John Brodie Donald

John Brodie Donald
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    • What is Catataxis?
    • Catataxis – the Book
    • Catatactic Levels
    • Systemic risk & catataxic shift
    • Categorisation destroys informationThe act of categorising something removes it from its context and the loss of this contextual information can lead to major failure in the future – like the global financial crisis
    • Complexity requires simplicityA complex economy requires division of labour. The more specialised each individual becomes the more complexity can evolve in the group as a whole. Single cell organisms can only evolve into complex multicellular creatures if cells become specialised – each doing one particular simple task
    • Order requires ChaosOrder at a higher level requires disorder beneath it. This is the opposite of the maxim “as above, so below”. Functioning markets need robust disagreement between buyers and sellers. Market crashes only happen when everyone has the same (negative) opinion.
    • More of the same is differentA quantitative change becomes a qualitative change in the end. This is sometimes expressed as ‘quantity has a quality all its own’ or more simply ‘more of the same is different’
  • Bolt from the Blue
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    • The Catataxic baguette
    • General McChrystal’s catataxic blunder
    • If you build it they won’t come
    • How Microsoft’s management killed innovation
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October 2018

More of the same is different

Costa Concordia: catataxic catastrophe

On the centenary of the Titanic disaster of 1912 another huge cruse ship sank. The Costa Concordia ran aground in January 2012 hitting a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Although most of the passengers and crew were evacuated safely over a 6 hour period, 32 people died. There is a Read more…

By John Brodie Donald, 4 yearsOctober 30, 2018 ago
Order requires Chaos

If you build it they won’t come

I was working on a local history project in Kent (where I live) when a friend gave me some old photos. They showed men in frock coats handling hops on long trestle tables. These are city workers handling an agricultural product. It took me some time to track down where Read more…

By John Brodie Donald, 4 yearsOctober 28, 2018 ago
Categorisation destroys information

General McChrystal’s catataxic blunder

General Stanley McChrystal, the most senior military commander in Afghanistan, was summoned to the White House in 2010 and sacked by President Obama following a candid interview in Rolling Stone magazine. What does this demonstrate? Well, one conclusion is all is well. Here is proof that the military is subordinate Read more…

By John Brodie Donald, 4 yearsOctober 28, 2018 ago
More of the same is different

The Catataxic baguette

One of the great joys of a holiday in France is the early morning trip to the boulangerie, in my case the Ti Ar Bara in Audierne. The baker has been up since 3.00am, working hard for your sybaritic pleasure. And what a true pleasure it is. As that gorgeous Read more…

By John Brodie Donald, 4 yearsOctober 27, 2018 ago
Complexity requires simplicity

How Microsoft’s management killed innovation

Vanity Fair in July 2012 had a great article titled “Microsoft’s lost decade”. It described how the corporate giant lost its way and changed from being an indomitable technology Titan to a has-been. Just as IBM did a decade earlier. The reason? A management technique known as “stack ranking”. Every Read more…

By John Brodie Donald, 4 yearsOctober 27, 2018 ago
Recent Posts
  • Brexit and Arrow’s impossibility theorem
  • The law of large numbers and the meaning of life
  • Intangible assets and the catataxic gap
  • Lynn Margulis and the eukaryotic cell
  • Costa Concordia: catataxic catastrophe
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