HOW THE U.S. COULD LOSE BADLY In 2002, a retired Marine general sank the entire U.S. fleet in a war game using tactics Iran could use today. The Pentagon spent $250 million to learn this lesson. Then they buried it. A Thread 🧵

Bro: Don't worry, there's always more fish in the sea The fish: AHGHAGHBLALA

I once met a Count who had to become a glorified tourist guide/Airbnb host of his family estate because his father wasted the money on women and race cars. He had rage in him that once would've sparked civil war. Imagine going to work knowing you could've ruled the world.

"We'll be home by Christmas"

When your strategies depend on fragile infrastructure, there are major risks that can happen if you meet someone who's flexible enough to exploit that fragility.

On the bright side, John figured he didn't have to go to work tomorrow.

The real Tolkien is not the memetic Tolkien. A linguist who invented languages for fun and built a world around them. Told a Nazi publisher he regretted having no Jewish ancestors. Said his politics leaned anarchist, or monarchist. The internet kept the pipe and lost the man.

While medieval Europe was in decline, Islam was the most advanced civilization on Earth. The Renaissance was largely made possible through Islamic scholarship - Arabic translations of Greek texts that Europe had lost. We like to pretend the West was always supreme.

We've become a Quixotic civilization. Don Quixote read so many romances he mistook windmills for giants. Stories had replaced experience. When a culture's primary encounter with violence is through movies and anime, narrative replaces strategy.

We don't live in a meritocracy. I'd go as far as saying that believing that we live in a meritocracy is one of the most damaging things you can do for your career Whereas if you schmooze, if you understand the established powers, you can slowly rise up

We have some meritocratic elements. It's not a binary. That said, we're VERY far from the ideal. The classes, the rules, still exist, sans branding. Heck, in the UK you can still trace social class based on people's association to William the Conqueror.

Someone told me: "The Roman Empire is mainly only remembered by internet shitposters & Gladiator fans." I can't sleep since then

The printing press was supposed to spread truth. It spread conspiracy theories faster. The internet was supposed to connect us. It sorted us into tribes. Tools don't fix humans, they amplify them.