Nations with Long Necks
The idea of the post spurred upon looking at the long-tail distribution. This is a distribution in which few items such as books sell thousands of copies while the majority of books sell few copies each.
Inspecting the long-tail distribution graph I noticed the formation of a long neck as well. So, why not call the distribution “The long-neck distribution”?
Thinking deeper the wealth of nations, the distribution of skills and many other traits show that nations have the following distribution possibilities:
·????????Nations with both long neck and long tail
·????????Nations with long neck and short tails
·????????Nations with short neck and long tails, and
·????????Nations with short necks and short tails
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Long necks in animals serve few functions such as giraffes. Their long necks allow them to reach buds and leaves in high places whipping their necks around to hit each other so the winner can mate.
Nations with long neck economy and military can do the same to ward off competing nations.
However, the long neck has its deficit. It restricts motion. Because of their long necks, giraffes must spread their legs and kneel on the ground to drink water. This exposes them to predators such as crocodiles or lions that usually target their necks. There is no strengths with no weaknesses.
The big powers may whip their necks to threaten other nations. But they need to remember that they need to be on the ground but their long necks shall hamper their movement.
The weakness of the long neck is the strength of the long tail. ?The lizard escapes, albeit with an abbreviated tail. Such escapes come courtesy of tails equipped with a natural weak spot that snaps off when forcefully grabbed.
Nations with long tail economies may have the ability to snap off activities that face severe competition from nations with long neck and be happy focusing on their niches. The weakness of their tails is the strength they have to allure long-necked nations.
Nations with long neck and long tails are few. They are like dinosaurs with both long necks and tails that ended extinct.
Nations with short necks and short tails of power are in the transition state. Their policies guide them to where they in what domain they shall land.
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2 年We need to redefine the meaning of what a nation is. The long tail became an economic force due to the rise of technology and the ability to aggregate small amounts across a much vaster digital landscape. This landscape has developed its own digital nations. As a digital nation, Facebook (or in nation defining terms "Meta") is beginning to face problems of its own digital nationhood. The Atlantic article "The Largest Autocracy on Earth" is interesting in this regard : https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/facebook-authoritarian-hostile-foreign-power/620168/ In November we saw a whole new revolution beginning to take hold with its first true public interaction and revelation. This is the introduction by OpenAI of its ChatGPT platform. Some speak of it as the greatest challenge to Google, though the reality is that Google's AI under the hood are probably about four years ahead with their AI programs - but the public is inspired despite the cost implication to OpenAI, and the desire of another nation state (Microsoft) to become the eventual power holders of this arising technology. https://gizmodo.com/chatgpt-down-ai-chatbot-1-million-users-1849866029 This is where the long tail is going to get its long neck.
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2 年??A matter of perspective...
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2 年The strongest reaction I have to your post, Ali Anani, is how often we see ourselves as the water drinking giraffe, vulnerable and hampered by the obvious weakness that is our legs being longer than our neck. How often do we focus on this situation and not on the situation that we can eat the juicy acacia leave unreachable by anybody else but a few birds and monkeys? Perhaps we haven't even considered eating leaves and resort to eating grass - which is also a pain in the neck, literally. This has nothing to do with the Economics 101 you present, but I have to think more about that part.
Lawyer, Law Teacher, CEO of a Multinational Credit Sector, Consultant, BZC Contributor
2 年My interpretation of this fascinating post is that the metaphor about giraffes is as topical as ever: that "zoological parable" teaches that even short-necked entities have the right, in a herd, to feed and not be victims of the voracity of those who, thanks at the longest neck, it manages to make a clean sweep of all available nourishment. And here we can also arrive at the concept of solidarity which, as the pandemic has shown, can be the true and conscious key to true global progress that addresses the world's serious and urgent problems. to restore to States that positive role of regulator of the economy and development and to society that ethical and solidarity dimension which is sorely lacking. Perhaps I have not had the right perception of the proposed question and in this case I apologize. ??
Advocate : seeding the ground we stand on
2 年good afternoon Ali Anani interesting topic for day 1 my friend.. I recognized a trend in your presentation .. it was whether a long tail or long neck the species had a no great insight as to what was happening on the ground …. and only a reference to dealing with life on the ground if a drink of water was required … just about the same amount of presence / skin in the game governments have regarding life on the ground.. I wish for You and everyone that is near a Happy and Blessed New Year …