A rule for life that won't lead you astray...

A rule for life that won't lead you astray...  When Paul Graham writes something, read it!  A small sample:

One of the most important instances of this phenomenon was in TV. Here there were 3 choices: NBC, CBS, and ABC. Plus public TV for eggheads and communists. The programs the 3 networks offered were indistinguishable. In fact, here there was a triple pressure toward the center. If one show did try something daring, local affiliates in conservative markets would make them stop. Plus since TVs were expensive whole families watched the same shows together, so they had to be suitable for everyone.

And not only did everyone get the same thing, they got it at the same time. It's difficult to imagine now, but every night tens of millions of families would sit down together in front of their TV set watching the same show, at the same time, as their next door neighbors. What happens now with the Super Bowl used to happen every night. We were literally in sync.

The entire essay is full of interesting observations and insights like this.

He's not as pessimistic as I am about the future of the U.S.  I hope he's right.  But I'm not optimistic about that :)