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Tuesday 13 October
1 · The text
At fifteen I bent my mind on learning
Confucius on governing by example, the seven ages of his own mind, and what respect for a parent really means.
2 min · Confucius · The Analects of Confucius · tr. James Legge · 1861 · public domain
CHAP. I. The Master said, 'He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.' CHAP. II. The Master said, 'In the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one sentence— "Having no depraved thoughts."' CHAP. III. 1. The Master said, 'If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. 2. 'If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.' CHAP. IV. 1. The Master said, 'At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. 2. 'At thirty, I stood firm. 3. 'At forty, I had no doubts. 4. 'At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven.
5. 'At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. 6. 'At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.' CHAP. V. 1. Mang I asked what filial piety was. The Master said, 'It is not being disobedient.' 2. Soon after, as Fan Ch'ih was driving him, the Master told him, saying, 'Mang-sun asked me what filial piety was, and I answered him,— "not being disobedient."' 3. Fan Ch'ih said, 'What did you mean?' The Master replied, 'That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety.'
CHAP. VI. Mang Wu asked what filial piety was. The Master said, 'Parents are anxious lest their children should be sick.' CHAP. VII. Tsze-yu asked what filial piety was. The Master said, 'The filial piety of now-a-days means the support of one's parents. But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something in the way of support;— without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?'
2 · One idea · Economics
Jevons paradox
In 1865 a young economist named William Stanley Jevons worried that Britain would run out of coal.
The obvious answer was efficiency. James Watt's engines already burned far less coal for the same work than the old ones.
Jevons pointed out the problem. Cheaper steam power made steam worth using everywhere, in more factories, mills and railways, and total coal use rose. Making something more efficient can make us use more of it, not less.
In one line. Jevons paradox is the counter-intuitive finding that making the use of a resource more efficient often increases total consumption of it — because greater efficiency lowers the effective cost and unlocks many new uses.
Worked example
Economist William Jevons noticed in 1865 that more efficient steam engines didn’t reduce Britain’s coal use — they made coal-power cheaper, so it spread to more industries and total coal consumption rose. The pattern recurs: efficient lighting, engines, and computing have each expanded total usage.
How to use it, and where it fails3 · One number
Mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people, world
19900.2
2025112
527.0 times the 1990 level.
There are now more subscriptions than people, because many own two phones while some still own none.
Source: Our World in Data, world estimates, read 2026-09-24.