“I am the Lord your God.” — 1st Commandment Human culture began with a murder. That culture was fueled by rage and rivalry, which led to violence. Managing that violence is the secret reason for all religious and political institutions. In The Bible, The Cain and Abel story is the first act of life…

Mo Issa 5 min read· Jun 20, 2022 Press enter or click to view image in full size Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash “Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.” — René Girard. I…

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once nearly died of a heart attack. Years later he was asked what went through his mind while he was being rushed to the hospital in what could have been his last moments alive. “Damn it, I didn’t spend enough money,” was Welch’s response. The interviewer,…

Films with powerful environmentally centred narratives can transform our thinking and connect us with nature in ways that scientific papers cannot. For example, Studio Ghibli, a renowned Japanese film studio co-founded by animator Hayao Miyazaki, creates complex visual stories about human-nature…

At Scale, we’ve hired more than 200 people. For a long time, I interviewed everyone we gave an offer to. I wrote this memo to the company more than a year ago before a period where we grew the team significantly (from roughly 75 to 150), and I wanted to share it with the broader community because I…

I’ve been thinking about the concept of “hustle porn” lately. There are a few interpretations of what it means. One is people who are busy but not productive — the visual of people bragging about how much they work or how late they stay up, but without getting that much done. Think motivational…

While listening to Josh Kaufman’s Farnham Street interview the other day, it dawned on me that there are a few interconnected and important concepts related to learning that come together in an intere

ByGabriel A. Silva, Contributor. The ‘Thinkers and Innovators’ series explores the science and philosophy of the brain and mind with some of the world’s foremost forward thinking experts. It also explores technologies used for studying and interfacing with the brain, as well as technologies…

“Study hard what interests you the most.” Sunny Labh 5 min read· Apr 3, 2022 -- Press enter or click to view image in full size Physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988). Image sources: Feynman Estate and CERN Archives I have been writing about Richard Feynman for quite some time now and if you are…

Ever wonder how Cyberpunk’s digital aesthetic took form? You’d be forgiven for turning your attention to film or manga when questioning its origins. Blade Runner encapsulated the noir tone and neon-fuelled aesthetic of which Cyberpunk has become synonymous, whilst Akira and Ghost in the Shell…

When Sarah, 36 years old and severely depressed, sat down in a lab with a head full of surgically implanted sensors last year, the last thing she expected was to spontaneously cackle. She hadn’t laughed like that — a real, unforced laugh — in five years. But something had happened: A subtle…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University and Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center] — Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging assistive technology, enabling people with paralysis to type on computer screens or manipulate robotic prostheses just by thinking about moving their own bodies. For…

I figured it out. Or should I say, “I found out why!” Finally, I found the answer to a question that was troubling my weary mind. More precisely: Why do people keep following other people online? Why do people voluntarily disturb their attention by creating an insanely large list of online gurus who…

Over the last few years I have gone from an AGI skeptic to being significantly worried about just how soon it will likely come to exist and how dramatically it will reshape the world. Like climate change, it is a challenging problem in part due to a widespread reluctance to even recognize it as a…

When a routine echocardiogram revealed a large mass next to my heart, the radiologist thought it might be a hiatal hernia—a portion of my stomach poking up through my diaphragm to press against the sac containing my heart. “Chug this can of Diet Dr. Pepper and then hop up on the table for another…

Welcome to the third interview on 'The Observer Effect'. We are lucky to have one of the most interesting founders in technology and commerce - Tobi Lütke, Founder and CEO of Shopify. This interview w

You spend years trying to learn new stuff but then look back and realize that maybe like 10 big ideas truly changed how you think and drive most of what you believe. A few of mine: Everyone belongs to a tribe and underestimates how influential that tribe is on their thinking. There is little…

David Perell is a sharp writer whose words will absorb you. He writes, hosts a podcast, and runs a writing school called Write of Passage. In this guest column, David recounts how a recent dinner with Peter Thiel got him thinking about Thiel’s obsession with ‘secrets.’ I hope you enjoy. Why Peter…

Nov 2021 Comments at hacker news. That our atmosphere has low enough pressure and levels of deuterium that nuclear fission in air doesn’t cause hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium, meaning that the first nuclear bomb test in 1945 didn’t in fact ignite the atmosphere and engulf the planet in flames,…

A lot of people say to me: “Ivaylo! You are so smart. Your newsletter is full of insights. The books you summarize are so elegantly presented with so much attention and care. Your parents must be proud!” To this, I always respond: “Thanks! I was simply born amazingly gifted.” And then I wake up. I’m…

Neurologist Phil Kennedy set out to build the ultimate brain-computer interface. In the process he almost lost his mind. The brain surgery lasted 11 and a half hours, beginning on the afternoon of Jun

democratizing science

“What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at all, is that the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those

Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. –Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” 1861 * Charles Darwin was an introvert. Granted, he spent almost

Every mathematician worthy of the name has experienced … the state of lucid exaltation in which one thought succeeds another as if miraculously… this feeling may last for hours at a time, even for day

If you’re not sure what Odd Things in Odd Places is and why I’m in Japan by myself, you can learn here . It all started with a Gmail theme. A few years ago, on some standard Dark Playground toil sessi

We made a fancy PDF of this post for printing and offline viewing. Buy it here. Part 1: Meet Your Mammoth The first day I was in second grade, I came to school and noticed that there was a new, very p

Chronic pain is like a horror movie monster that sneaks up on you. It’s unpredictable, lingers silently, and when it strikes it’s often too late to tame. More diabolically, our best weapon against it—

“If you only put into action half of what you read, you’d already be a millionaire.” I’ve heard many variations of this advice, all making the point that the problem isn’t that we don’t have good idea

To a frustrated single person, life can often feel like this: And at first glance, research seems to back this up, suggesting that married people are on average happier than single people and much hap