Sangeet Paul Choudary

1 week ago | platforms.substack.com | Sangeet Paul Choudary

In 1849, a swarm of men poured into California, lured by rumours of rivers filled with gold. This was the Gold Rush, where everyone rushed toward the same valleys and set up camp beside the same creeks. All drunk on the same hype. All nodding in unison to create consensus theatre. The smarter ones didn’t dig at all. They sold shovels instead. Somehow, that’s the metaphor that stays on every time we talk about a gold rush. In a gold rush, they say, don’t dig for gold. Sell shovels instead.

2 weeks ago | platforms.substack.com | Sangeet Paul Choudary

A bottle of wine sells for $80 in stores. The restaurant charges $400. It still sells. And people go back for more. The sommelier tells them a story about the vineyard, about a sixth-generation family continuing a tradition. Some of it might be true. It doesn’t really matter. The wine tastes better now. The diners think they’re paying for wine. What they’re actually buying is the sommelier; his vibe, his wit, his ability to make them feel like connoisseurs. The sommelier isn’t in the wine business.

3 weeks ago | platforms.substack.com | Sangeet Paul Choudary

The economics of abundance are a funny thing!With the fall of the Berlin Wall, much of Eastern Europe experienced a rapid shift from censorship to expression. What followed alongside the political transformation was an explosion in media as previously underground pamphlets became national newspapers and long-suppressed ideas started showing up on public forums, free from restrictions. The barriers to expression had fallen.

1 month ago | platforms.substack.com | Sangeet Paul Choudary

In the years between the two World Wars, France built The Maginot Line - a line of fortifications stretching along its eastern border. The Maginot Line was an unshakable defence; a masterpiece of military design comprising underground bunkers and armored gun turrets, with rail lines connecting garrisons. It was built to prevent the kind of trench warfare that had devastated Europe barely a generation earlier. It was, by all accounts, a perfect answer to the wrong question.

1 month ago | platforms.substack.com | Sangeet Paul Choudary

In 19th-century Paris, the Académie des Beaux-Arts defined what counted as legitimate art. Realism, the prevailing standard, emphasized precision and visual accuracy. Success was based on how well you aligned with these norms. The system rewarded consistency, not experimentation. The invention of photography in the 1830s and 1840s began to challenge this standard. At first, photography seemed like a threat to painters.