Landscapes of institutions extract wealth from the environment for a period of time before collapsing under their own weight, contributing to the primordial chaos from which new games can begin: the process of creative destruction.
Without adversarial competition, we’d collectively spiral down into stupidity as a species. By racing against each other, we manage to collectively outrun the forces of entropy for a while.
This is why, despite being a vegetarian who abhors unnecessary cruelty and pain, especially towards those who cannot protect themselves, I fundamentally don’t like the mind-atrophying idea of a permanent peace under conditions of permanent, unqualified abundance. Competition is ultimately the essence of life itself. To be slightly evil is to embrace life.
Acknowledgements
A big thank-you to several people who helped put this ebook together. Jane Huang sequenced and converted the original html email newsletters to LaTeX, PDF and ePub formats and also helped copyedit the material. Patrick Vlaskovits and Bill Seitz proofread the final manuscript and helped elevate it above blog/newsletter level copy quality.
Over the last three years, conversations with a few people have been especially helpful in developing this material. Hosh Hsiao, Daniel Pritchett and Patrick Vlaskovits in particular, shared many insightful ideas on the nature of conflict and competition. The excellent community that has grown around the annual Boyd and Beyond conference at Quantico has also proved to be a rich source of insights and ideas for me. Chet Richards’ Certain to Win in particular, proved very helpful in shaping my own thinking.
And lastly, a big thank you to the 2200-plus loyal readers of the Be Slightly Evil email newsletter, who made the journey very worthwhile.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop
†http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/01/06/the-gollum-effect/
‡http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748704407804575425561952689390.html
§http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2008/05/11/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there-by-marshall-goldsmith
¶http://hbr.org/2010/07/column-powerlessness-corrupts/ar/1
∥http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/09/17/your-evil-twins-and-how-to-find-them/
**http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/Kellogg/
article/sizing_up_the_nightlife
††http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule
‡‡http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
*The complete book and DVD collections for both series can be purchased on Amazon.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_
effect
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