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The more incompressible you are, the more your reach will be indirect, via the few people who put in the work to read it One reason it’s possible for even no-reach beginners to feel genuine pity for Tom Friedman is that The World is Flat is pretty well summarized by its title
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At the other extreme, James Carse Finite and Infinite Games is almost incompressible *despite* being highly redundant and repetitive
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But the people who *have* put in the work to read Carse have all been way more deeply influenced by it. I’ve read both. I never cite World is Flat except as a joke. I cite or use Carse almost every other thing I write. Often in a foundational way.
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Compressing does not lead to incompressibilty though. If you write a very good summary of a book it could still be further summarized as “like that other summary except with this 1 extra point”. Incompressibility requires differentiation by adding integral original elements.
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If I limit myself strictly to ideas I fully understand I won't get very far (if you want to go fast, go alone...). Discovery > attribution. Engineering style tinkering > bureaucratic formality Collaborative exploration > lecturing ...and this is part of why we need Twitter.
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Defensive pre-compression: Write an insightful article, then summarize it in a short phrase like 'premium mediocre'. That way you own both the original + compression 😋
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