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The "Rise Over Run" Mission Statement
Welcome to “Rise Over Run,” a publication about the role that capital plays in technological progress.
We chose this one-sentence description because it allowed us to shrink the ambition of this project down to its essence, and then ask how broadly that essential idea could be expanded.
In the process, we learned that this idea can be expanded significantly.
First, we call this a publication because we feel it encompasses all mediums - even those not yet created. Of course, we plan to continue to share ideas in the form of the written word, but we imagine sharing audio, video, and pioneering new mediums and unique experiences for our stakeholders. The recording of SXSW is the first example of this.
Second, we chose to focus on capital because we sensed it would help us to synthesize all of the fragmented posts shared on this publication. Eventually, we found the words to describe why it felt right.
We learned that the word capital comes from the Latin word “capitas” meaning “of or pertaining to the head”.
Most people who refer to the latin root of “capital” use it to talk about the importance of knowledge. We agree that this interpretation is valid. However, we also believe that there are many other ways to interpret the word’s original intention.
Head can mean the beginning (ex. the beginning of a sentence has a capital letter); or it can mean the top (like the top of a pillar / the leader of an industry).
We also believe it can refer to the inception of a project, an artist’s original intention; and the source of someone’s believability or credibility.
Lastly, when we speak about technological change, we don’t mean technology as it is typically defined today: hardware and software. We mean it in the way that Peter Thiel defined it in his book Zero to One, as “any new way of doing things.”
We like that definition because it acknowledges the world of bits but leaves room for unique approaches to the world of atoms.
So, the research question this publication explores is:
“What role do the various forms of capital play in our ability to do new things individually and collectively as a society?”
For example:
Do different forms of capital become more or less effective over time?
How does social capital influence productivity in speechwriting?
So, although some posts in this publication may cover hardware and software, we do not focus on that form of technology exclusively. Instead, we discuss various topics (e.g., Accounting, Hip-Hop, Statistics), and organize those posts into collections under headers such as Venture capital, intellectual capital, human capital, and social capital.
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About Us
The name of this publication comes from the mathematical formula for the slope of a line:
In mathematics, "rise over run" is the amount of vertical change (y) (e.g., innovation), given a change that occurs horizontally (x) - (e.g., temporally or spatially).