"PPPPhysics Lesson" (Four P's #166)
Where every action has an opposite, but not always equal, reaction.
Newton's Third Law of Motion says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
This law applies to everything in the physical world, explaining how forces work on objects and each other. Step down on the ground to walk, and the ground exerts upward force on your feet with the same energy so we don’t fall into the center of the earth. Put an oar backwards in the water and your boat moves forward. Pull a rubber band and watch it snap back into place. Watch the Facebook whistleblower on 60 Minutes and then see the entire site crash the next day. You get the idea.
Now I'm pretty you didn't start reading this because of my expertise in Newtonian physics, but we've learned over time that this law doesn’t hold up as well in non-physical systems. Unlike Newton’s law, every opinion has an opposite reaction… and not all opposite opinions are equal. When thinking about progress — whether in personal development, professional growth, social change, or even legislative policy — it usually requires more energy to overcome opposing resistance.
Something Personal: Roe in Reverse
I took it for granted. Never did I think that I would have to join a crowd of peaceful protestors to make my voice heard in support of a woman's right to choose Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court more than 45 years ago. It has been challenged and challenged again, and withstood every test.
Until now.
The opposing forces that battled (often literally) to strip women of their right to choose have gained ground, and we must push back with e̶q̶u̶a̶l̶ greater might and vigor. Which is why my wife, children, and I attended a rally for women's rights this past weekend. It was one of many that took place as a result of a new Texas law, S.B. 8, which bans abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy (before many people know they’re pregnant).
Approximately 85-90% of people who obtain abortions in Texas are at least six weeks into pregnancy, so the law will effectively end almost all abortion care in the state. The law also shifts enforcement from state officials to private individuals, incentivizing individuals, including vigilante anti-abortion activists, to seek financial rewards by targeting abortion providers and those who assist someone in obtaining care in the state. On a vote of 5 to 4, the Supreme Court refused to block the law.
And now we are experiencing the impact of Trump ramming through three Supreme court justices in four years. So now the public outcry, the rallies, the voter drives matter. The last five decades of progress have now eroded and devolved. To hear the protest songs, see the signs, shout the chants with my children (ages 10 and 7, with somewhat filtered explanations and conversations) was inspiring... but not without some anxiety. The anti-choice movement (while in the minority of public opinion and moral legitimacy) often resorts to violence, and we had reservations about even attending the event, full of anxiety, concern and fear far right protestors might show up and wreak havoc.
Fortunately things stayed positive, civil and meaningful. Political leaders at the local, state, and national levels turned out, but this is just the beginning of what will likely be years of struggle to protect and defend the rights of women in this country. This election is an "off year" at the national level, but the Texas travesty shows us that every election matters. We're one month away. Turn up and turn out!
Something Professional: Feeling the Burn, Part II
Last week, I wrote about burn out, a few things to be aware of it, and how avoid it as an individual employee. The data is clear: the U.S. Department of Labor reports that from April to June 2021, a total of 11.5 million workers quit their jobs. And the Great Resignation continues. Gallup says that 48% of employees are actively looking to make a change, and June saw the U.S. hit an all-time high of 10.1 million job openings.
As employees, we can only control and impact so much. So what else is there? Business and company leaders have a big role to play in creating workplaces where employees can thrive. Good leaders care. Great leaders create a healthy, dynamic work environment. It’s essential to allow employees a sense of agency. That means letting them feel in control of their workload and how they carry out their tasks.
Communicating clear expectations is the first priority. – make sure employees know exactly what they need to do in order to be successful at their jobs. Also make sure that your demands are reasonable and that your employees have all the training and resources they need to excel. But don’t micromanage them. Show that you trust them to get the work done in their own way. Give honest feedback, as well as opportunities for employees to develop new skills and take on new challenges.
As leaders, we’re responsible for creating an equitable workplace. What does that mean in practice? Nothing kills employee motivation faster than a dishonest or unfair work environment. Bias, discrimination, or bullying will destroy any sense of community and contribute to stress and isolation. Proactively tackling bias starts with hiring practices and workplace policies. Prioritize honesty and transparency by making salaries public and the criteria for promotions explicit. Employees should also have safe ways to air grievances or concerns. Most importantly, make sure that your company culture matches the values of your mission statement.
Equitable workplaces create a sense of psychological safety; employees then feel empowered to take risks and are more likely to bring innovative ideas to the table – contributing lasting value to the company. An equitable workplace is, in the end, also a profitable one.
Something Practical: Energy = Mass x Speed
After several weeks writing here about NFTs, I feel like we're just getting started. But I want to be sure to address the flip side of NFTs and cryptocurrency. The counter argument. The elephant in the room. No, I'm not talking about the financial volatility, instead acknowledging the challenges around energy use and environmental sustainability. Many forms of cryptocurrency and blockchain-based activities require a lot of computing power and electricity.
This ecosystem of creators and collectors conducts sales through Ethereum, which maintains a secure record of cryptocurrency and NFT transactions through a process called mining. The system is similar to the one that verifies Bitcoin, involving a network of computers that use advanced cryptography to decide whether transactions are valid. In doing so, the process uses energy on the scale of a small country.
Some estimates suggest as much as 70% of mining operations may be powered by clean sources. But that number fluctuates seasonally, and in a global energy grid that mostly runs on fossil fuels, critics say energy use is energy use. Ethereum’s developers have planned a shift to a less carbon-intensive form of security, called proof-of-stake, via a blueprint called Ethereum 2.0. But this has been in the works for years, and there is no clear deadline for the switch.
Whether the newcomers to this space really understand the full ecological costs is unclear, but sites like OpenSea and SuperRare are looking into options for making the transactions more efficient, he says—though many of them involve security trade-offs.
And others are innovating on ways to be more efficient. The Flow Blockchain (home of NBA TopShot and the new NFL partnership TBD) is more energy efficient, and check out what's happening in El Salvador. The country has mined 0.00599179 bitcoin, or about $269, with power harnessed from a volcano. Still a work in progress, but the experiment could inspire others to find renewable sources to mint. But the race is on.
We are still very early in this entire experience, and it's only going to become more popular and mainstream. We're seeing artists become millionaires overnight as the cryptoart world has exploded. But so was their role in emitting carbon. Even works by lesser-known artists routinely sell for thousands of dollars, OpenSea has hundreds of thousands of NFTs for sale at the moment, and the numbers hardly make sense to anyone. For digital artists, blockchain offers a new model of reach, ownership, and distribution. Sure, you can take a screenshot of digital art, but with an NFT, the owner buys a verified token providing digital evidence that the art is theirs. The idea is to offer some semblance of the authenticity that is naturally bestowed on physical art.
Something Political: Biden's Bind
Stop me if you've heard this before, but our planet is getting warmer, and that has resulted in massive, catastrophic climate change. These are facts. And these reactions are becoming more severe and more frequent. Throughout the 2020 election, candidate Joe Biden campaigned on a series of change topics, including a laser focus on reversing the causes of climate change. I voted for Joe Biden. I support Joe Biden (obviously). I understand how challenging it is to navigate the bitter, partisan deadlock in Washington. But on climate change, Joe Biden has yet to walk the walk.
This is not to say that he can't, or won't. There's a lot happening in the world, to be sure. But Biden faces a conflict:
In addition to thinking about the massive financial legislation plan, the Biden administration is fixated on oil. Specifically, INCREASING oil output to lower prices. He is anxious about oil prices ($80 a barrel, a multiyear high) because it fuels higher gas prices (pun intended), which contribute to rising U.S. inflation, which wipes out much of the wage growth America’s middle class should be enjoying.
This chain of events puts Democrats' chances of holding on to Congress in the 2022 midterm elections in doubt. And that would unquestionably put an to Biden’s agenda, including any long-term plans to fight global warming. I have no doubt that Biden wants to do push this agenda, but the postponement is political. Republicans hate the carbon tax because they reject all taxes and because they do not take global warming seriously. The left distrusts a carbon tax because it relies on the market to do the job. Also because they fear it would cause a backlash.
The Build Back Better Act, currently working its way through Congress, contains some environmental incentives, but even if these measures passed (which is very much in question), they would not get us close to fulfilling the President’s campaign goal of cutting emissions in half (from 2005 levels) by the end of this decade.
I hope we talk before then…