"The Grand Design" - Stephan Hawking

Read the book -

My view -
The book intricate you with certain question that you had forgotten long back.
Concepts like time is not absolute, space-time graph is not flat, theories of Newton vis-a-vis Einstein vis-a-vis Ionian stance is interesting to read. Concept of light as particle/wave read in a philosophical concept.
Gets complex post "Theory of Everythin".
History of Universe gets revised.

Softer Leanings
Book has a nice style which re-enforces you to break assumptions with which you have grown for a long time.

What do I wish to do post reading it
Create a game or something else which is unique.

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Briefing on what I read

1. History of theories on Universe is explained initially

Firstly Ionians (Greece) came up with theories in 600 BC. They were aware of Pythagoras. Thales was first to guess Solar Eclipse in 585 BC.

 Democritus(460 BC) came with theory of uncuttable/small objects of which human kind is made of i.e. atoms.

Aristotle (384-322BC) said world could be understood through simple laws.

Aristarchus(310 BC) concluded Sun is larger then earth. And earth is no special.

Archimedis(287-212 BC) came up with his laws – law of lever, buoyancy and reflection.

Numerology started in 700 AD – Hindu System.

John Kepler(1570) also believed that planets have mind which controlled their movement.

Rene Descartes(1596-1650) said universe must be explained in terms of collision of masses governed by three laws. Said once God started the world he left it alone.

Issac Newton(1643-1727) came up with three laws of motion. Law of gravity helped us understand motion of planets.

Edwin Hubble(1929) said that universe is expanding.

Kepler, galeileo, Descartes an newton said laws were work of god.`

2. What is Reality --) Gold Fish Example, Matrix, Second Life – Modeled dependent Realism

Light – Newton considered it as particle

Rings formed due to light could not be explained so was stated as Wave in 19^th century.

Einstein in 20^th century told abt photo electric effect and said its both wave and particle.

This is consistent with model dependent realism model.

3. Alternative Histories

Buckyball experiment formed patterns on screen which defeated normal day logic as incase of football.

Quantum Physics. And then plank constant, u can measure velocity and position with planks constant accuracy.

Thus it leads at any point of time we get a state of Universe which gives probabilities of different pasts and future rather exact history.

Quantum Physics – fundamental randomness.

4. Theory of Everythin

Universe is comprehensible if we can comprehens the laws of universe.

Faraday came up with Electricity + magnetism.

Maxwell(1830-70) united them into one.

Einstein(1905) – Paper on relativity – Time is not constant. Speed of light is constant.

Space-time is not flat rather distorted by energy and mass in it.

Great Circle Route.

5. Science student would be believer of God.

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“All gold spheres are less than a mile” and “All Ur-235 spheres are less than a mile”. Both things happen but that does’t mean both are laws. Not all generalizations we observe can be thought as laws.

Three questions

Ø  What is origin of laws

Ø  Are there any exceptions to the laws.

Ø  Is there only one set of possible laws.

Decisions are often not rational or are based on a defective analysis of the consequence of choice.

A model is a good model if it:

1.       Is Elegant

2.       Contains few arbitrary or adjustable elements

3.       Agrees with and explains all existing observations

4.       Make detailed predictions about future observations that can disprove or falsify the model

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It was a fun read and my first Universe-NonFiction book. Feel like reading a book on innovation.

Started a new blog

Started a new blog classytedtalks.com

Would keep posting all the good ted talks that I watch.

Notes of a Madman - Osho

What crap ???

"Om mani padme hum", this is the whole crap given in the book.
Really disappointed. Things I liked in the book

1. He has mentioned Khalil Gibran in the book.

2. The very word drug has become dangerous. They are so against drugs because people can come to know themselves, and when people come to know themselves politicians lose their power over them - and they love their power.

3. After writing 6000 songs he was crying in his last moments.
Rabindranth Tagore said "Those six thousand songs are all efforts, but failures. The unsung has remained missing."

Mikhail Namy's book "The book of Mirdad" - to be read.

In short, the book is not even worth an hour, its waste of time.

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

New Marketing Checklist
Product, Pricing, Promotion, Positioning, Publicity, Packaging, Pass-along, Permission.

The new P is Purple Cow which means something Remarkable.

May like to read "Crossing the Chasm", "Unleashing the ideavirus".

Old American Success Story - Invent a product everyone wants, advertise it to the masses and make lot of money.

Author says "Aspirin was marketed and was big hit, do you think it would be the same for its peer after the brand was already established?"

The world has changed for the old success story, there are far more choices and less & less time to sort them out.

Old Rule "Create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing"
New Rule "Create remarkable products that the right people seek out"

Check out "Think Small-Beetle" marketing campaign.

Yet Sergio Zyman points out that two of most popular adds of Coke "I'd like to teach the world to sing", and "Mean Joe Greene" - sold not one more bottle of Coke.

Author says - "It's safer to be risky - to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things".

Insight1 - Otis's Insight (Elevator Company) -Key in your floor on a centralized control panel. Instead of making your technology better, experiment with inviting the users to change their behavior to make the product work dramatically better.

Insight2 - If you can't imagine a future where ppl are fascinated by your product, its time to reap profit. Example Tide.

An idea becomes idea virus, it crosses the chasm and it tips.

Author says "Every consumer avoids and ignores all of them". Targetted ads are more cost-effective, yet most advertising is completely untargeted.

Note on criticism - Criticism of the project is not criticism of you. It's people who have projects that are never criticized who ultimately fail.

The greatest artists, playwrights, car designers, composers, chefs have all had significant flops - it's part of what makes their successful work great. The lesson is simple - boring always lead to failure. Boring is always the most risky strategy.

Example - Why do birds fly in formation? birds that follow have an easier path. If you watch the flock, the birds keep rotating.

In actual life risk averse business people believe they can follow some strategy, but they forget to rotate. The employees do the same thing, follow a long leader n do wht they r told to do, n then they get fired in 1000's.

"The best design solves problems, but if you can weld that to the cool factor, then you have a home run".

Idea-Explore  "A tiny electronic gizmo that told you which bars, clubs and restaurants in your town were hot and what was playing".

What could happen if you gave the marketing budget for your next three products to the designers?

The opposite of remarkable is very good.

Otaku describes something thats more than hobby but a little less than obsession. Otaku is heart of purple cow.

Haagen Dazs Shop - Tip for business "If you have any comments at all about the store, please call me at home".

"A camel is a horse designed by a committee", lol. If someone in your organization is charged with creating a new purple cow, leave them alone.

L.L. Bean can sell mail-order clothes to people who don't trust mail order. Take a pair of pants, light them on fire, send in the ashes, and L.L. Bean will refund your money.

Tip for business - Copy. Not from the industry, but from any other industry.

Overall the book was fine read, n the concept that I take out of book is "Saf is too be risky".

DT by Roger Martin

Recommeded books by Author in the acknowledgment Tipping Point, Wisdom of Crowds, New Yorker and New York Times.

Author quotes "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise"

Gives example of Lee Chin, how he'z faced with two options. Sticking with Warren Buffet Policy or the new strategy for investing in tech companies. He comes up with a strategy to short a few stocks and choose one stock and put everything into it.

Remember example of opposable thumb, how u can write by pressing finger and thumb.

Example of P&G. One option with Leafley to cut down the costs and the other option they was to innovate and charge premium.

Leafley choose "and" option rather then going for "or" option.

Before long P&G was swlling soaps, detergents at prices attractive in relation to those store brands. At the same time company introduced products like Olay Regenerist skin Cream which cost as high as $25 for three ounce bottle.

Red Hat also faced two options, one Microsoft Model, make the software n charge premium, other free software model, where u charge very less.

Red Hat went for both the options. Linux could be downloaded for free but Corporates had to take the Service from Linux for constant updation. Changed the model for product based to service based.

Four Season Hotel Best Example.
Two models existing. One make large Hotels give all amenities distribute them over rooms and charge. Second option make small hotels n charge less with less amenities. People had a relationship between hotel size and amenity level.

He came up with small hotel, all amenities and charged premium for it. Critical question is not what various leaders did, but how their cognitive processes produced their actions.

The process of thinking and deciding
Salience --) Causality --) Architecture --) Resolution

Also check John Sterman, MIT's expert in system thinking.

P&G Gyaan

He questioned the casual reasoning that said useful innovation output is directly proportional to the dollars invested in it. He asked P&G to obtain 50% of its innovation from outside the company by connecting with a wide array of outside innovators.

Designing a Ride, not a Railcar
Amtrak US passenger rail corporation vis-a-vis passenger airliens. Brown was given the assignment of designing the Railcar. He argured that they were missing on larger part i.e travellers avoided Amtrak because they disliked the entire experience like booking, waiting, boarding procedures.

Brown describes it as "a synthetic process".

Kamath rejected conventional wisdom, tradeoff between quality and efficiency.

Mapping the mind
The Tripod of Stance, tools and experience.

Stance is what you are, how you see the world. It has both individual and cultural elements.
(A narrow and defensive stance would lead to acquisition of minimum no. of tools)

Tools you use to organize your thinking and understand the world.
(Theories to processes to rules of Thumbs)

Experience enables us to hone our sensitivity and skills.
(Sensitivity - A chef knows a difference between two same dishes.
Skills -  Chef can get the desired dish n no. of times.)

Example
Two models in pharma company. Research, develop n earn premium on drug. Or Take subsidies from govt to make it available to people. IOWH came up with third model. Developed a clinic by raising fund n came out with a drug affordable for people.

Stance

About World
Current Models do not represent the best.
Conflicting Models r to be leveraged.
Better Models exists.

About Self
I m capable of bringing better models.
I m comfortable wading into complexity to ferret out a new model.
I can create a better model.

Cultivating Stance
Watch movie Crash. (Anything we think real is model of reality, that model in imperfect)

3 most important tools for integrative thinkers
Generative Reasoning
Induction + Deduction +Generative Reasoning. (Read Charles Sanders Peirce)
"Radial Metaphors" can be used. A model around the metaphor. Business organization as family, one example.

Casual Modelling
The thinker must think abt multi dimensional and non linear causal relationship between salient points.
Read John Sterman, MIT prof in system dynamics.
Reverse engineering to be used for seeing u r casual models.

Assertive Inquiry
To ask leading questions n not have a defensive strategy for your model.
"don't you think that ....", "would't you agree that...."
Read theories of Chris Argyis, prof at HBS.

Overall an awesome concept, a must read for everyone.