Extracts from a Diary

The Man Who Saved The World Vasily Arkhipov. That’s a man often credited, without exaggeration, for saving the world. On 27th Oct 1962, at the peak of Cuban Missile Crisis and during the Cold War between US and USSR, the two nations came closest to a nuclear war, and were averted due to the actions of Arkhipov. Vasily Arkhipov was a senior officer in the Soviet nuclear submarines at the time. The year before, in July 1961, while he was onboard a Soviet (nuclear-powered and nuclear-equipped) submarine doing some tests near Greenland, it developed a major radiation leak. The radio communication broke down too, and the crew had to devise a solution at that time on their own. They did. At the cost of major radiation exposure to all 139 crew members, with 22 of them dying within 2 years. There’s definitely a thrilling movie, if not a Chernobyl like series, in there somewhere. On 27th Oct 1962, Arkhipov was in another nuclear submarine (B-59), hidden well below somewhere in the Caribbean. Me...

– Or the manifesto of rational & selfish motivations for cooperation from lessons in nature, game theory, and businesses One of the best-selling car salesmen in the US was asked about his secret to success. His response: “I am not asking myself how I can sell them a car this time; I ask instead: how can I be sure they will come to me for their next car?" And so, he’d even actively down-sell some features to his customers: “you don’t need the ceramic brake discs on that McLaren if you’re going to be riding in the city”, “the leather seats wouldn’t be ideal for the temperature of this city”, and so on. He’d actively gain the customer’s trust and would be the default person to go to for subsequent transactions. He’d not be the highest-selling guy for the first 3 years, but in the long run, he was the top salesman. (Rory Sutherland narrating it here ) The One-Shot Mindset Contrast that with the scams being run at touristy places – selling a low-qu...