This was a fun read, though the subject matter might be a little gloomy. There’s a bit of schadenfreude to be enjoyed here at the expense of the abomination of a company that is (or was) Cluely.
Self-preservation at all costs—the man for whom nothing is more valuable than his own life—is the lowest of all creatures. In all of human psychology, nor in the behavior of animals, there’s no baser instinct than this.
Whatever your opinion of Greta Thunberg, what she says here sounds unquestionably true. Real conviction of a worthy goal, however distant, can make the world come alive by imbuing one’s life with great meaning and purpose.
Jason Fowler Pro Max. I like it.
What if you were completely without fear? Who would you then be? If you tell me you won’t be any different, either you’re one person in a billion or you’re lying, perhaps to yourself as much as to anyone.
This is where you’re supposed to be everyday as any kind of creative person.
Link to full essay on the Internet Archive: dn790003.ca.archive.org/0/items/ener...
Wonderful piece. The psychologist William James also wrote at length about this topic in a long essay titled "The Energies of Men."
Here's a good overview of the essay:
Education proper is the constant and never-ending refining of our model of the world.
An odd fellow indeed.
It's such a travesty and we don't talk enough about it. And they did this knowingly. Here's Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook, basically admitting to it all:
In comparison to reading, thinking and contemplation and silence seem to be underrated.
That's very true. But I think to some degree this also applies to content we (correctly) consider high quality, provided that we drown ourselves in such content.
Good books, good blogs, wonderful documentaries, etc, should of course be consumed, but perhaps not so much as to lose perspective.
I downloaded Tiktok once a few months after it first came out and then spent several hours on it at once. Immediately, I could tell the effects it had on my mind, I got scared, and then promptly deleted.
Like you, to this day I've stayed the hell away from short-form video.
There is an underrated danger to too much information consumption; which is that in the noise, one tends to forget the basics, the fundamentals, which are the most important to keep in mind.
I think it's safe to say no one enjoys that.
So on average, you've read a book a week. Impressive!
By the way, the "complete list on Goodreads here" link doesn't work; it leads to my profile instead of yours.
If you're a fan of Asimov, I came across this hard-to-find essay of his on his work process that you might find interesting:
Michael Lynch (@mtlynch.io) has compiled here a wonderful list of essays about software that influenced him. The ones I’ve read (and I’ve read a few before) have all been very good.
It does, which is why I sometimes check out the links on Hacker News and other similar places.
The biggest trouble with algorithmic feeds for me is that there's no natural point to stop scrolling, and so I almost always spend more time than I should with them. Now I avoid them as much as I can.
A window (but not Windows) into the past. Nice!
Don't know. It might be haram squared.
I find that carefully curated chronological feeds are generally much better than algorithmic ones.
Take everything and nothing seriously, at the same time. Contrary to how this sounds, this is not paradoxical.
How's the punctuation?
I really like how you categorize posts into different feeds like this. I've not done it yet, but I have the same idea for my blog as well. It really makes navigating a website, and also only following what you are interested in, easy.
If you’re not Steve Jobs, however, it’s probably for the best if you disregard the advice implied here.
Standing in front of the entire human race, looking at the faces in the crowd, and them looking back at you. How do you relate to them? What words do you have for them? Do you feel naked in front of them?
When you plan for the future, try not to be a tyrant over your future self.
