Reigniting American Industry and Fossilized Footprints | Feeding Frenzy 28
In this week's edition, we have two podcasts. The first is with Jocko and his business partner Pete Roberts. Pete is the founder of Origin USA, and they discuss how they are reigniting American industry. The second is with Adam Grant on The Knowledge Project with Shane Parish. Worth reading is an article that pushes back how long humans have been on the North American continent by thousands of years. And as always, a few other ideas worth your time!
Worth Listening
"I Can Make That Work." Reigniting American Industry | Jocko Podcast
In this podcast, Jocko is joined by his business partner Pete Roberts. This podcast is a round-table discussion on what Pete's company Origin USA went through last year. I've listened to the other podcasts Pete has had with Jocko, but this one hit a bit differently for me. First, a brief primer, if you're moderately well versed, you know that China and many developing countries are now manufacturing powerhouses. Even as a student, a common theme was that nothing is made here anymore because it costs too much money. Everyone shrugs and moves on. I believe that at the core of America is a nation of builders. If given a reason, we can be manufacturing again. When Ford started his car company, it was due to the job demand that helped usher in a middle class which led to so much innovation in the 1920s. Or, during WWII, we outproduced everyone else because our lives depended on it. I think this podcast serves as a small step into giving this nation a reason to roll up its sleeves again.
Adam Grant: Rethinking Your Position | The Knowledge Project
Adam Grant is a Professor of Psychology at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the author of five books, including his most recent release, the New York Times bestseller Think Again. He also serves as the host of WorkLife, a TED original podcast.
In too many organizations, people are counted as successful if they get a good result and as having failed if they get a bad result. And the problem is, it often takes years to find out what the results were. It's very easy for people to persist with a failing project for a long time and convince themselves and everyone else around them that they're on the right path.
Think about how much time you spend in your life preaching. You've already found the truth, and your job is to proselytize it. Prosecuting—you find somebody who you think is wrong and your job is to prove it and win your case or come out ahead in the argument. And politicking, where you think, "Okay, I've got a base of people who I'm trying to curry favor with, and so I've got to campaign for their approval and support."
Worth Reading
Fossilized Footprints Push Back Humans on North America to 23,000 years ago | National Park Service
Over the weekend, articles were circulated about new fossilized human footprints that were found in White Sand National Park. The latest research confirms that humans have been in North America for much longer than previously thought. Searching for another source on how this pushed back our arrival to the continent, I found another article titled The Fertile Shore from the Smithsonian Magazine—previously recorded dates around 20,000 years ago in British Colombia's Quadra Island. The distance between Quadra Island and White Sands is roughly 2000 miles. It adds more questions about how humans had migrated if they had already come as far south as New Mexico. Could there have been a population of humans that had settled in South America 25,000 years ago?
Worth Watching
VFX Artist Reveals how Many Solar Panels are Needed to Power the ENTIRE World | Corridor Crew
This video is incredibly well done in highlighting the issue that is energy consumption and it does a great job of showing the scope of the problem. Many sources I've found that talk about renewables tend to find the simple answer but shy away from the how. In this video, Wren is honest that we need more engineers to develop tomorrow's solutions so that a solarpunk future could be a reality.