Back to Topics │Taking Responsibility│ Start: Relativity & Reaction
– Nerd Cheat Sheet: World Scaling
The following sources were identified by ChatGPT as part of the fact-checking for the Nerd Cheat Sheet: World Scaling. I remain responsible for all interpretations and accuracy.
Volkswagen Group
- VW Group Employees (≈ 679,000)
Volkswagen Group Annual Report 2024 — People & Sustainability section. - VW Operating Profit (~€19.1bn, 2024)
Volkswagen Group Annual Report 2024 — Operating Result. - VW-branded vehicle production (~9 million, 2024)
Volkswagen Group Production Statistics (2024). - Historic VW productivity (1950–1960)
Volkswagen Classic / VW Museum production archives. - Automation in auto manufacturing
ILO, OECD, and automotive robotics reports; numerous factory walk-throughs (e.g., VW Wolfsburg).
Microsoft & Software Scaling
- Excel for Mac (1985) and Excel for Windows (1987)
Microsoft product history; Apple and Microsoft archives. - Lotus 1-2-3 as the dominant 1980s spreadsheet
IBM Lotus historical documentation; computing history sites. - Office 365 global launch (2011)
Microsoft News Centre: “Office 365 Launches Globally.” - Shift to subscription model after 2013
Microsoft pricing & product lifecycle documentation. - Microsoft FY2025 Net Income (~$101.8bn)
Microsoft Investor Relations — FY2025 Earnings Release. - Microsoft Employee Count (~228,000 in 2024)
Macrotrends / Microsoft Investor Relations. - Profit per employee (~$460,000)
Simple division of the two values above — verifiable by anyone.
China & Globalisation
- Nixon’s 1972 visit to China
U.S. State Department historical archives. - China’s economic reforms beginning in 1978
Chinese government and World Bank historical summaries. - China’s WTO membership (2001)
WTO official accession documentation. - China becomes world’s largest manufacturing exporter
UN Comtrade; World Bank global export data. - Rising labour costs in China (2000s–2020s)
OECD, World Bank, and Statista wage trend data. - Manufacturing shifting to Vietnam, India, Malaysia
Supply chain reports from Apple, Samsung, Nike, and major logistics analysts.
Demographics & Labour
- Declining birth rates in the West since the 1960s
UN Population Division: Fertility Data 1960–2020. - Life expectancy rising while fertility falls
UN, WHO global demographic statistics. - Manufacturing job decline due to automation
MIT Work of the Future; McKinsey Global Institute; OECD automation reports. - Shrinking mid-skill employment
OECD employment structure reports (2000–2020).
Scaling Laws & Economics
- Marginal cost of software ≈ zero
Standard economic principle; any microeconomics textbook. - Automation increases productivity per worker
ILO, OECD, and robotics industry studies. - Capital’s share of income rising as labour’s share falls
Thomas Piketty (2014); IMF and OECD income-share analyses.
How to Use This Appendix
This list is deliberately simple:
- No formal citations.
- No academic clutter.
- Every fact can be confirmed in under a minute using a public report, company website, international organisation, or basic search.
It supports the credibility of the World Scaling chapter while keeping the narrative clean and readable.
📖 Series Roadmap
- Forward: A Little Background
- Introduction: Action, Reaction, and the Human Paradox (16.09.2025)
- Looking Back in Time: The Development of the Human Brain (23.09.2025)
- Abstract Senses: Enhancing the way we see the world outside (30.09.2025)
- Bias as a Concept & Climbing the Stairs: Pattern Recognition & Everyday Tasks (07.10.2025)
- Abstract Feelings and Abstract Senses (14.10.2025)
- Motivation (04.11.2025)
- The Social Knowledge Base (11.11.2025)
- Potential (18.11.2025)
- The Subliminal Way We Go Through Life (26.11.2025)
- Taking Responsibility (02.12.2025)
- Fishing for Complements (22.12.2025)
- Peter and Fermi (22.12.2025)
🔗 R&R Navigation
Back to Topics │Taking Responsibility│ Start: Relativity & Reaction
– Nerd Cheat Sheet: World Scaling
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