Our wants, on the other hand, are more complex. Whimsical. Time-consuming. We create them by choosing from a menu of possibilities that changes along with our environment. And boy, has our environment changed. For millennia, we foraged in the wild. Today, we’re being suffocated by abundance.

This abundance makes it fair to expect individual desires within a modern tribe to be totally random. Unique, even.

But they aren’t.

Everywhere you look, you’ll see groups of people who want the same things. The newest iPhone. Gucci handbags. Yeezys. Expensive degrees. And lately ­– pixelated JPEGS.

Like a bunch of neighboring metronomes that spontaneously synchronize, our desires coalesce with those of our social group. We desire what other humans desire. In other words, our desires are mimetic.

But why does this occur? A few reasons.

Firstly, wants are confusing. It is impossible to know what to want when there’s an endless, ever-changing list to pick from, with no reference point provided by evolution. So we look for social proof. If someone we admire wants something, we assume it must be good enough for us to want it too.

Secondly, we are wired to play status games. High status had evolutionary advantages in our time as hunter-gatherers – it gave us easier access to resources for survival and mates for reproduction. And although we’re not living in jungles anymore, we’re still programmed to play the game, even if we’re only hunting for promotions over our peers at a job that we despise.

Thirdly, we’re signaling machines. By imitating the desires of a person we look up to, we signal to others that we possess some of the qualities of that person. This can be used for signaling to potential mates, as is with folks who imitate the latest fashion trend set by an attractive supermodel, or even for signaling to potential investors, as was the case with Elizabeth Holmes, who managed to pull off the Steve Jobs look for years before she found herself in prison garb.

Mimetic Desire is the reason we become like the people we spend time with or look up to. They shape what we choose to want, often unconsciously. And what we choose to want impacts how we spend our lives.

Since our time is limited, it pays to pay attention to our desires. Escaping them is a futile endeavor for those of us that aren’t monks. Reordering them is more realistic.

So find desires that stand the test of time. Those that don’t result in zero-sum games where you compete with your peers. Those that aren’t in conflict with other desires. Find desires that can create a journey you will enjoy, for the destination is never guaranteed. Prioritize a few of them. Rid yourself of the rest.

And finally, be grateful for your desires that life has already been kind enough to fulfill.

If you’d like to go further down the rabbit hole of Mimetic Desire, I recommend a book called Wanting, by Luke Burgis. For more advanced reading, check out Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, by the French Philosopher René Girard.

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Dysevolution hasn’t yet found a home in the dictionary, but I bet it soon will. It’s a term coined by Daniel Lieberman and refers to a phenomenon you’re experiencing right now.

As opposed to evolution – which optimizes a species for survival and reproduction in an ever-changing environment, dysevolution is the process by which a species changes its environment to become less suited to its own survival and lets those changes persist from one generation to the next.

And no, I’m not referring to climate change.

As humans, our capabilities have advanced so quickly that innovation and cultural norms have altered our environments faster than anything else.

• Diets have gone from being balanced to being filled with processed food, resulting in problems ranging from cavities to diabetes.

• Sterile environments at an early age have reduced our exposure to germs. Our immune systems have been taken by surprise, resulting in them overreacting to harmless substances causing allergic reactions.

• Automobiles combined with the internet have made us more sedentary than we’re supposed to be. The result? Brittle bones, higher body fat percentages, Osteoporosis, and heart attacks.

We might have normalized these problems today, but in the history of our species, they were rare. 

As the most intelligent species on planet earth, why haven’t we figured out how to eliminate these diseases of our own making?

It turns out we’re not as smart as we think.

Our ignorance of delayed feedback loops contributes heavily to the persistence of these diseases. Why stress about cavities ten years from now when you can enjoy chocolate today? To compound this effect, we’ve gotten better at treating symptoms of these diseases. For example, as dental care becomes more sophisticated and less painful, sugary processed food becomes more appealing. 

Another reason these diseases persist is that the problems they cause don’t seriously threaten reproduction, even though they diminish our quality of life. 

They occur after we’ve crossed our reproductive prime (Osteoporosis or diabetes), or, like cavities - they are mild enough in their early stages to not seriously impact our reproductive success rate. If a disease prevented us from reproducing, those susceptible to it wouldn’t have heirs.

Misaligned incentives in our existing medical and governance systems also contribute to dysevolution. Hospitals and Pharmaceutical companies are incentivized to keep developing more convenient cures for symptoms because it makes them more money. Governments get more brownie points for looking after the sick than they would if they advised the healthy.

And so, the spiral continues.

While these diseases might not seem very problematic, there is another set of diseases of dysevolution that is fast approaching our species – mental health diseases.

Our brains are not wired to live in a world where information is abundant, but connection is scarce. Like cavities, diabetes, or hypertension, we will pass on the conditions of these diseases to our children. While they’re unlikely to seriously affect our reproductive success, if we’re not careful, they will make life a lot less pleasant.

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Five days ago, an artwork by Beeple sold for $69 million.

Similar headlines, different contexts. You see - the latter was a digital artwork.

While art historians obsessed over da Vinci’s painting to make sure it wasn’t a copy, Beeple’s artwork could be duplicated identically with just a right-click + copy + paste.

Digital art has always suffered from this problem. Until recently, that is. 

A new technology called NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) has changed that.

NFTs are like stamps of authenticity for digital assets.

They’re based on blockchain technology, and in the next 3 minutes, you're going to understand why there’s so much hype around them.

Digital Scarcity

The term ‘Non-Fungible’ sounds complex, but it really isn’t.

Non-Fungible items are just those that cannot be substituted because they contain something that makes them unique. Most physical assets are non-fungible – the device you’re reading this on, the notebook on your desk, or a painting by da Vinci. 

Since non-fungibility implies uniqueness, it also implies scarcity. And as you know – an asset that becomes scarce usually sees its value increase.

You probably intuitively understand this phenomenon with physical assets, but it's equally applicable to digital assets.

Thanks to blockchain-based authentication by NFTs – digital assets like art, audio tracks, gifs, videos, and even Tweets can now be converted into non-fungible entities - each with a unique identifier. 

Creators can then sell these to the highest bidder - sometimes for their utility as assets, and other times for the bragging rights they come with.

Widening Trade

Digital non-fungible assets are not entirely new. 

Some video games have had weapons or outfits that only certain players could access. However, these assets existed and could be traded only within the confines of the video game. Besides, if a video game company shut down, the asset went with it.

Non-Fungible Tokens change that. 

‘Tokenization’ standardizes these digital assets. This allows them to be owned independently of platforms and traded across multiple platforms. Like a country opening up its borders, these digital assets can be sold to the highest bidder in the entire digital universe, not just the platform in which it was created.

This makes these assets more secure and liquid, and attracts investors, both – large and small.

Revolutionizing Creator Economics

Besides increasing valuations and attracting investors, some NFTs allow creators to define conditions that govern the existence of their creations.

The most common type enables creators to be compensated every time an asset created by them is traded. If a creator gets famous and their old work starts being traded at higher valuations, the creator will still get a cut.

Suddenly, digital creators have discovered that they're sitting on a goldmine that didn’t exist until recently. As with any new mine, more miners are bound to arrive.

The field is just getting started, and we're in for a crazy ride. But for now, dear reader – you’re all caught up.

Thanks for making it this far! Please share this post with someone who might be curious about NFTs

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PS: While trying to figure out how all this works, I made my own NFT. If you’re interested, you can buy it here for the grand price of 1 ETH.

Thanks to my art expert friend Joe for his help during the research phase of this piece.

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Wouldn’t you find it strange? You might assume that the parking attendant planned on renting it out while you were away. 

Yet, none of us bat an eyelid when our banks pay us to park our money in them. 

Guess what? They rent out most of it. It’s called Fractional Reserve Banking (FRB), and it’s synonymous with modern banking.

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Here’s an example to illustrate how it works:

5 gentlemen walk into a bank and deposit $100 each into their accounts. Instead of charging them to keep their money safe and accessible, the bank pays them 2% in annual interest. 

The bankers are confident that not more than 10% of deposits will be withdrawn at any point. That’s just $50 out of $500 that the gentlemen have deposited. The remaining $450 will always be sitting idle. And as they (should) say - a vault filled with idle money is a banker’s workshop.

With blessings from regulators, the bankers decide to use the $450 to ‘create value for their shareholders’. They lend it out to some young ladies at a 10% interest rate.

The bank is now earning $45 per year in interest from the ladies (10% of $450), paying $10 to the gentlemen (2% of $500), and pocketing the difference of $35. The bank is laughing all the way to, well – itself.

Take a moment to consider what happened: The gentlemen think they have $500 in their accounts, and the young ladies have $450 in their purses. What started as $500 is now $950. 

If the young ladies deposit their $450 in another bank, this process will repeat itself all the way to $5000. If you’ve heard the term’ money multiplier’, this is what it refers to.

If the gentlemen attempt to withdraw more money than the bank expected them to, the bank will be unable to give it to them. When this news spreads, other depositors will rush to withdraw their money, all with the same result. This is known as a ‘bank run’.

FRB works well in the short run.

By not making it obvious to depositors that their money will be loaned out, banks create an artificially cheap source of capital for themselves to profit from while creating income for depositors and cheap credit for borrowers. 

However, this morally questionable capital-raising strategy creates problems in the long run. When loans go bad – and they do – depositors suffer. 

There isn’t an easy way out, though. Moving away from FRB will cause massive short-term pain for all stakeholders and almost definitely crash the economy. Reform is unlikely, and gradual replacement is the only option.

Overall, Fractional Reserve Banking is like smoking. Easy to start, difficult to quit, and occasionally, it’ll send the economy to the hospital.

Unfortunately, we’re already addicted. 

To stay safe, I’m holding most of my wealth in assets other than money in my savings account. 

I’d recommend doing the same.

Thanks to Kyla, Peter, Joey, Ayomide, Mikal, Christopher, Sasha, and Reuben for providing feedback on early drafts of this piece.

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Caffeine is my favorite drug.

Every morning, before I start my day, I brew myself a cup of coffee. As the caffeine enters my system, I transform from a groggy, grumpy person, to a fully awake, slightly less grumpy person.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your love for caffeine was harming you, I finally have an answer. As with most complex questions, the answer is – “It depends”.

Specifically, it depends on your position on the curve.

Which curve? This one.

Consuming up to 400mg of caffeine (4 small cups of coffee) per day can be good for you. It ramps up your body’s ability to burn fat, improves your mood, decreases the likelihood of depression, stimulates your brain, and protects against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

However, anything over that amount will harm you. As shown on the Caffeine Curve, ingesting 10g of caffeine can kill you.

Since it’s unlikely that you’re on the verge of dying from drinking 100 cups of coffee, let’s move on to understanding how caffeine works.

But first, let me take you on a short detour about adenosine.

Understanding adenosine

Your body gets energy by breaking down a molecule called ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). As is obvious, one of the things it breaks it down into is the ‘A’ in ATP – Adenosine.

The cells in your body have receptors for adenosine – think of these as puzzle pieces into which the adenosine molecules fit perfectly, and thereby trigger a downstream reaction.

These reactions result in your body getting ready for bed. They make you sleepy, slow down your heartbeat, regulate your bladder, calm your muscles, and make you feel more at peace and less ‘pumped’ about life.

Okay, detour over. Now back to caffeine.

Caffeine - The Imposter

Caffeine’s molecular structure is similar to that of adenosine.

It’s so similar, that adenosine receptors confuse it for adenosine itself. When you consume a caffeinated beverage, these caffeine molecules bind to adenosine receptors, leaving adenosine out in the cold.

However, since caffeine isn’t identical to adenosine, it doesn’t trigger the same downstream reactions that adenosine would’ve.

As a result, you don’t feel sleepy, your heartbeat doesn’t slow down, your muscles don’t calm down, and you still feel pumped about life.

Caffeine doesn’t actually stimulate you via a direct shot of energy; it just makes you feel energetic by stopping bodily processes that would otherwise make you feel tired.

Don’t overdo it

As you already know, anything in excess is usually bad.

When you consume too much caffeine, eventually, your body catches up. It creates more adenosine receptors for the adenosine that’s feeling left out.

When this happens, you need to consume more caffeine to continue feeling pumped about life. If you stopped, you’d experience a caffeine crash. This results in a vicious cycle of caffeine consumption, with Starbucks being the biggest winner.

The only way out is to gradually reduce your caffeine consumption till your adenosine receptor levels have normalized.

Once that happens– consume caffeine moderately and live your best life.

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Welcome to another issue of Complexity Condensed. Each week I explain a complex topic in exactly 500 words. If you’re not a subscriber, and you'd like to change that, you can do so below.

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Freemasonry is the world’s most famous secret society whose objective is to ‘take good men and make them better'. If you’re surprised by this seemingly benign goal and were expecting something a tad more satanic, I don’t blame you. I blame Dan Brown.

The Emergence of Freemasonry

While some sources peg the origins of Freemasonry to ancient Egypt, most scholars agree that it emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages.

It was a time when cathedrals were being built all over the continent. Stones and stonemasons were in high demand. While stones were readily available, skilled stonemasons were hard to find. These stonemasons were a tight-knit community that was protective of their trade secrets and averse to outsiders.

It was common for most stonemasons to finish work at one cathedral and then travel to the site of another to continue working.

This created two problems:

1. Stonemasons needed a way to identify each other.

2. Traveling stonemasons needed cheap places to stay.

Since fingerprint scanners and Airbnb didn’t exist, their solution to both these problems was Freemasonry.

Freemasonry was an organization that solved the identification problem through secret words, symbols, and handshakes, and the accommodation problem by building Masonic Lodges.

The Transition

Eventually, the demand for cathedrals cooled off, and the stonemasons' traveling days ended. Like a start-up that overinvested in assets the market didn't need, the Freemasons were forced to pivot.

They opened membership to laypeople and transitioned from being an organization of stonemasons who built cathedrals, to a fraternity of men looking to improve themselves and build a better world. In other words, Freemasonry became an institution that aimed to create more moral men.

Men of all faiths were permitted to apply, but applications needed to be approved by existing members. Masonic Lodges began to be used as meeting points for members to socialize and discuss anything other than politics and religion, which were forbidden. The secret handshakes, words, and rituals remained, although they were now used to promote a sacred sense of commonality among members, rather than as identification tools.

In part due to the secrecy that shrouded the organization, demand for memberships skyrocketed. Over time, Freemasonry became one of the most powerful networks on the planet, with a membership list that included the likes of Winston Churchill and George Washington.

Freemasonry Today

After thriving for centuries and expanding its footprint all over the globe, Freemasonry is in need of a pivot once again. New memberships have dropped, and today, in the US alone, Freemasonry has about 1.3 million members, down from 4 million in 1959.

The negative portrayal of Freemasons in the media and the loss of secrecy in a hyperconnected world have been blamed for this decline.

If you ask me – Freemasonry needs to tweak its pitch.

In a world where people are fatigued by online discussions about politics and religion, maybe Freemasonry can make a comeback by pitching the exact opposite – an offline community to discuss everything else.

If it did, I'd sign up.

That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed this piece, I’d be grateful if you shared it.

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Special thanks to Na’im Al Amin, Sam Barkley, and Adam Tank, for helping me contact actual Freemasons as a part of my research for this piece.

I’d also like to thank Meeta, Abu, Charlie, Yishi, Anant, James, Vinit, and Alberto for helping out with the edits. I know that’s a long list of folks, but such is the power of the community at On Deck and Compound Writing.

Finally, thank you for making it all the way to the end!

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If you’re like me, you get your first dopamine hit of the day - you reach for your phone.

Dopamine is a chemical in your brain that sends messages between nerve cells.

It has many functions but is most known for its ability to make you feel pleasure while anticipating rewards. The right dopamine levels help you stay happy, be more productive, and learn faster.

With this in mind, I’ll try to give you a steady supply of dopamine hits while you read this article.

If I’m successful, you’ll get at least 6.

Dopamine and Behavior

Dopamine drives a chunk of your behavior, sometimes even against your better judgment.

Addicted to gambling? Blame dopamine. Opened Twitter for the 96th time today? Dopamine again. Wasted 30 minutes on Instagram while sitting on the toilet? This time it’s probably that spicy curry.

Interestingly, dopamine spikes are the sharpest when the probability of a reward is around 50%, not when it is guaranteed. In other words, you get a larger dopamine hit while gambling than you do while waiting for your salary.

Casino owners know this. They make your chances of winning seem like 50%, even when they’re actually much lower. This makes you want to keep playing and ensures that casinos are always swimming in cash.

Most apps also use this knowledge of dopamine to keep you hooked. Instagram moved away from showing photos in reverse chronological order and instead now shows a curated list of pictures that changes when refreshed. It keeps you expecting something new, without knowing whether it’ll be good. In other words, it keeps you hooked.

Dopamine, Survival & Dominance

Dopamine has its downsides, but in evolution’s winding path to your doorstep, it’s been a net positive.

Its most obvious benefit is that it reinforces behavior that helps with survival. For example, it’s the reason you crave calorie-dense foods. These foods helped your ancestors survive in the wild, and it’s not dopamine’s fault that you’ve filled your fridge with chocolates instead of fruits.

Dopamine might also be a contributing factor in our species’ world domination. Our nervous systems exhibit higher levels of dopamine as compared to apes, which enables us to work for rewards in the distant future, sometimes as far as after death – a.k.a. heaven.

As you probably know – belief in the afterlife drives most religions and is responsible for ensuring mass cooperation. This helps us not kill each other, and instead, work together to dominate the world.

Dampening Dopamine

Our nervous systems evolved in the wild, but our environments today are drastically different. Dopamine hits have become more frequent, and most of them are now distractions.

To maintain your sanity, I recommend removing pointless dopamine triggers from your environment. Start with your smartphone - uninstall distracting apps, batch notifications from others, and sleep with your phone far away.

In a world that’s bound to get crazier, control your dopamine hits instead of letting them control you.

That’s it for this week!

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Thanks, and see you next week.

I’m only half-joking.

Stoicism is a school of Philosophy that originated in Athens in 300BC and endured for five centuries. It emphasized the importance of living a virtuous, rational, and disciplined life.

Although Stoicism isn’t mainstream anymore, a large number of successful people swear by it.

Besides, Stoic quotes are currently the rage on Instagram.

In my quest to explain 500 years of Stoic philosophy in 500 words, I will focus on four values that the Stoics emphasized.

1. Strive to be virtuous despite life’s obstacles

Jesus would’ve been proud of the Stoics.

They were overly concerned with the quality of their character and sought to lead a virtuous life irrespective of their circumstances.

They stressed the need for courage in the face of adversity, moderation while indulging in materialism, and a strong moral compass while making decisions.

Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic and Roman Emperor, is famous for the phrase “What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee”. Besides sounding like a clarion call for Socialism, it succinctly summarizes Stoicism’s obsession with living a virtuous life by putting the needs of others ahead of your own.

2. Accept reality as it is, not as you wish it were

If you’ve heard the term ‘Amor Fati’ and wondered what it meant, today’s your lucky day. It was popularized by Nietzsche and translates to ‘A love of fate’. It also encapsulates a central pillar of Stoic Philosophy – that reality doesn’t care about your opinion, so quit living in denial and accept it as it is.

3. Don’t be swayed by extremes

‘Memento Mori’ is another Latin phrase that is common in Stoic literature. It translates, rather morbidly, to ‘Remember that you will die’.

In two Instagram caption-friendly words, Stoicism manages to inflate deflated egos and deflate inflated ones.

No matter what you’re going through, good or bad, however extreme, meditating on your mortality is bound to center your ego and stabilize your emotions. 

4. Focus on what you control

As humans, our survival instincts trick us into worrying about more than we should. There’s never been a worse time for that instinct to exist than 2020.

The Stoics understood this tendency and campaigned against it.

They knew that while most things were outside their control, their thoughts, actions, and reactions were entirely controllable. They preached a singular focus on these internal events, and an indifference to external ones.

What does Stoicism have to do with getting rich?

In life, the outcomes of your decisions compound over time.

Stoicism is a framework for decision making that maximizes your chances of success in the long term.

Access to opportunities, the ability to make better decisions, and an increase in efficiency sound like jargon you’d find in a business school brochure. 

However, these are useful outcomes in any pursuit of success, irrespective of whether it involves getting rich. 

The best part? You can start working towards them today. And it won’t cost a penny.

That’s it for this week!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and that you’re enjoying the holiday season in whatever capacity 2020 permits.

If you’re stuck at home and looking for an interesting Christmas read, I recommend this fascinating piece about Santa.

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Through the phenomenon of natural selection, you have evolved to be a safety-seeking creature that aims to survive and reproduce, not thrive and reproduce.

Your ancestors only needed to stay alive long enough to find a mate and have kids. It didn’t matter if they fulfilled their dreams in the process (unless their dream was to find a mate and have kids – in which case, they killed two birds with one bone).

This evolutionary advantage of safety over adventure manifests itself in a tendency we fondly call loss aversion, in which the pain from a loss feels more significant than the pleasure from an identical gain.

Confused? Let me explain.

Imagine we’re playing a game in which I toss a coin.

Heads: You pay me $100
Tails: I pay you $100

Would you take the bet? No?

How about this one:

Heads: You pay me $100
Tails: I pay you $120

Still no?

While it might seem perfectly rational to take the second bet, most people won’t do it.

In fact, most people won’t take a bet like this until the potential losses are only half of the potential gains, even though the probabilities of both are identical.

That’s because we’ve evolved to overvalue losses compared to gains.

If you think about this from an evolutionary standpoint, overvaluing losses makes sense.

In the game of evolution, winning implies surviving another day, not forever. However, losing implies death. And death implies that it’s game over for you and your genes.

Humans that were loss averse ended up being more likely to survive and pass on their genes to future generations, of which you, dear reader, are a part.

Another consequence of loss aversion is that humans are risk-averse while winning but risk-loving while losing.

I’ll explain with the help of another imaginary game. 

Q1: Choose one
A] A 90% chance to win $1000 
B] Win $900 guaranteed

Q2: Choose one
A] A 90% chance to lose $1000
B] Lose $900 guaranteed

Let me guess - you picked option B for Q1, and option A for Q2, didn’t you?

This is loss aversion at play. We’re so averse to losing that we become more open to risks when faced with losses, and we prefer to play it safe when faced with gains.

Again, evolutionarily, this makes perfect sense. If you’re facing a loss (death), you take whatever risks you have to take to avoid it.

On the other hand, locking in a guaranteed gain that will help you survive is a better strategy than gambling for a larger gain that will help you thrive.

Now that you know what loss aversion is, should you seek to fight it or embrace it?

Well, it depends on the type of game you’re playing. If the consequences of losing imply that it’s game over, embrace loss aversion.

If not, fight it.

Then, learn from your losses, and try again.

For those of you wondering why I didn’t publish an issue of Complexity Condensed last week – I’ve had a stressful couple of weeks with Covid-19 making its way through my family.

Since I recovered from it a couple of months ago, looking after them was my priority, and writing took a backseat.

I am currently writing this issue from the Covid ward of a hospital where I’ve spent the past 5 days with my father while he undergoes treatment.

Hopefully, things get back to normal soon.

Please send good vibes.

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From an evolutionary perspective, sleep is a strange phenomenon that transforms us into unconscious, ready-to-eat meals for predators. To compensate for the risks it exposes us to, it needs to have tremendous evolutionary benefits. Turns out - it does.

Sleep is like a magic pill that happens to be free. Not only does it make you more productive and less cranky, it also reduces your risk of diabetes, Alzheimer’s, obesity, and heart disease. 

Interestingly, the relationship between sleep and heart disease is tested annually during the switch to Daylight Savings Time - over a billion people wake up an hour earlier than usual, and reports of heart attacks spike the next day.

Types of Sleep

You experience two types of sleep each night - REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement).

• During REM sleep, your brain creates connections between its parts - like a man clearing a path from one area of your brainforest to another.

• During NREM sleep, your brain transfers data from one part to another using the connections formed during REM sleep - like a bunch of people using the paths in your brainforest to get to a new place. 

While NREM sleep helps you remember stuff by shifting data from temporary to permanent locations, REM sleep increases the complexity of your brain and makes you more creative. 

Fascinatingly, our mastery of fire and its effect on REM sleep might be the reason for our dominance as a species. Fire kept predators at bay, and let us sleep on floors instead of trees. This allowed us to get deeper REM sleep, which strengthened the neural connections in our brains. As a result, we were able to perform complex tasks and maintain complex relationships needed for mass cooperation - and eventual dominance.

What makes you sleepy?

While you’re awake, a neurotransmitter called Adenosine builds up in your brain and makes you drowsy. When you sleep, Adenosine breaks down - and the cycle repeats when you wake.

Besides adenosine, your internal body clock (also known as your circadian rhythm) regulates your sleep cycle and makes you sleepy when it’s time for bed.

Not everyone’s a morning person.

Circadian rhythms differ among individuals. Adolescents have circadian rhythms that shift forward, so they're wired to sleep and wake up later than adults. If you're an adolescent reading this - the next time your mom calls you lazy, you know what to say (you’re welcome).

Even among adults, only 40% are naturally 'morning people'. Daily life is designed to favor these folks, while the rest of us repeatedly smash the snooze button on our alarm clocks.

Sleep is the easiest and cheapest way to improve our health, and we’d all benefit from making more time for it.

It's ironic that I write this, it's 4 AM, and I'm sleep deprived. But today, I'd advise you to do as I say, not as I do.

Goodnight.

That’s it for this week.

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One attacked my computer. The other made me spend a fortnight in isolation.

In today's issue, I'm going to explore the latter.

What is a virus?

A virus is a tiny parasite made up of genetic material and surrounded by a protein shell and lipid membrane. 

Scientists have discovered over 2,000 unique viruses that have a total population greater than the number of stars in the universe by a factor of 100 million (if you're wondering what the number is – it's 10 Nonillion).

Viruses are so common that there's a chance you've inhaled a few since you started reading this article. Lucky for you, only 10% of them infect humans.

A Not-So-Fun-Fact

Sometimes, two harmless viruses infect a single cell in an animal, and their genetic materials combine to form a virus that could infect humans. 

This is likely how Sars-Cov-2 came to be.

What do viruses do?

Just like other parasites, viruses depend on a host for survival. They invade cells and use their resources to make copies of themselves. 

There are two tactics that viruses use to multiply:

• The slow and steady: Some viruses integrate their genetic material with that of their host cell. As the host cell creates copies of itself, the virus' genetic material gets copied as well.

• The spray and pray: Some viruses multiply within a host cell, causing it to burst open and send viral particles to other host cells in the vicinity.

This multiplication of viral particles continues till the host either dies or manages to defeat the virus.

Often, before the host's death or recovery, the virus is transmitted to a new host, where the entire process of multiplication repeats itself.

If this cycle goes unchecked for too long, countries get locked down, and humans spend Thanksgiving alone.

Good luck finishing that Turkey by yourself.

What makes a virus successful?

If a virus's success is defined by the number of copies it makes, then the most successful viruses are not the deadliest. 

A deadly virus would kill a host before transmitting itself to another host, thus shooting itself in the foot.

Successful viruses tread the delicate path between being strong enough to overcome a host's immune system and being weak enough to not kill the host before transmission.

We’re just like them.

Of late, viruses have been getting a lot of flak for the trouble they’re causing.

But after all, aren't we just like them?

Hear me out. 

We've survived for millennia by treading the path between exploiting the earth's resources (bypassing our host's immune system) and allowing them to regenerate (keeping our host alive).

But what if we cross that boundary and over-exploit our host till it is unable to sustain us (i.e. dies)?

Or what if our host gets hit by an asteroid (i.e. murdered)?

What would we do?

Well, we’d have to find a new host.

Don’t worry though, Elon has it figured out.

That’s it for this week.

Next week, I’m going to be exploring the science of sleep.

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The Industrial Revolution had changed its economic landscape. Democracy was gaining ground against monarchies. Capitalism was beginning to take shape. And scruffy beards were the latest trend in the world of men's fashion. 

In this very year, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote a book that would influence political thought for centuries to come. 

As you can tell, that book was 'The Communist Manifesto', and the two men were extremely fashionable.

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What is Marxism?

At its core, Marxism is a philosophy that believes in a classless society. 

In the ideal Marxist universe, every person works for the common good. There is no exploitation of labor and no dominant state power. The common people are joint owners of all resources. 

What prompted the emergence of Marxism?

The Industrial Revolution created a class dichotomy in European society, with the bourgeoisie controlling the means of production and the proletariat providing labor. This led to an unequal distribution of wealth and the exploitation of labor. 

Marx was acutely aware of this and became Capitalism's fiercest critic. He criticized it for its instability - with its cyclical booms and busts, and also for the inequality it created among classes. 

Marx considered these problems worth solving and devoted his life to detailing his solutions - the most prominent one being The Communist Manifesto.

What do Marxists want?

Good question.

Marxists seek to do to Capitalism what the abolitionists did to slavery - not reform it, but replace it altogether with a system they believe is superior. 

For Marxists, that superior system is Communism.

How do Marxists plan to get what they want?

Marx believed that the inter-class conflict created by Capitalism would ultimately lead to a revolution in which the proletariat would overthrow the bourgeoisie.

Marx posited that this revolution would be followed by a brief period of Socialism, as a precursor to Communism. During this period of Socialism, the state would control the means of production, and people would have property rights. 

In the final transition to the Marxist Utopia, Marx argued that the proletariat would take collective ownership of the means of production, thereby abolishing class differences. There'd be no religion or government. Production would be based on ability, and consumption would be based on needs.

We'd all live happily ever after as one family.

Has Marxism ever succeeded?

Nope.

Multiple countries have tried, but most failed due to corruption at the interim stage of Socialism. Besides, it has never been a peaceful experiment. Millions have died through violence or starvation at the hands of states that sought to move towards the ideals of Marxism.

Marxism has a noble vision - for humans to retain their humanity while living as one big happy family. 

However, that vision fails to consider that familial bonds have limits.

Most people would take a bullet for their kids, siblings, or parents, but I don't know anyone who'd take a bullet for their fourth cousin's husband, whom they've never met. 

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That’s it for this week.

Next week, I’m going to be exploring how viruses work. Stay tuned!

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Money and Power

To understand the significance of Bitcoin, you must understand the history of money.

Early human societies used shells, grains, and other collectibles as money.

As societies began to trade at a larger scale, these collectibles were replaced by precious metals.

Later, instead of using metals, people began using paper to represent stores of metals.

Eventually, governments decided that even this was too troublesome. They got rid of metals and forced people to transact with paper even though it was intrinsically worthless.

With this move, money became intertwined with state power.

Humans went from trusting the value of something – collectibles & precious metals, to being forced to trust someone - the state. If the state printed more money and reduced the value of yours - tough luck. If it banned some types of money on a whim - too bad.

Technology makes it worse

As time passed, humans figured out how to digitize currency. Online transactions and card transactions became the norm.

To ensure that people didn’t duplicate digital currency the way they duplicated digital music, banks were entrusted with the responsibility of verifying and approving transactions. They did this by maintaining a centralized ledger to record transactions.

This entangled money and power even further.

Governments controlled the banks that controlled digital currency. Unlike paper transactions that were relatively private, digital transactions could be monitored. The government could freeze your account if it had problems with you, or debit your account if you owed it money. It could also determine who you could or couldn’t transact with.

Big Brother would always be watching.

Satoshi, the Savior

In 2008, a pseudonymous person called Satoshi Nakamoto invented a peer-to-peer digital currency to solve the problems created by the entanglement of money and state. He called it Bitcoin.

Bitcoin verifies transactions without the need for banks or a central authority. It uses a decentralized ledger known as the blockchain that exists simultaneously on a network of thousands of computers. No single person owns the network and transactions can’t be censored.

Anyone can join the network, maintain a copy of the ledger, and be rewarded with Bitcoins for their effort. Privacy and security are maintained through anonymity and decentralization. The supply of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million, so inflation will never be a concern.

All this was possible due to smart algorithms, the internet, and a dollop of human ingenuity.

The Future

While Satoshi’s story sounds lovely, Bitcoin remains fraught with uncertainty. Governments will fight to keep control of money supply like a possessive parent fights to keep control of an adult child.

Eventually, though, it is likely that the child will break free.

The technicalities of Bitcoin are complex, but just like you don’t need to understand how the internet works in order to read this article, you don’t need to understand Bitcoin's technicalities to use it.

You just need to believe in the future that it promises.

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Drinking alcohol today is like borrowing happiness from tomorrow.

And as they say - payback’s a bitch.

There are three main reasons you feel terrible after a night of debauchery:

1. Dehydration

2. Toxins in your blood

3. Regret

The third is pretty simple, so I’ll focus on the first two.

1. Dehydration

Your brain produces a hormone called Vasopressin that tells your kidneys to reabsorb water into your body instead of sending it to your bladder to be expelled. Think of it as a brake pedal for the water in your body. When you drink alcohol, it inhibits the production of Vasopressin. This results in repeated visits to the nearest washroom (or garden).

For every glass of alcohol you consume, your body loses four times as much water.

After a few hours, the lack of water in your organs causes them to steal water from your brain. This ends up temporarily shrinking your brain, and it pulls against the membranes that connect it to your skull. In other words - you get a headache.

2. Toxins in your blood

As implied by the word in-’toxic’-ated, the relationship between alcohol and your body is not one to write home about.

Alcohol is absorbed in your stomach and then processed in your liver before entering your bloodstream. Your liver is like a quality control center. It looks at everything coming in, allows the good stuff to pass through, and disposes of the bad stuff.

When your liver breaks down alcohol, it converts it into an even more toxic compound called Acetaldehyde.

Then, it converts Acetaldehyde into Acetate, which is easy to dispose of.

However, when you stand on top of a bar counter and have three shots of Tequila, your liver fails to keep up with your enthusiastic personality. 

Some of the Acetaldehyde does not get converted into Acetate and enters your bloodstream directly.

Unsurprisingly, this is not good news.

The Hangover Minimization Cheat Sheet

Dehydration and toxins in your blood can make you feel like a nauseous kid with a headache being forced to sit on a roller coaster.

Here are some tips to make the journey slightly less painful.

Before drinking

• Eat carbs or fat-heavy foods. This slows down alcohol absorption.

While drinking

• Don’t start with beer and move to hard liquor. The carbonation in beer speeds up the absorption of alcohol.

• Avoid shots. You might feel 18, but your liver doesn’t. Cut it some slack.

• Have a glass of water after every drink to rehydrate your body. Chug a bottle of water before bed. You'd rather wake up to pee than feel like a zombie the next day.

The next morning

• Drink fruit juice, water, and Gatorade to rehydrate.

• Eat eggs and bananas. They help clear out leftover toxins and replenish electrolytes and potassium.

• Go for a run if you can. It sounds ridiculous, but cardio helps flush out toxins.

Ultimately, the best way to avoid a hangover is to avoid alcohol.

But as you probably know - some hangovers are worth it.

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The Build-Up

In 1870, France loses a war against Germany.

Germany then goes through a golden period. Its industry booms. It forms alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy. And like a post-pubescent bully who suddenly recognizes his power - it begins colonizing African countries.

The French fear Germany’s rise and start looking for allies. Russia seems friendly, and they join forces. Britain also starts worrying about Germany and joins Team France.

The Trigger

In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This annoys Serbia because they had their eyes on Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia decides to find friends who hate Austria-Hungary as much as they do. Luckily, Russia fits the bill.

In 1914, a Serbian living in Bosnia-Herzegovina kills the heir to the Austrian throne and his wife.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

Then, all hell breaks loose.

The War

As with any fight involving gangs, everybody gets involved.

Germany attacks France, but the French stave them off.

Germany also tries capturing Belgian ports that supply stuff to Britain. The Belgians flood the place so the Germans can't advance. Belgium:1 Germany:0.

The Russians attack Austria-Hungary, and Germany steps in to help.

The Ottoman Empire joins the war as part of Team Germany. This creates war fronts near the Suez Canal and in Kuwait (because everybody loves oil). To mess with the Ottoman Empire, Britain supports an Arab rebellion (trust white folks to fund rebellions in brown countries).

Meanwhile, the relatively uninvolved Italians have finished their post-lunch Macchiato and decide to switch sides. They declare war on Austria-Hungary in the hope of gaining new territory.

For some reason, Japan is throwing a fit in Asia. They join the war and annex German colonies in the Pacific and China.

The US is sitting on the sidelines doing what it does best - selling stuff to everyone fighting the war. Germany then starts sinking American ships for fun. Then the British intercept a telegram from Germany promising to help Mexico invade the US. America is pissed and decides to distribute some democracy. It declares war on Germany.

Sensing that the bully is getting bullied, the French, British, and Belgians start storming German colonies in Africa.

Everyone’s had enough

By 1917 everyone’s tired.

A Russian revolt brings down the Czars. Soon after, the Bolshevik Revolution results in Russia pulling out of the war.

The German economy has taken a beating. After another failed attack on France, the Germans mutiny, and a revolution results in the German emperor abdicating the throne and signing an armistice.

In 1919, a peace treaty is signed in Versailles. The Germans are humiliated, blamed for everything, and made to pay compensation.

The bully’s ego is hurt.

He’ll be back for revenge in about 20 years.

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They are strange, smart, and we're all struggling to figure them out.

Quantum Computers aren’t like regular computers.

The foundational unit of a regular computer is a bit made of silicon. Each bit can take the value of 0 or 1.

Quantum computers aren’t made of bits. They are made of Quantum bits, also known as Qubits. Qubits are incredibly tiny things - sometimes consisting of a single electron. Qubits are also weird AF. 

Instead of behaving like a regular bit that takes the value 0 or 1, Qubits have a more fluid, non-binary identity (they'd probably vote for Biden). Qubits can take the value of 0, 1, or both, at the same time! This is known as a Superposition.

Multiple Qubits can also be Entangled, allowing for the state of one Qubit to be predicted by looking at the state of another Qubit. 

Weird, right?

If you're confused, don't fret. Qubits are built out of particles so tiny that they don't follow the laws of the world you're used to. Instead, they follow the laws of the Quantum world. 

The Quantum world exists where things are either really small, really isolated, or really cold. In this world, it is normal for particles to be weird. It’s like a tiny version of Burning Man.

If this sounds like magic to you, you're in good company - even scientists don't properly understand why particles in the Quantum world behave the way they do. Einstein famously called the phenomenon of Entanglement "a spooky action at a distance."

Why are Quantum Computers better?

First, a recap of what makes Qubits weird:

• Superposition: Qubits take the value 0, 1, or both simultaneously 

• Entanglement: Multiple Qubit states can be correlated even when the Qubits are separated

Since Qubits can be in multiple interconnected states simultaneously, Quantum computers can explore multiple paths to solve problems simultaneously, instead of exploring one path at a time.

Quantum computing is extremely promising for tasks that involve a large number of permutations. Tasks that would take thousands of years for regular computers to perform could take minutes for a Quantum Computer. Simulating complex particles, solving route optimization problems, and optimizing financial portfolios are areas that Quantum Computing will revolutionize.

Just like it would've been impossible for someone in 1980 to predict the impact of the internet, it is impossible to predict the impact of Quantum Computers. 

We only know it'll be massive.

Where can I buy a Quantum Computer?

For now, you can't buy a Quantum Computer on Amazon. They are expensive and difficult to make, and only a few large companies and universities own them.

However, you can access IBM's Quantum Computer via the cloud.

Quantum Computing technology is still in its infancy, and it'll take decades for Quantum Computers to become mainstream. Useful algorithms for Quantum Computers require millions of Qubits, but the most powerful Quantum Computer today only has 128 Qubits. 

There's still a long way to go.

That’s it for the inaugural issue of Complexity Condensed! I hope you liked it.

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