There's a funny Star Wars internet meme I saw yesterday for the first time even though it's probably been around for years. If you read Jason Fried's business/life book Rework (jump to Amazon's used copies for $7), you might think - like I do - that it's not only funny but also vitally important. While the meme image itself is inappropriate to post here, suffice it to say it involves Solo shooting at Vader in Cloud City in the middle of Episode 5. The image encourages one to "Be Like Han!" (psst: Google that) and "Start Shooting!" It's here that the connection with Fried's book should be apparent, but if it's not let me give you just a few of the titles of his 2- to 3-page chapters:
Ch. 2: Learning from Mistakes is Overrated
Ch. 3: Planning is Guessing
Ch. 6: Enough with "Entrepreneurs" (My favorite chapter; innovation is not a French country club)
Ch. 7: Make a Dent in the Universe
Ch. 9: Start Making Something ("Ideas are abundant, execution is what counts")
Ch. 11: Draw a Line in the Sand
Ch. 14: You Need Less than You Think (goes well with Ch. 17: Less Mass)
The list of Han-like phrases continues; that's not even a tenth of them: Embrace constraints; Ignore the details early on; Making the call is making progress; Tone is in your fingers - equipment is a crutch; Launch Now; Meetings are toxic; Good enough is fine; And on. And on. It's like Solo himself wrote half of these 88 essays one night back in the Stormtrooper barracks, desperately clinging to his boyhood dreams of being a smuggler, a space pirate, and a Rebel. (Too bad Han was born on Corellia.)
If this book sounds like an atypical motivation for someone studying the trench-scarred battleground of the dismal science, think again: it's refreshing. What Fried is saying makes good, rational sense. While parts of his vantage seem attributable to a healthy familiarity with The Art of War, I doubt very much Fried would argue or defend against the accusation. It is, after all, one of the first historical texts that modern business leaders use as a worthy reference, so Fried puts himself in good company.
So: internet meme, Han Solo, shoot first (and always?), Rework, Jason Fried and Sun Tzu - what's the point? Today's articles.
Each of them pertains to a different angle on renewable energy and green industry, namely: solar; fracked natural gas (SPOILER: the article makes a solid case for short-term support); and even the first inter-coastal underwater wave turbine in the US (it's in Maine).
If you are an economics student, keep in mind our buddy Han Solo as you read these. To ground the metaphor, think of how innovation-champions like Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen are Han Solos, just like Fried. Their work illuminates the topics of "first-mover advantage" and even adds to Political Economics by taking an effective, new approach to promoting understanding of patent law and other IPR. They describe perfectly how rent-seeking behavior can hamper innovation and force a decrease total welfare. For example, I haven't heard anyone who knows about the ($1 BILLION) ruling in Apple's favor ask "what could Samsung have brought to the consumer market for a billion bucks?" Instead, Apple seems to have turned to extracting rents from other firms by way of the courts in lieu of fielding an innovative product line.
These topics are important. Public discussions about smart power grids - who owns power when the consumers become their own suppliers? - grey water, and bio-engineering of both humans and plants are popping up in nearly every public forum and media.
(Here's a question: if you "design" your offspring in a medical lab, choosing gender, hair color, and personality traits, is - not should - that offspring your considered "intellectual property?" What are some of the Type 1 and Type 2 costs associated with this policy?)
The End of Global Warming: How to Save the Earth in 2 Easy Steps.
Ocean Power Finally Comes Online
The Economics of Installing Solar
(NOTE: I'm aware the "Han Shot First" meme is a different, unrelated meme from quite a while ago. But, this more recent one echoes that call, and so better reinforces my metaphorical tangent to first-mover advantages.)
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