CONCEPTS

Terms I have coined and keep building on.

  1. Non-Ergodic Thinking

    You live one path through time, not the average across many lives.

    OriginFrom the Greek ergon, work, joined to hodos, path. In an ergodic system one long path eventually reaches every state, so the average describes it. Non-ergodic means it never does.

  2. Protean Uncertainty

    The problem reshapes itself in response to your move against it.

    OriginFrom Proteus, the sea god of the Odyssey, who met every move against him with a new shape. Lion, serpent, leopard, running water. The prophecy went only to the man who held on through all of them.

    Read the essayWhy the future fights back
  3. Alean Thinking

    You can know the odds. You never know which one you'll live.

    OriginFrom alea, the Latin for a die. It is the root of aleatory, which means governed by the throw rather than by skill or foresight.

    Essay in progress

  4. The Strategy Horizon Problem

    The horizon you assume shapes your strategy. Your strategy shapes the horizon you get.

  5. Bimodal Decision Strategies

    Hold one position that survives anything and one that catches everything. Nothing in the middle.

    OriginLatin bi, twice, joined to modus, measure. In statistics a bimodal distribution has two peaks with a trough between them, which is the shape the strategy takes.

    Essay in progress

Julius leaning over a sheet of paper on a lakeside jetty, marker in hand, looking up from the page.