Notes From The Week #5

Week 33: 15th August - 21st August

August 21, 2022

Cars vs Computers

Tesla's Market Cap (Gigantic) v. Next 10 Automakers v. Tesla's Global Market Share (Minuscule) | Wolf Street

While I know that market dynamics are not wholly reflective of the value produced by companies; they provide interesting observations as to thoughts in the wider economy. I remember seeing the diagram below and being quite confused by it. How did Tesla’s market capitalisation manage to get to a point where it was the same value as the next 10 automakers in the space? Was this an accurate reflection of the state of the automobile industry? However, as I pondered these questions I was reminded of Marc Andreessen’s claim in 2011 that “software is eating the world.” The belief that software companies would disrupt traditional industries at scale. On the basis of this thought then it makes sense. We go wrong when we identify Tesla as only an automaker. They are a software company that happens to make very sophisticated computer with wheels.

Elon Musk has spoken of his belief in thinking and building from first principles. In doing so, you’re no longer provided with the prevailing dogma in the space as your framework but you are able to disassemble the problem and build it again from the ground up.

If we stay with the automobile industry—we can see that since the invention of the automobile just over a century ago, consumers were pretty much stuck with the car they purchased. Sure you could make some changes to the tires, tuning and suspension of a vehicle that could help to improve or preserve the performance of the vehicle. But doing anything such as increasing the power from the engine or adding features to boost performance—often meant swapping parts (complex) or trading up to a more expensive model.

As Tesla designs from a framework that looks at a vehicle as a computer as opposed to machine. It provides them the latitude to serve as a platform for apps that can change and enhance the functions of the “car” as opposed to having its performance frozen in place at the time of purchase. The Tesla Model vehicles receive their software upgrades through wireless links embedded in the cars. In the same way we upgrade our phones and are provided with (hopefully) improved design and performance—the same model is being used by Tesla. Putting it in a category all by itself.

Literature: Some Thoughts on Chinua Achebe

“‘Very well put,’ conceded Christopher as he took a large piece of meat from the egos soup. They were eating pounded yams and egusi soup with their fingers. The second generation of educated Nigerians had gone back to eating pounded yams or garri with their fingers for the good reason that it tasted better that way. Also for the even better reason that they were not as scared as the first generation of being called uncivilised.” — Chinua Achebe, No Longer At Ease

After a brief hiatus from fiction—I recently revisited the genre beginning with my favourite writer—Chinua Achebe. In some ways, Chinua Achebe saved my life—at a pertinent crossroads he imprinted in my mind that I too could stand at the centre of a story. That my story mattered and it was required of me to share in total authenticity my own truth. Growing up in the U.K. the majority of the stories I saw and read had people like me only mentioned peripherally. We tended not to occupy the centre-stage and in so many respects we were taught to be content with our occasional accessorial mention. Being whisked to Umuofia all those years back began the work of undoing all those notions. 

I marvelled at Chinua’s authenticity and bravery in embracing the centrality of his and his people’s story. It was because of this example that I took the chronicling and documenting of my own story incredibly seriously. As one of his characters in Things Fall Apart, Uchendu, states; “There is no story that is not true.” To embrace your own story is to allow yourself to be weaved into the wider latticework of the human story. A truly wonderful and humbling opportunity. 

The late Toni Morrison’s recount of the impact Chinua Achebe’s work had on her is beautifully penned (as always is the case with Toni Morrison). In her essay she writes: 

“He constituted a complete education for me. Learning how to disassemble the gaze that I was wrestling with (the habitual but self-conscious writing toward a nonblack reader that threatened and coated much African American literature); discovering how to eliminate, to manipulate the Eurocentric eye in order to stretch and plumb my own imagination; I attribute these learned lessons to Chinua Achebe. […] Achebe’s work liberated my artistic intelligence as nothing else had ever done. I became fit to reenter and reinhabit my own milieu without the services of a native guide.”

Make It Sound Like Jazz

I haven’t yet managed to get through Winning Time—the HBO series documenting the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. But I’ve seen a few of the clips from the show on YouTube and it looks pretty good. The scene below stuck with me. It depicts the first time that the philosophy of showtime basketball was presented to the Lakers team. Making a break from the conventional basketball that characterised the NBA prior and ushering in the Showtime basketball of the Lakers that electrified the NBA in the 1980s.

“A classical offence is a lot like classical music. Coaches put a bunch of notes in place. X’s and O’s. And all the players are supposed to do is hit their cues—it makes a pretty melody but it’s the same song every time and everybody in the building knows exactly where it’s going. So how does an offence go from classical to jazz? You put the music in the player’s hands … instead of chaining to spots you keep them moving—improvise so that they can flow like flocks of birds or butterflies because what seems or sounds like chaos is actually the sympathy of mother nature.”

In classical music, the classical performer’s aim is to play the composition as is written. This is not the case with Jazz. Central to Jazz music is improvisation. Jazz is the product of interaction and collaboration. The jazz performer is allowed and encouraged to interpret a tune in individual ways, rarely performing the same composition twice. The composition takes the direction of the performer who is allowing their mood, experience, and interaction with band members or audience members to guide the melody. Jazz is not to be predicted but to be experienced.

Following outlined compositions has its place but living in such a fascinating moment in human history why should we not commit to making our life sound like jazz? Don’t play the composition as it is because that’s what you’ve been told to do. Find your own rhythm in the melody. Give yourself permission to be free. Explore different harmonies. Interact with life and create your own masterpiece.

“Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” - Miles Davis

I’ll let Miles see you out. Until next week. Peace.