Be Fruitful and Multiply
Never forget the fundamental rule of compounding
Until recently, the White House flew a flag on Easter that had no business being there under a previous administration.
A house showing the world a philosophy that is against the very aspiration it was built to represent.
For me, any flag but the US shouldn’t be flying on a fine spring day, especially one that is against being fruitful and multiplying.
Because that is the only way to pursue happiness.
So why is being fruitful and multiplying so important?
First, the Bible told the fish to do it. Then Fibonacci retold it with more flavor, using rabbits.
In the 1200s, Fibonacci famously introduced a mathematical puzzle that expressed exponential growth through breeding rabbits.
The problem asks how many pairs of rabbits can be produced in one year from a single pair, assuming they reach maturity in one month, produce a new pair every subsequent month, and never die.
Briefly the Sequence:
Month 1: 1 pair (newborns).
Month 2: 1 pair (matured).
Month 3: 2 pairs (Original pair + 1 new pair).
Month 4: 3 pairs (Original pair + 2 new pairs).
Month 5: 5 pairs (Original pair + 4 new pairs).
So in just 5 months, 4 babies were produced.
In one year?
The answer is 377.
And the sequence that gets you there — 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 — is the architecture of nature itself. Sunflower seeds.
Nautilus shells. The branching of trees.
Fibonacci didn't invent the pattern. He just noticed it was already there.
The lesson isn’t about math.
Just think about ideas, culture, tradition, religions, trends, news, wealth, and reproduction, and how long it takes, and with one “decree” or one “selfish act,” all of it can be cut down
It’s about compounding.
It’s about what happens when you don’t stop. Each generation is the sum of the two before it.
Which brings me to the thing nobody wants to say out loud: to pursue happiness, you first have to be fruitful and multiply.
It’s not a mandate but a mechanism. The sequence doesn’t operate on individuals but on established precedent and tradition.
You are standing on the shoulders of people you never met. The grandeur and comfort you move through every day is a function of their sacrifice, their discipline, and their willingness to defer gratification across decades.
Don’t be a punk about it. Pay it forward.
And even if you don’t agree, our legacy will see us as ignorant fools, not thinking ahead and seeing the big picture, as our competitors will happily supply the gene pool's deficit.
Need proof?
The Chinese Revolution is the most dramatic example of this I know.
When Mao swept through, he didn’t exterminate the wealthy class entirely, but he punished them, humiliated them, sent them to the fields.
Many of the old elite survived by adapting. They became farmers. They kept their heads down. They passed something on.
The Economist tracked the data in 2022 and found what shouldn’t surprise you: the grandchildren of China’s pre-revolutionary elite are disproportionately wealthy today, even inside a Communist system.
The genes, the culture, the table manners, the work ethic, something is transmitted. Call it inheritance that couldn’t be confiscated.
They survived because they were not punks.
And now, in this era of “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” it is precisely those grandchildren helping to lead the country toward capital markets, entrepreneurship, and deal-making.
The revolution tried to break the sequence. The sequence held.
This is what Fibonacci was really describing.
Now, let me leave you with a joke that says it better than I can.
**Who is the satisfied man?
The man with $5 million dollars?
Or the man with 6 children?
The man with 6 children.
Why?
The man with $5 million dollars always wants a little bit more.
A little bit more.
Unless, of course, you are the Chinese government.
And your goal isn’t happiness. It’s a conquest.
Videogame executive Xu Bo is said to have fathered more than 100 children
All US citizens, every one of them, born here through IVF and surrogacy, then sent to China for education. He is not alone.
They read Fibonacci, too.
Except they don’t want the children. They want the passports, the birthright.
They wanted the sequence to run, not for a family, but for a state.
To infiltrate the ideals of one into the other.
And it’s not the first time the Chinese has done this.
Let me tell you about my friend Mr. Lee
A US citizen of Chinese descent. He said, shockingly, that most people in the world descend from Genghis Khan, like him.
“Eric, 1 in 200 Men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan.”
(Apparently, it’s been written up as well. Here is one link https://allthatsinteresting.com/genghis-khan-children)
It’s all about genes.
Which is why, on this Easter Sunday, let’s take a moment to be grateful.
Grateful for the mothers who built something real.
Our ladies are American-made and will stay that way.
Have a wonderful Easter.
— Eric
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