Death, death and more death
Seize life! Thinking about long-term incentives. List of unusual possible philanthropy cause areas A day in the life of a Wednesday. Age is a Feeling, play.
Thanks to everyone who came to mingle. Looking forward to those coming to the UnConference next week, sign ups still open, Fri Sep 16. The UnConference on Sep 16. Do come.
Seize life! Death, death and more death thoughts
Thinking about long-term incentives
List of unusual possible philanthropy cause areas
A day in the life of a Wednesday
Links: London Rooftops. Prawn welfare. Gender disparities. SEC climate risk disclosures.
My Wednesday this week seemed like it might be mostly like any other day except it had a funeral. Perhaps because of that I was unusually observant and thinking. So many things I noticed seemed to resonate as an image or a thought. I think this could happen on any day with eyes open. But it seemed to happen on Wednesday.
Just another Wednesday
My wife shaved my head. I ate a sausage roll. I travelled in a taxi. The driver wore an elegant crocheted taqiyah. We passed a cyclist who had been hit by a truck. People were calling for an ambulance. We could hear his moans. The driver noted at least this meant he was alive.
I attended a funeral. We wore orange. The coffin had pictures from her life on every inch. She was a painter. Complex and so very full of life. Dementia robbing her of so much.
I rode by tube. Three middle aged Australians were travelling to Borough. On the street, I was about to cross when I spied a friend I have known for 30 odd years. She was on a bicycle. We spoke of mudlarking, art galleries and podcasting.
I arrived at a work conference. The building is in the City of London and has one of the largest roof gardens in the City. We discussed trends for clear aligner braces and in R&D equipment for life science equipment, the future direction of interest rates. This seemed a world within a world, making observations about the world at large.
I heard how tensions in China is making one company decide to build another factory outside of China, how European gas prices are forcing up the cost of energy and raw materials such as resin, how sustainability is important to the workforce, the cost of power transmission in Hungary and the possible future of personalized healthcare data points.
I observed the surroundings on the rooftop for three minutes while I sipped warm, weak coffee.
I had arranged a meetup. The barman is a DJ when not serving drinks. He has just gained a residency. He told me the story of his DJ name, Public Toilets Disco, which is an homage to George Michael.
I listened to words on longtermism; to someone who’s day job is being a clown; the idea of a UK civil defence; what it is like to LARP and a recommendation for the LARP at Fleet; the nature of the swing dance community, green bonds and sustainable finance, effective giving, AI ethics, and a score of other ideas which have marinaded into my head.
I drank pink lemonade.
On the way home the rain started splattering heavily. The eldest loves walking in the rain. I arrived back home. In the dark night, we tramped in the rain.
I’ve been super-busy with investing and thinking this week. Thought this week.
Met with the non-exec and remuneration people of a large UK company. Along with the business model and strategy, the culture of an organisation and its incentive structure (both extrinsic and intrinsic) are fundamental drivers of organizational success or failures. But they are complex, intersectional and some parts are difficult to measure and manage.
In recent years, I’ve leaned into favouring long-term restricted stock where possible (cf. Edmans, Gosling and others), for extrinsic and - by however means - nurturing “purpose” and “positive culture” for intrinsic motivation.
The typical person who speaks to me on this is generally worries about “quantum”. This is the size of an incentive package normally versus an average worker. This is due to fairness or equality concerns. But this area really does have a complex trade-off if you really think senior management adds value (and some dispute this).
In any event, while many reasonable people can disagree I can ensure you I’m thinking very hard about the incentives in the companies we own our others behalf!
This paper looks overall at the long term stock incentive case. (Gosling, Edmans et al, Purposeful Company)
Other tiny thoughts. Innovation in medical technology continues apace. The pace of innovation in healthcare continues (while costs are also up) I don’t see this pace slowing down near term. I also wanted to note the amazing advances in AI art this year. AI and machine learning type innovations also don’t seem to be slowing down. I’m unsure if policy or culture has kept up with the advances, so it’s worth pondering.
Anoushka wrote this on our son’s reaction to someone he knows (the Queen) dying. IG link here.
“Once again, the news and media are a monolith. The late Queen is everywhere. But just like the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war which swamped the news before this latest momentous event, my first thought was, “F*£#. How will Spike feel about this?” My second thought was, “Must tell him before he finds out by accident.”
Spike is anxious about death on a daily basis. He asks the age of every new person he meets so he can conduct a risk assessment: how close to death are you? If you are over 70, he will receive the news with disquiet, ask if you are healthy and wander off looking slightly appalled.
This summer, we visited my mum and step-dad. As we pulled in front of the house, my mum was waiting for us on the drive, talking with a very elderly neighbour who has dementia. Spike opened the car door, glanced up at the little old lady, recoiled and shouted, “Oh NO! She is a hundred! She’s going to DIE!” She survived the encounter, but I died a little bit. Of course, later, we cried with laughter at the excruciating awkwardness of the outburst.
But more seriously, the toll of (quite reasonably, some might say), not being able to put death to the back of one’s mind, must be so emotionally draining for Spike. To be so worried about everybody all the time. It’s another one of myriad anxieties that Spike has to wrangle with before facing the world with composure. He did lose his composure last night. We broke the news plainly. He was angry and upset. He tried to manifest a resurrection through flat out denials. He kicked and threw a few things but, in the end, he wasn’t overwhelmed.
Spike’s mental death equation includes an important operation: has the deceased been to our house? This is his way of assessing how important they are and the scale of the loss. We hadn’t had the Queen around for tea, so despite her overwhelming cultural importance, Spike was able to maintain some distance from the loss. He has been lucky enough not to lose any loved ones in his thirteen years. I do worry for him and us when the time comes.”
I had lunch with a friend, who recently had to make the decision and deal with life support being take away for his elderly father with dementia. There is no dignity in death, he commented.
I’m still working on my performance piece on death, made more poignant and more acute this week.
I saw Haley McGee’s Age is a Feeling. In part the work contemplates death as well, although I think in the most part it grapples with life and life at all ages.
The playtext has ink drawings and writing interpsered with the text making it richer than the average text. The text is more complete in a way as well, as the performance leaves certain stories our depending on how an audience member chooses cards.
The form of text is poetic. Visual rich, Mcgee’s performance is lyrical and articulate although perhaps not as intensely poetic as the form on the page could suggest.
McGee has interwoven found stories, observations and the like in a poignant and smart way. I’m reflecting on it. Her message though echoes mine. Echoes everything I heard this week.
Seize life!
“….He will pick out a crab apple tree…
I’ve been intrigued by this long list of possible cause areas under a neglected, impactful, tractable framework and I’d judge the prize competition run by OP as fairly successful in prompting thoughtful ideas. I’m unsure if any make the threshold for funding but they are certainly thought provoking. These are the ones just on Global Development.
Rosie Bettle - Oral healthcare in LMIC is a promising new cause area
Lee Crawfurd and Susannah Hares - The Economic Benefits of Promoting and Protecting the Rights of LGBTQ+ Communities in Developing Countries
Vastav Ratra - Reducing Judicial Delay in India
Jamie Simonson - Internal Migration: A Cost-Effective Method for Raising Wages, Improving Living Standards, and Promoting Economic Growth
Kristof - Tobacco harm reduction
Alex Hill - Maternal morbidity
Denise Melchin - Preventing stillbirths
Gavriel Kleinwaks, Alastair Fraser-Urquhart and Josh C Morrison - Indoor Air Quality to Reduce Infectious Respiratory Disease
Michael - Occupational Health and Safety in the Developing World
Jeffrey Mason - Economic Growth and State Capacity
Jackson Wagner - Radio Ads Against Cousin Marriage in LMIC
Shen Javier - Child and Adolescent Mental Health in LMICs
Kelly Geddes - Transnational Surrogacy
Ben Stewart - Organophosphate pesticides and other neurotoxicants
Arushi Gupta and Jendayi - International Macroeconomic Policy
Johannes Haushofer - Large-scale International Educational Migration: A Shallow Investigation
Sarah H and Ben Williamson - Family Planning: A Significant Opportunity for Impact
You can see all of the cause exploration prize entries here (H/T David Nash, EA London
Links:
Links
London Rooftops (see day on Wed above)
Prawn welfare. I ate some vegan prawn tempura. Perfectly fine as canapes.
Gender disparities
SEC climate risk disclosures