![](https://www.nightviewcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/the-nightcrawler-1024x114.png)
Quote of the week:
“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” (Source)
Evolutionary game theory (and the search for truth in an illusory reality)
The fundamental nature of investing is to (a) seek out truth, (b) apply that truth to unravel the mysteries of the world around us, and (c) use that analysis to make good valuation frameworks and decisions. In other words, if I can more accurately understand the nature of reality today, I can make more accurate bets about the likely path of the future.
Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist who has spent three decades studying human perception and evolutionary game theory, makes a striking argument that turns this theory upside down: Not only is reality itself a “magnificent illusion,” he argues, but the human brain actually maximizes evolutionary fitness for survival by “driving truth to extinction.” In the Hoffman paradigm, radical claims about the nature of reality force us to rethink not just what we know, but how we know what we know, a sort of meta view on epistemology itself.
Arne Alsin, our CIO, turned me on to Hoffman after listening to Hoffman’s recent 3-hour conversation with Lex Fridman, which was very good. From there, I dug into Hoffman’s excellent Q&A with Quanta magazine, which I also recommend. One of Hoffman’s central arguments is that evolution itself has shaped our brains with perceptions that allow us to survive, “hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know.”
A century ago, Mark Twain famously observed, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Twain wasn’t known for his metaphysical approach to reality, but I think Hoffman would agree. (H/T Arne Alsin)
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An “unreasonable” approach to customer service “magic”
I’m a firm believer that organizations that prioritize the customer experience build intangible value that compounds over time, often leading to remarkable results. (As Jeff Bezos has said: “We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.”)
In that spirit, I enjoyed reading this longform Q&A with Will Guidara, a co-owner of New York’s Eleven Madison Park restaurant. Will helped transform the once-average eatery into arguably the best restaurant in the world. His number one insight: Be unreasonably kind to your customers.
“Anyone who’s done anything that has changed the game, anything that’s been reasonably innovative, has been unreasonable and relentless in the way that they pursued the product they made,” Will says. Will’s insights are shaped by his experience in the restaurant industry, but the practical wisdom he offers transcends the dining experience and could be applied to any business or organization.
A few more links I enjoyed:
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