korrents

← People and their mental models

Ben Thompson's mental models

3 claims Ben Thompson made fit 3 mental models. Most often: Incentives, Moats, Second-order thinking. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Moats

What protects a business is whatever a rival cannot copy, and that is rarely the software.

Used by 10 others

User interface is disappearing as a competitive moat for software companies.

  1. Ben Thompson Writes Stratechery, a subscription newsletter… Salesforce is abandoning UI as a moat, which is a very smart move because it's disappearing for everyone. 2026.38: Doomforcestratechery.com · 18 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsSalesforce is abandoning UI as a moat, which is a very smart move because it's disappearing for everyone.

    ↗2026.38: Doomforcestratechery.com

    18 Sept 2026

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Incentives

Look at what people are rewarded for; it explains more behaviour than what they say, your own included.

Used by 84 others

Frontier AI labs have a strategic incentive to pace their capability releases so society has time to address the overhangs caused by model advancement.

  1. Ben Thompson Writes Stratechery, a subscription newsletter… Pacing the frontier may be sincere, but it would also be strategically useful for the frontier labs to have time to reduce overhangs caused by model advancement. 2026.39: Begun, the Aggregator Wars Havestratechery.com · 25 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsPacing the frontier may be sincere, but it would also be strategically useful for the frontier labs to have time to reduce overhangs caused by model advancement.

    ↗2026.39: Begun, the Aggregator Wars Havestratechery.com

    25 Sept 2026

Second-order thinking

Ask "and then what?": follow a decision past its first effect to the ones that come after.

Used by 86 others