aliens, and AGI - Transcripts”, 333. 2022. https://steno.ai/lex-fridman-podcast-10/333-andrej-karpathy-tesla-ai-self-driving-optimus-aliens-and#01:39:20↩︎