Becket U curates the best resources in Math, Physics, Computers, Microeconomics, Game Theory, and Persuasion. With this knowledge, you will understand how the world works.
Undiscovered #092: How to Rebuild the World After an Apocalypse, Abundance, Nuclear Rebrand
#092: How to Rebuild the World After an Apocalypse, Abundance, Nuclear RebrandHi All! We are pleased to welcome you to this week's edition of Undiscovered, a newsletter with exclusive resources and insights expanding from the material found on our main site - becketu.com. This week, we will take a look at how to rebuild the world after an apocalypse, the abundance approach to building, revisit how to rebrand nuclear energy, and more. Let's dive in: Nuclear RebrandNuclear energy remains fascinating to me. I keep coming back to the thought from an earlier edition of Undiscovered where we took a look at a rebranding effort from Devon Eriksen, where he proposed the following: Nuclear power is obviously bad because it contains the word nuclear, which is bad. I propose we use Radiothermal Steam Generation instead. For those of you who are not familiar with how this works: 1. You take some naturally occurring radioactive rocks, which get hot all by themselves because they're radioactive. 2. You pile a whole lot of them together, in concentrated form, until they get really hot indeed. 3. Then you use that heat to turn water into steam. 4. And you run an electric turbine off the steam pressure. That's all it is. Just radioactive rocks, and a steam engine. This is much less dangerous than nuclear plants, because nuclear plants use the word nuclear, which is the same word used by nuclear weapons, which are very dangerous, so that word is very dangerous, so nuclear plants are very dangerous, because they use the same word. Down with nuclear power! Build more radiothermal steam generators! I also started to follow @GovNuclear on Twitter which is a great account for anyone interested in learning more about the space. They spew lots of fun facts like one uranium pellet being equal in energy production to 17,000 cubic ft of natural gas, 149 gallons of oil, and 1 ton of coal.
How to Rebuild the World After an Apocalypse@GrantSlatton proposed the question: "Suppose you took 10,000 optimally selected people and dumped them into a region that had adequate forests, fields, and mountains for mining iron and coal, all in a 100 mile radius...They start with only 1 season of food supplies... How fast could they bootstrap to tech circa 1900?" Balaji Srinivasan quote tweeted him with a picture of a book titled The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm by Lewis Dartnell. After doing a little research, here are the main points espoused from the book: 1. Core Knowledge Outlasts Civilization
Civilization can fall, but the foundational knowledge underpinning it—how to grow food, make tools, purify water, and understand nature—remains the real engine of recovery. Knowing essential principles, not just facts, allows humanity to rebuild from scratch and shortcut centuries of lost progress.
2. Human Ingenuity Is a Collective Superpower
No single individual can recreate modern civilization alone. Progress is built on pooled expertise, collaboration, and accumulated discoveries. Our true strength lies in sharing, teaching, and distributing knowledge, making teamwork and community the real keys to human resilience and rebuilding.
3. Adaptability is Survival Technology
Rather than clinging to past methods, thriving during disaster means improvising, repurposing, and leapfrogging outdated steps. The ability to adapt—by combining, refining, or skipping established technologies—lets societies navigate new challenges and accelerate their return to comfort and complexity.
4. Resourcefulness Turns Ruin to Opportunity
Everyday objects, abandoned infrastructure, and even decaying remnants become valuable resources after collapse. A survivor’s creative ability to scavenge, repurpose, and recycle is just as important as technical know-how. Seeing potential where others see waste transforms ruins into a foundation for renewal.
5. Science Is a Method, Not Just a Body of Facts
The heart of rebuilding isn’t simply remembering what once worked—it’s reviving and applying the scientific method. Questioning, testing, observing, and refining are repeatable processes that unlock all other advancements. Science gives survivors a universal toolkit to rediscover forgotten truths and spark new innovations.
6. Sustainable Growth Is the Path Forward
Modern civilization relied on finite resources. In a rebooted world, adopting sustainable practices—using renewable energy, recycling materials, and nurturing soil—isn’t optional but essential. Only by working within nature’s limits can societies create a stable, prosperous future for generations to come.
Scrolling Affecting Memory FormationDoes scrolling mindlessly affect our memory? Or maybe more accurately - in a world of seemingly endless information, does it dictate what we choose to remember? This is a question that came to me after reading Lauren Wilford's observation below: I saw someone saying that they thought scrolling was affecting their memory formation, because it teaches the brain to immediately discard what it just saw to situate itself in a new context, over and over again. Something to this I think unlike a book, with scrolling a feed you don’t have to hold anything from the previous pages in order to read the next, and the transitions are jarring enough to teach you to shed and put on new contexts all the time. A useful skill actually but not good if you forget the old one anyway I have to memorize a lot of stuff this summer and I think scrolling feeds is not helping me do this and I may do it less to remove a variable Maybe this is a reason I prefer to read physical books instead of anything on a device. Not only is the temptation strong to look at other things pulling my attention on a laptop, but perhaps the muscle memory I associate with scrolling and context switching is so strong that I'm getting too efficient in discarding information I just read. I come across hundreds of interesting things potentially worth remembering each day on Twitter, but so many end up being 'bookmarked' for later consumption and almost never resurfacing. The act of writing this newsletter is actually an attempt at trying to go back and look through many of those interesting things I happen to save. You may not need to write a newsletter, but perhaps all of us can find better ways of incorporating the things we hold on and save, deeming important for us to recall at a later time. Both Good Cop and Bad CopJustin Skycak from Math Academy is one of the best thinkers in the education space. From working closely with students at Alpha School, I know how hard it is to find the right balance of holding high standards while providing high support. One of the most challenging parts of teaching/coaching others is striking the right balance between good cop and bad cop. You need to be both. It’s the duality of coaching. You have to set high performance standards and hold the line on what it means to achieve them. But at the same time, you have to support your trainees in developing that level of performance.
You can’t just say “work harder.” You have to actually pinpoint specific areas for improvement and specific types of training exercises that will develop the trainee’s skills effectively. But at the same time, you have to call out when a trainee is not engaging with the process, not putting forth the effort that’s necessary to complete the exercises, extract the learning from them, and make the skill development happen.
You have to give honest feedback – often about shortcomings in the trainee’s performance – in a way that’s motivating, or at least not demotivating. You have to talk the trainee up when they’re feeling beaten down by the grind, and help them see their progress – but if they start getting cocky, demanding superstar treatment when really they’re a promising junior, you have to put them in their place and communicate that they’re still in the early stages of a long journey (again, without demotivating them).
AbundanceOne of the more interesting books I have come across lately is Abundance from Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. My curiosity was piqued after reading the description: It's a refreshing, honest look in the mirror and details an approach that gets to the center of many societal issues we currently face. If you'd like a taste of the book, here are a few notes that go into the main themes and takeaways: 1. Scarcity Is a Choice, Not a Destiny
America’s biggest barriers to progress aren’t resources or capabilities—they’re self-imposed limits and outdated systems. We often accept scarcity in housing, clean energy, and opportunity, but these constraints are the result of policy choices and institutional inertia, not natural limits. Recognizing this empowers us to create true abundance.
2. Abundant Societies Focus on Building, Not Hoarding
True progress comes from increasing the supply of foundational goods—homes, energy, infrastructure—rather than just redistributing what already exists. Societies that thrive are those that relentlessly build and innovate, unlocking new possibilities for the many, not just preserving comforts for the few. Productivity and construction drive prosperity, not protectionism.
3. Innovation Requires Reforming How We Fund and Value Science
Breakthroughs emerge when diverse, risky ideas are given room to breathe. Today’s bureaucracies reward safe, incremental research, overlooking mavericks like mRNA innovator Katalin Karikó. We must cultivate systems that embrace bold experiments, reward young talent, and reduce paperwork—because tomorrow’s lifesaving breakthroughs depend on today’s scientific daring.
4. Effective Governance Means Cutting Through Red Tape
Redundant rules, overregulation, and endless procedural hurdles have turned government projects into slow-motion disasters. From housing delays to failed high-speed rail, abundant societies need governments focused on outcomes, not just process. Empowering leaders to make choices—and holding them accountable for results—restores faith and effectiveness in public institutions.
5. Progress Isn’t Just Invention—It’s Implementation
Game-changing ideas often stall after the “eureka moment.” America leads in inventing—the computer, solar cell, penicillin—but falls short in scaling and deploying them for all. Real progress demands attention to manufacturing, distribution, and adoption, marrying big ideas with practical, on-the-ground execution that benefits everyone.
6. Vision and Institutional Renewal Unlock the Future
Abundance is more than having “more stuff”—it’s about building institutions and policies that continually renew themselves to meet new challenges. Transformative outcomes require a politics focused on supply, state capacity, and future-oriented vision, rather than nostalgia or zero-sum thinking. Societies flourish when they ask, “What do we need to build next?”
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Becket U curates the best resources in Math, Physics, Computers, Microeconomics, Game Theory, and Persuasion. With this knowledge, you will understand how the world works.
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