Systematic Game-Changers in Science and Business

1. EVALUATING PARADIGMS
Shifts for Humanity through Systematic Game-Changers

2. Problem 1. The Issue of the Mind

3. A CONFERENCE ON
STRATEGY
• Good strategy is a successful plan
• Quality of plan depends on quality of planners
• Plan is a product of psychology of the strategists
• Unfortunately we all have fallible minds

4. Your mind is…..
Cognitive Biases
Blindspots
Assumptions
Emotions
Irrationalities

5. But it’s not your fault……
You were affected by education
You’ve been affected by culture
You’ve been affected by consumerism
You’ve been affected by other people

6. Write a column on this for
The European Magazine
wwww.theeuropean-magazine.com

7. Belief Systems underlie all our problems
Not just in our ‘strategizing’, but also in our ability to ‘convince’

8. Transhumanism brings up unpleasant truths…
..whilst 99.9% of the world prefers comforting lies

9. DEATH IS INTRINSICALLY BAD

10. “Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own
splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a
towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few
feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.”
Ernest Becker

11. MINDS CAN MOVE MARKETS AND
MARKETS CAN MOVE MINDS
By understanding minds/collective mindsets, we learn how to move
markets better (and vice versa)

12. 1.1 A Case Study in Markets/Minds
The Birth of Consumerism
Freud Bernays

13. CONSUMERISM
FOR NECESSITY
CONSUMERISM
FOR DESIRE
late 19th Century 1920s onwards

14. Edward Bernays understood the necessity of
understanding the collective mindset

15. Minds move markets, markets move minds…
…an example of good ‘strategy’

16. Problem 2. The Issue of the Mind (again)

17. THERE’S ALLTHIS MONEY

18. AND ALLTHESE PROBLEMS…..
AGING/DEATH
POVERTY
WARS
DISEASES

19. THE PROBLEM ISN’T A LACK OF CAPITAL….
THE PROBLEM IS… WE HAVE
A SEVERE LACK OF GOOD
THINKERS

20. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MUCH CAPITALTHERE IS
!
- It only matters who is judging the allocation

21. Do I have
$500,000 for this
painting to help
gangs in NY?
audience of inebriated, fallible minds
PHILANTHROPY

22. MARKETS MOVE MINDS*
*Intelligent arguments don’t scale

23. PLANSTHAT DEPEND ON SCALING A RATIONAL,
INTELLECTUAL ARGUMENT WILL LOSE.

24. Scientific breakthroughs will act as catalysts as to
what society thinks is possible.
Paradigm shifts don’t come from hypotheses
When aging process is disrupted in one human,
everything changes

25. Transhumanist goals are hard to actualize in the short-term life cycles
of both politics and venture capital
options narrow liabilities increase

26. *Responsibility of laying
the correct foundations
WE LIVE INTHE PRE-PARADIGM SHIFT ERA**

27. We need to look at problems from a first-principle
perspective.

28. INDUSTRIES/PROBLEMS ARE COMPARABLE TO
BROKEN WALLS
Most start-ups and investors act as
polyfillers…
..when we actually need bricklayers
(rest on faulty old assumptions/corrupted)

29. - Nick Bostrom
“For the advancement of human knowledge, we
should focus more on indirect contribution.A
“superficial” contribution that facilitates work across a
wide range of domains can be worth much more than
a relatively “profound” contribution limited to one
narrow field.”
!

30. SOLUTION
!
HYPOTHESES
!
QUESTION
much needed tools
most companies strike here
Check- are we even asking the right questions?

31. – Nick Bostrom
“ [sic] Imagine a tool was invented to help a
researcher to improve by just 1%.The gain would
hardly be noticeable in a single individual. But if the 10
million scientists in the world all benefited from the
tool the inventor would increase the rate of scientific
progress by roughly the same amount as adding
100,000 new scientists. Each year the invention would
amount to an indirect contribution equal to 100,000
times what the average scientist contributes..”

32. !
!
Phase 1- It exists only once and is the pre-paradigm phase, in which there is no consensus on any particular theory.This phase is characterized by
several incompatible and incomplete theories. Eventually gravitate to a conceptual frameworks on appropriate choice of methods, terminology and
experiments. Create preliminary assumptions.
!
Phase 2- Normal Science, begins, in which puzzles are solved within the context of the dominant paradigm.As long as there is consensus within the
discipline, normal science continues. Over time, progress in normal science may reveal anomalies, facts that are difficult to explain within the context of
the existing paradigm.While usually these anomalies are resolved, in some cases they may accumulate to the point where normal science becomes
difficult. Certain assumptions trend.
!
Phase 3-This phase is a crisis. Crises are often resolved within the context of normal science. However, after significant efforts of normal science within
a paradigm fail, science may enter the next phase. Assumptions are flawed.
!
Phase 4- Scientific revolution is the phase in which the underlying assumptions of the field are reexamined and a new paradigm is established. Test
assumptions.
!
Phase 5- Post-Revolution, the new paradigm's dominance is established and so scientists return to normal science, solving puzzles within the new
paradigm. Paradigm shift.

33. – said no-one in Silicon Valley ever.
“LET’STAKE A PRO-ACTIVE FIRST-PRINCIPLE
APPROACHTOWARDS CREATING SOLUTIONS
FOR HUMANITY’S PROBLEMS.”

34. PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR DECISION-MAKING
1. DESIGNTHINKING APPLIEDTO PROBLEMS/GOALS

35. · Understand the problem: Get an initial understanding of the problem
e.g Want to improve Healthcare/Need to understand constraints for biotech industry
!
·Observe users/field: Observe the industry at hand, talk to those involved, observe physical spaces and
places.Take a hands-on approach and document the problems found
!
· Interpret the results: Interpret the empirical findings, look for pinch points/ problems that if solved
could work as industrial catalysts
!
· Generate ideas (Ideate): Engage in cross-discipline brainstorming sessions to generate as many ideas as
possible (in other words, expand the solution space) e.g What ideas/tools existing or otherwise, would
create a paradigm shift?
!
· Identify Areas for Possible Collaboration: Prevent overlap, shorten roadmap
!
· Prototype, experiment: Look for companies working in these areas (may not be original industry
space)
!
· Test, implement, improve: Test these tools, implement them with industry, and refine the design
(narrow down the solution space again; solution-driven phase).Through this, we can verify the market size.
!
!
We need to work on broadening horizons to find those outlier ideas that become breakthroughs

36. Fundamentally important work is often disregarded at first

37. CONTRIBUTION
VS
SOCIAL RECOGNITION

38. SHORTTERM
- Test assumptions
in industries
- Create companies
- Really, REALLY think
about strategy
(it’s like chess)
LONGTERM
- Education**
- Lay foundations
**Disrupting education to create more outlier thinkers =
hasten paradigm shift

39. = Like humans, we are individually both significant and
insignificant
Pointilism
The artistic
technique of painting
with dots

40. But in the end..

41. THANKYOU