A Hedge-Fund Founder’s Obsessive Storytelling | Iran Says It Sent Capsule With Animals Into Orbit | New York’s Millionaire Class Is Growing. Other People Are Leaving. | Cop28 live: scientists warn of catastrophic climate tipping points as summit continues

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A Hedge-Fund Founder’s Obsessive Storytelling - The New Yorker

In the spring of 2010, a Web site called Dealbreaker obtained a notable PDF. Dealbreaker was a gossip-and-news blog in the mold of Gawker, focussed specifically on the cartoonish personalities and plotlines that emerged from the world of Wall Street and high finance. This PDF was of particular interest, as it concerned one of the more colorful, idiosyncratic, and egomaniacal figures which that province had yet produced: Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. The document laid out what Dealbreaker called the "Tao of Dalio," and what Dalio called his "Principles," a novella-length manifesto that the blog claimed Bridgewater employees were encouraged to read, deploy in their daily lives, and quote from regularly at work. "If you didn't know anything about the Bridgewater's Tao of Dalio," Dealbreaker observed, "you might find yourself asking 'WTF is this shit?'"

This was the public dÃ©but of "the hedge fund's unofficial handbook." One version outlined more than two hundred general rules that ranged from short axioms ("Don't act before thinking") to long-winded anecdotes about Darwinian competition, all compiled in a chaotically designed document that made liberal use of ellipses, highlights, underlines, bolded text, charts, and equations like "Reality + Dreams + Determination = A Successful Life." An early chapter described a favorite allegory of Dalio's, in which a pack of hyenas attacks and devours a wildebeest. Some might see the hyenas as "evil," Dalio offered, because "the poor wildebeest suffers and dies." But, in reality, the outcome is good for both parties. The hyenas are acting in self-interest, playing their part in the food chain. And, in a roundabout way, wildebeests would profit, too, as part of the greater ecosystem. "Killing and eating the wildebeest fosters evolution," Dalio wrote, "(i.e., the natural process of improvement)."

The story was meant to capture the founder's philosophy of leadership. In the interest of facilitating that "natural process of improvement," Dalio imposed on Bridgewater staff a system of "radical transparency": criticism was supposedly welcomed, encouraged even, so long as it was addressed directly at its subjects, rather than behind their backs. "I believe that radical truth and radical openness are essential for this rapid evolutionary process to occur," Dalio wrote, "because it prevents the secretiveness that breeds hidden agendas and stands in the way of open debate."

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Iran Says It Sent Capsule With Animals Into Orbit - TIME

TEHRAN — Iran said Wednesday it sent a capsule into orbit carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in coming years.

A report by the official IRNA news agency quoted Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour as saying the capsule was launched 130 kilometers (80 miles) into orbit.

Zarepour said the launch of the 500-kilogram (1,000-pound) capsule is aimed at sending Iranian astronauts to space in coming years. He did not say what kind of animals were in the capsule.

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New York’s Millionaire Class Is Growing. Other People Are Leaving. -

A report found that New York is gaining millionaires, despite an earlier exodus, while lower-income families are being forced to leave, raising questions about the state’s tax policies.

At the height of the pandemic, the richest New Yorkers left in droves.

The trend led to months of hand-wringing, and both Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul later spurned proposals to raise taxes on the rich for fear of driving more of them to low-tax states.

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Cop28 live: scientists warn of catastrophic climate tipping points as summit continues - the Guardian

Sixth day of Cop28 comes as new report says threats to humanity drawing closer as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels

As day six begins of talks in Dubai’s Expo City, more sobering scientific news should focus minds there on achieving a result.

A new report warns the Earth is on the verge of crossing five catastrophic climate tipping points as a result of carbon pollutions in the atmosphere, with three more in sight in the 2030s if the world heats more than 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, reports Ajit Niranjan, the Guardian’s European environment correspondent.

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