In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.
– Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
All posts by “Rajeev Mantri”
Planning vs Design
Planning applies established procedures to solve a largely understood problem within an accepted framework. Design inquires into the nature of a problem to conceive a framework for solving that problem. In general, planning is problem solving, while design is problem setting. Where planning focuses on generating a plan—a series of executable actions—design focuses on learning about the nature of an unfamiliar problem.
Problem Formulation
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Bitcoin and Emerging Markets
In my op-ed for Mint, I write about the potential applications bitcoin could have specifically for emerging markets like India: India’s banking and financial services industry has incumbents that are inert, sloth-like and highly risk-averse. The banking industry in particular…
Knowing The Other’s Side Argument
I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do.
Free Will
Free will exists in situations in which people who are similar to each other make different choices.
Horizontal Progress vs Vertical Progress
In his new book Zero To One, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel writes: At the macro level, the single word for horizontal progress is globalization – taking things that work somewhere and making them work everywhere. China is the…
Advances Against Poverty
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded – here and there, now and then – are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people.