Second-Order Thinking

me@ryanorban.com (Ryan Orban) — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Summary

Second-order thinking is the practice of tracing consequences beyond immediate effects — asking and then what? repeatedly to map how a decision ripples through interconnected systems over time. Farnam Street presents it as a foundational mental model for strategic decision-making, drawing primarily on investor Howard Marks (Oaktree Capital).

RSA Animate: The Power of Networks

me@ryanorban.com (Ryan Orban) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Summary

This RSA Animate video features Manuel Lima, creator of VisualComplexity.com and author of The Book of Trees, arguing that the network is displacing the tree diagram as the dominant organizing metaphor for human knowledge. Where medieval and Enlightenment thinkers structured knowledge hierarchically — taxonomies, family trees, organizational charts, the tree of knowledge — contemporary understanding increasingly reaches for networks: the internet, neural networks, social networks, gene regulatory networks, citation networks. Lima argues this shift reflects something real about how complex systems actually work.

Systems-Thinking on Ryan Orban

Second-Order Thinking

Summary

RSA Animate: The Power of Networks

Summary