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Universal Laws of the World
Dollo's law
Dollo's law of irreversibility states that an organism can't re-evolve to a former state. The path that led to its former state was so intricate that it is impossible to retrace that exact path.
This law affects businesses and brands. Some things are hard to build, and once lost, will likely never be regained.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
History lessons
The point is that the more specific a lesson of history is, the less relevant it becomes.
Adopting new views
One of the interesting parts of the Great Depressions from history is not just how the economy collapsed, but how quickly and dramatically people’s views changed when it did.
People suffering from immediate, unexpected adversity are likely to adopt views they previously thought absurd. It’s not until your life is in full chaos (with your hopes and dreams your dreams unsure) that people begin taking ideas they’d never consider before seriously.
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Key Ideas
Peak performance
You should expect some variability in your performance. Your path is not going to be linear.
Mimicry and comparisons
Self-improvement doesn't come from mimicry and comparing ourselves with others.
Focus on getting better than you were yesterday and living up to your own potential and aspirations, not somebody else’s.
Singular grand strategies
They don't work, because there is no one single way for anybody to improve.
Singular grand strategies seldom work because they don’t account for exigencies that emerge along the way. Adaptability is also important in the path to self-growth.
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Key Ideas
Seven universal plots
There are only seven plots that are so fundamental to the way we tell stories that every storyteller uses one of them: Overcoming Monsters, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return Rebirth,...
Economic history
Looking for a few universal plot patterns reveals things fundamental to how all people think, which are likely to be repeated in the future and relevant to your own situation. This idea also applies to how the economy works.
Economic history can seem complicated because it's part of politics, psychology, sociology, criminology, biology, military, technology, education, finance, etc. But within all that complexity is a lot of similarities.
The lens to look through
- People seem to want the same economic things – security, power, admiration, fulfillment.
- They tend to use the same tactics to acquire those things - work, risk, incentives, persuasion, theft, control.
- They tend to fall for the same flaws pursuing those things - overconfidence, pessimism, underestimating how fast things can change, etc.
Although economic history may seem complicated, there are only a small number of broad story plots throughout the world and throughout time.