💠 Sunday Scaries (08/23/20)
Funding public goods, Bloom's two-sigma problem, an alternative to corporate policies
Hi everyone,
Writing to you from Los Angeles.
I’m still in the process of looking for my sailboat. One of my favorite parts of this search has been digging into obscure internet forums. These places are a treasure of the internet.
The best forums are filled with smart, funny people who are more than willing to share what they know. Plus, it’s all public. If you ever need to learn something in a hurry, you could do worse than by starting with a forum.
What’s New This Week:
You Are What You Read: My latest essay explores the striking similarities between the obesity epidemic of the 00’s and today’s social media use. I believe that the relationship between social media and mental health is something that few people talk about today, but will seem obvious in ten years.
Food For Thought: One of my most popular posts from this time last year. I discuss why social media is like junk food and some strategies for digital dieting.
In This Week’s Edition:
[📈 Economics] How to Fund Public Goods: A great summary explaining one of the most exciting topics no one is talking about. Quadratic funding is a mechanism described in a new whitepaper published by Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum. Understanding how to effectively fund public goods is a key component of the ongoing development of open-source projects like Ethereum, Wikipedia, and Linux.
[🍎 Education] Literature review of Bloom’s Two Sigma Problem: Mastery learning is a cheat code for education. This fantastic literature review from José Luis Ricón explores the relationship between student performance and the teaching method used. The highest performing groups received both tutoring and Direct Instruction, a technique that separates learners by skill rather than age. If you are interested in learning a new topic, consider finding a relevant course that uses mastery learning for the best results.
[⚙️ Business] Don’t scar on the first cut: Corporate policies are often counterproductive — this is the best explanation I’ve ever seen that explains why. Don’t implement a policy when a story will do the job.
Thanks for reading,
Phil
Sunday Scaries is a newsletter that answers simple questions with surprising answers. The author of this publication is currently living from his car and traveling across the United States. You can subscribe by clicking the link below. 👇