The hidden rules of business — according to nature

How do certain companies become so valuable? Why do some organizations thrive — while others collapse? What makes an ecosystem healthy? What makes it unhealthy?

There are plenty of business books that try to answer these questions. But if you’re looking for answers, I’ve come to believe that nature often provides better metaphors.

On a recent flight, I watched The Serengeti Rules, a documentary based on the book by Sean B. Carroll, about the hidden forces that shape biological ecosystems (and the unsung scientific heroes who studied them). The documentary opens with quite the hook: “Fifty years ago, a group of scientists set off around the world to unlock the mysteries of nature.”

What follows is a fascinating exploration of how a few key species can dramatically shape the balance of life. The parallels to business and investing are striking — like ecosystems, companies are governed by feedback loops, keystone players, and hidden levers that determine who thrives and who falters. In my own research, I’ve seen these dynamics play out time and again.

If you’re building something — or just trying to get better at what you do — I highly recommend watching. It’ll make you think differently about what really drives success (and even what “success” might look like).

Key quote: “Beginning in the 1960s, a small band of young scientists headed out into the wilderness, driven by an insatiable curiosity about how nature works. Immersed in some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth — from the majestic Serengeti to the Amazon jungle; from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools — they discovered a single set of rules that govern all life. Now in the twilight of their eminent careers, these five unsung heroes of modern ecology — Bob Paine, Jim Estes, Mary Power, Tony Sinclair, and John Terborgh — share the stories of their adventures, and how their pioneering work flipped our view of nature on its head.”

Can we “predistribute” wealth from AI?

I probably think about this more than I should — and certainly more than my pay grade justifies — but what exactly do we do with the spoils AI is going to generate?

In a recent essay in Noema, two AI researchers wrestle with this question. The piece lays out a stark choice: either we wait for inequality to spiral out of control and try to clean up the mess with redistribution, or we act now — through what they call “predistribution” — to ensure that everyone has a stake in the AI economy before the power consolidates.

The authors argue that tools like universal basic capital and global access to AI infrastructure could create a more just, participatory system from the outset. In this design, humans will actually own a piece of the machine. Tough questions to address.

If you feel overwhelmed by it all like I do, watch this brain cleanser and go for a walk.

Key quote: “AI stands at a similar crossroads. Maybe its gains will build hospitals and safety nets; maybe it will replicate some of the Industrial Revolution’s worst chapters. Predistribution offers a way to realize the former. By ensuring productivity gains from AI automation are broadly shared, we can embrace technological advancement while mitigating the social upheaval that characterized the Industrial Revolution.”

OUTLAST field notes: The University of Bologna — Not the Oldest University in the World

I went to Bologna recently because I wanted to see the oldest university in the world. The University of Bologna — founded in 1088 — is proudly described that way in guidebooks, plaques, and travel blogs. As someone who’s obsessed with long-term institutions, I was excited to walk the halls where medieval scholars supposedly studied nearly a thousand years ago.

But then my guide dropped a bombshell: it’s all a bit of a myth.

Apparently, in 1888 — during a big academic conference in Europe — the university’s administrators decided to invent a founding date of 1088 to boost their prestige. The date stuck, the myth took hold, and today it’s repeated everywhere as fact.

It’s a great reminder that the stories we tell — especially the ones that feel timeless — are often constructed, embellished, or flat-out made up. And to me, it raises a deeper question: how many of our shared beliefs endure not because they are true, but because they are useful myths we’ve chosen to preserve?

A few more links I enjoyed:

The Codes AI Can’t Crack – via Taras Grescoe

Key quote: “‍Human ingenuity remains key. Two of the greatest intellectual feats of the 20th century involved the decipherment of ancient writing systems. In 1952, when Michael Ventris, a young English architect, announced that he’d cracked the code of Linear B, a script used in Bronze Age Crete, newspapers likened the accomplishment to the scaling of Mount Everest. (Behind the scenes, the crucial grouping and classifying of characters on 180,000 index cards into common roots — the grunt work that would now be performed by AI — was done by Alice Kober, a chain-smoking instructor from Brooklyn College.)”

Homo crustaceous – via Michael Garfield

Key quote: “‍Humans seem to be deeply attracted to these armored animals. After all, the crab is a deep-dwelling symbol that emerges time and time again in stories scattered over centuries and continents. It is a monstrous reflection of our own minds, from whose claws we can pry vital insight into how our species navigates the boundaries of human and nonhuman, life and technology, the mapped familiar and the frightening (but beckoning) unknown.”