Dominic Cummings: look closely to see the traps he is setting are classics about the presentation of information by the worlds leading expert. Lines and Curves, Vassiliev and Gutenmacher. His boss and predecessor was Kelly Johnson who wrote. Our impression was there is valuable low hanging fruit for governments, hedge funds, campaigns, Thucydides. A widely praised new biography of John von Neumann, the man Einstein, Bohr, Dirac, Pauli et al thought was the smartest person they knew. was the fundamental reason I think Brexit is the right idea and the EU is doomed to fail in important ways. Dominic Cummings Most claims you read about psychological manipulation are rubbish. Newton biography and its brilliantly done with intense love and care for its extraordinary subject. The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver. Makers of Modern Strategy, Paret et al. I advised spads and officials to read this in 2019 and ignore the media. Brexit and VL in No10 (original official advice was to go with the useless bureaucratic EU scheme. Michael Nielsen on quantum mechanics and computers: textbook on QCs, one of the top ten cited physics books ever written. Although some other officials and senior figures had also broken the lockdown rules, this transgression was the first to . I'll post final LKY notes tomorrow. Likes. Many who used them went on to the famous Kolmogorov schools.). which egg to use for IVF. , Slotkin. (3 volumes), Morris Kline. For this unprecedented project in world history Groves had no huge central staff, he worked with a brilliant woman and a tiny staff with truly extreme decentralisation. Blurb endorsement by Einstein. The Power Broker, Robert Caro. A billionaire should provide copies to all elected politicians. When you read this you realise that UK parties are something like 50-60 years behind understanding TV so its no surprise theyre bad at new technology. Aug 25, 2022. Almost the only good business book I have read on strategy. Ive got a list of a few dozen people I follow on Twitter (I use Tweetdeck + Lists for Twitter) and will make this public shortly. Warning, its an accurate portrayal of atrocities on the Eastern Front therefore truly horrific. Some supported this approach but as youd expect the worst hated it. I started like everyone young assuming those at the top of politics must be smart, interested in policy and great at organising things. ), , Waldrop. , Dantzig (1930, updated 1953; new edition 2007). Tyler Cowen, Patrick Collison and others have been trying to push some of the principles of how to do hard things into economics and government, in similar ways to some of my arguments over the years. Dominic Cummings substack | Substack If youre in Georgia, visit her house in Milledgeville. But this also means theres always billion dollar bills on the pavement sometimes even trillion dollar bills, like do vaccines much faster and smarter than usual in spring 2020, and like now with 2024 approaching People, ideas, machines in that order! Robert Coram wrote a biography. Governments find it very, very hard to fund such ventures. Hard question (relevant to AGI safety debates! The resignation of Dominic Raab. Based on a course Susskind taught in San Francisco to give people a basic physics education. Great DVD documentary too. Classic text, university level. Histories of the Standard Model: The Second Creation, Crease & Mann (1996) and The Infinity Puzzle, Frank Close (2011). Steve has a startup that is a leading player in this emerging field. Psychologie des foules, Gustave le Bon. Dominic Cummings told Parliament that his ex-boss, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was "unfit for the job" and that government incompetence lead to thousands of excess Covid-19 deaths. Steve has a startup that is a leading player in this emerging field. Rohls multivolume biography on Wilhelm II is brilliant and, like Pflanze, a whole political education in itself. Dominic Cummings's Odyssean reading list might make you smarter. The Dream Machine, Waldrop. Partly accessible to a non-specialist with some maths already, though very challenging for most including me. In the search I came across Boyd. But the storyteller makes this picture incredibly beautiful. Theres no question about this. His. Orson Welles thought Renoir the greatest director. The director was evacuated from the horror of Stalingrad as a child: The city was ablaze up to the top of the sky. *Come and See ( , Russian). Now It Can Be Told, General Groves. Mathematics: A short introduction, Gowers. He was a mathematician who got interested in how markets work. A classic non-specialist introduction to reasoning. NB. Oppenheimer is better known but Groves was his boss. I thought this was outstanding and every young person aspiring to be influential in politics should read it. *Chaplin City Lights, The Gold Rush, Modern Times, Great Dictator. Fab: From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication, Gershenfeld (MIT). The Story of Mathematics, Marcus du Sautoy. Theoretical Minimum, Leonard Susskind (2013). SW1 suffers such extremely powerful wilful blindness even an event as big as covid doesnt puncture consciousness in many important ways. Re George Mueller, the man who managed the Apollo program. The replication disaster means you have to be careful about what you believe but its still a good book. While No 10 was trying to get a grip on the pandemic, news came in . Cited by many professional mathematicians as an inspiration. Like LKY, crucial if you really are interested in practical planning for high performance government. I really liked this classic but a lot was beyond me. Causality, Judea Pearl (advanced). If you want to understand the modern intellectual classes media, academia and politics this plugs you straight into their psychology. judge timothy kenny political affiliation. Cummings has also instructed the advisers to read High Output Management by Andrew Grove, the former chief executive of computer-chip manufacturer Intel, who "warns that success breeds. One must not be squeamish about admitting this (Strauss). Comments - Reading List - Dominic Cummings substack Her recent book, The Scout Mindset, was excellent. As Strauss said, Nietzsche despised anti-semites and the sort of characters who controlled the Nazi party but it also cannot be ignored that in attacking ideas and clearing the ground for new values, he also prepared the ground for communism and fascism: Nietzsche did not mean it in the way people like Hitler and Mussolini meant it, but through his negations, he prepares it. ), genetics, expert judgement, finance and many other topics with the focus on how education policy has to cope in order to train problem solvers for the coming challenges. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. Review of the disintegration of the Tories in the context of Brexit, SW1 vs Vote Leave perspectives on risks of Brexit/Remain, and why some of the VL team decided to go to No10 in 2019 and save the trolley to Get Brexit Done despite our reservations. Turings Cathedral, George Dyson (son of Freeman). The Selling of the President 1968, McGinniss. Follow Julia Galef. Also though, everybody has bad luck and those who survive long enough to get good luck are very perseverant. Cowen & Collison handed out fast grants to researchers during covid and at my request advised UKRI on how to speed up in spring 2020. Im reading this summer. The basic arguments remain critical today. , very relevant to discussions on things like drones and AI in Ukraine. He did not try to influence todays arguments but instead tried to prepare the future, an approach of great power partly because, as Monnet said, theres almost no competition. The Quark and the Jaguar, Murray Gell Mann. It amazes me how many scientists and economists know nothing or almost nothing about it. Anyone interested in terrorism and counter-terrorism should watch Pontecorvos movie. How to predict news? NB. People who climb to the top of the science system tend to defend the system rather than support change, even when they realise how bad it is. Please leave errors and suggestions below, Ill tweak and add over time and notify of updates. The title comes from Revelations 6 (7-8): And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. If we could predict events like the fall of the Berlin Wall better it would have huge value. His point about. , von Neumann, 1955. A short companion book to his famous lecture series. A great textbook by the worlds leading scholar on the subject. The insider account of the Manhattan Project by its legendary leader. The Federalist Papers. I blogged on it here. . ), here are some books and a few papers I recommend. Many ideas you see from others (e.g Taleb) derive from Mandelbrot. In the meantime Ill post another tomorrow. The History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides. The Dominic Cummings guide to management Boris Johnson's adviser plans to put business leaders' strategies into practice Andrew Hill Dominic Cummings, the prime minister's senior adviser, has. Yudkowskys Sequences, the core document of the rationalist movement. With Bismarck you can follow the twists and turns of a true (and monstrous) genius in great detail and learn an extraordinary amount about how politics, government, war and diplomacy truly work. Considered by many in Silicon Valley to be the best book on the details of management. On digital fabrication. For this unprecedented project in world history Groves had no huge central staff, he worked with a brilliant woman and a tiny staff with truly extreme decentralisation. Oppenheimer is better known but Groves was his boss. Some Thoughts on Education and Political Priorities - Goodreads Number, Dantzig (1930, updated 1953; new edition 2007). Many ideas you see from others (e.g Taleb) derive from Mandelbrot. On digital fabrication. The river was also burning. Vast amounts of what you read on this is rubbish. , Charlie Munger. summarising responses to this. Mathematics: Its content, methods and meaning, Kolmogorov et al. Also cf. Review of the disintegration of the Tories in the context of Brexit, SW1 vs, perspectives on risks of Brexit/Remain, and, and save the trolley to Get Brexit Done despite our reservations. , Gowers. Ask Me Anything, Friday 10th - Dominic Cummings substack A Cavendish Quantum Mechanics Primer, Professor Mark Warner. If we could predict events like the fall of the Berlin Wall better it would have huge value. What is moral behaviour is not the same question as what are the principles of high performance in politics! A classic non-specialist introduction to reasoning. If you really are interested in policy and how someone tries to bring principles of high performance to government, this is essential. He understood politics and government in a way I think almost nobody in 20th Century politics did and influenced it more than almost any elected leader. Retweets. Dominic Cummings Tells of Boris Johnson's Inept Covid Policy - The New The philosophising Tolstoy fought against the picture of an infinitely complex system in which most thoughts and actions fade to zero significance quickly but a few connect to others with highly non-linear effects. For the beginner, by a Fields Medallist. If youre thinking of doing a startup or just curious about how to do hard things you should read. If you want to stop Trump in 2024 you should figure out what you could offer Plouffes wife to let him do it. A 16-year-old schoolgirl, Caitlyn Scott-Lee, was found dead near Wycombe Abbey School. On Renoir and Hollywood: It would be ridiculous to be bitter about Hollywood. People who havent studied it often mock Fukuyamas. He had promised to resign if there was any finding against and kept his word. The greatest deeds are thoughts (Some confusion about his ideas is a result of his sister who was a Nazi supporter and edited things he wrote to distort his actual views. (Planning to see some classics Ive missed: Intolerance; Tokyo Story; Bicycle Thieves.). Dominic Cummings Jul 15, 2021 39 66 Last week I wrote re: Why I went to No10 in summer 2019. E.g rapidly speeding up construction/housing/infrastructure, how to accelerate scientific discovery and technological development. Keynes essay on Newton is great: He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than10,000years ago Why do I call him a magician? Zvi reviews Tyler Cowens new book, Talent. If you want to understand modern culture, the 19th Century smashup of the traditional world with the capitalist, liberal and increasingly atheist world, and what deep forces lie behind the ideas we see all around us, its the best book. Non-fiction books on politics fail to give you this crucial sense. ), here are some books and a few papers I recommend. that will prove false like the British navy rules the waves (true and a useful heuristic for many decades then suddenly and drastically not true) and values that will seem evil/comical. Alan Kay, one of those present at the creation, says its by far the best history. I was amazed and desperate. Cummings' understanding of modern genetics, IQ, evolutionary psychology, child development and neuroscience, as evidenced by his blog and advice to Michael Gove when education minister, is a. I started reading him around 1999 when I first got involved in politics. de Tocqueville. by Rumelt. You can learn from him about how to get very hard things done without admiring his character. A striking thing: notice how. I wrote this blog which has a further reading list. Colonel John Boyds briefings are great. NB. Tyler Cowen, Patrick Collison and others have been trying to push some of the principles of how to do hard things into economics and government, in similar ways to some of my arguments over the years. (Some confusion about his ideas is a result of his sister who, a Nazi supporter and edited things he wrote to distort his actual views. ): how much was the effectiveness bound up with the dangerousness the failure of alignment and/or the inherent drive of high intelligence to escape constraints/control/alignment with others goals? Vernon Smith, economics Nobel-winner, argues that TOMS provides a better basis for economic models and prediction than modern neoclassical economics. Dominic Cummings has hit back at Boris Johnson's partygate defence, accusing him of spreading "further misinformation". Will. The main biography of Buffett, The Snowball, is also interesting. How to predict news? In particular read. Am told that the Loebs translated by Shackleton Bailey is the best translation. I started like everyone young assuming those at the top of politics must be smart, interested in policy and great at organising things. Many academics predicted OpenAIs approach would not work but have been. I wrote, which has a further reading list. Ditto for the Johnson volumes (Ive not read) when Caro publishes the last. The river was also burning. The Method of Coordinates, Gelfand, Glagoleva, Kirillov. Very very telling that in a recent interview with Tyler Cowen, the recent head of the CIA was clearly unaware of this work, which includes results showing that his own agency is routinely bested by people like unemployed grandmothers in a hut in Central America. The best modern subject for those interested in how political decisions are taken and effective action in politics/government is, . Dyson, Hawking) is wrong. As the craziness of 2024 approaches his ideas will be much more influential in some circles than you will realise from the media. Anyone interested in terrorism and counter-terrorism should watch Pontecorvos movie The Battle of Algiers, one of the best movies ever made. I know some of them. by Gomme and Andrewes, two of the great 20th C classical scholars. Nobel-winner, Feynman sparring partner, co-founder of Santa Fe Institute, wrote a book on complex systems for the general reader. On dynamic tools, interface design, Seeing Rooms, new ideas about programming, tools for thought, and so on, read Bret Victor, a rare genius. We look back on history and abstract over decades or centuries, judging the ideas that held sway for a few decades and sneering at how formerly all the world was mad as Nietzsche put it. They have insurgent energy and feed on grievance. Again the meta-lesson: while everybody wants to know what are they investing in? almost nobody pays any attention to how do they organise Berkshire, why is it so different, how does this relate to extreme performance?. In the search I came across Boyd. Some of the. is extraordinary, e.g his secret search for the truth about Leibniz. (A counterfactual: if Thatcher had taken his advice in the early 1980s and rejected the emerging Single Market plan and embarked on civil service reform?). Almost no MPs, journalists or academics have any idea about just how costly such bureaucracy truly is or how these bureaucracies truly work and the criminality and near-insanity theyre capable of. Also you cant understand our world unless you have a sense of Nietzsches profound influence on 20th Century artists, thinkers, and politics. Reagans White House was better at communication than any other in the modern era partly because they did not rely on normal political staff but brought people in from Hollywood. Re Clintons 1992 campaign which influenced the Blair 1997 campaign. The best biography in English (probably any language) is, . This is true even of those who frequently complain about this phenomenon. A striking thing: notice how they take regulation and speed extremely seriously because they have direct experience of it, in contrast to most professional economists who influence media debate on regulation who have no idea of how government really works and how destructive it is to make simple things take years, how it drives people away, rewards the worst people and companies etc. If youre involved in Isaac Physics and want to discuss how it could continue please get in touch.). Will live players use the next five months to build build build or waste the most important element in conflict, time, and let non-player characters stumble into a set of critical decisions in November? Lines and Curves, Vassiliev and Gutenmacher. ), Dostoyevsky. Anybody who goes to Hollywood can see right away what the setup is Hollywood is Hollywood, theres nothing you can say about it that isnt true, good or bad. We can now test fertilised eggs for common risk factors such as mental disorders and heart attacks and choose which egg to use for IVF. Los Alamos was crucial but it was part of a much vaster infrastructure of engineering projects, intelligence, planning and so on. Its often found in terrorist safe houses when raided. As the craziness of 2024 approaches his ideas will be much more influential in some circles than you will realise from the media. I should have read this, havent, will. , maybe the greatest mathematician alive, is brilliant and incredibly useful for someone like me explaining a lot of fundamental concepts in non-technical language. Some supported this approach but as youd expect the worst hated it. But this also means theres always billion dollar bills on the pavement sometimes even trillion dollar bills, like do vaccines much faster and smarter than usual in spring 2020, and like now with 2024 approaching. In all of these struggles I tried to follow Boyds advice such as, and in all of them, as the opponents OODA crumbled I observed what Boyd said would happen: it starts to feel like your opponent is working for you, the more they try, the worse it gets (e.g when Cameron called the press conference to denounce lies about the fact that Turkey was in the process of joining the EU!). Dominic Cummings' answer is to make Britain "the leading country for education and science". , George Dyson (son of Freeman). A Boyd ally wrote about his time in the Pentagon dealing with the extreme nightmare of procurement. Gdels Lost Letter & P=NP (on maths, logic, P=NP, computational complexity), Steve Hsu (in general, and if interested in extreme talent Steve blogs a lot on this). 121. There's a big bad enemy out there, possibly with superior weaponry but. Classic on teaching children programming, recommended by Alan Kay and Bret Victor. (This series was written for the Russian correspondence school a way of giving talented maths pupils a useful curriculum in such a vast country. Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos (1988). The insider account of the Manhattan Project by its legendary leader. The real reason is most people in politics dont want to face the big questions about what government is for and how to do it better (and especially dont want to face the quality of people). Non-fiction books on politics fail to give you this crucial sense.