Betterment

Having "the nerve to renounce even one’s most celebrated beliefs in deference to truth" is "intellectual heroism," writes Shai Tubali.

Discipline is a lie.

You’ve probably seen headlines like these in the last year or two: Wall Street Journal: “Even Harvard M.B.A.s Are Struggling to Land Jobs.” Fortune

On an airplane, we notice even tiny changes in acceleration (including direction) but we’re completely unaware that we’re traveling at hundreds of miles an hour. “Compared to what…

The Japanese call this phenomenon “Ma”, which translates into “space,” “gap,” or "interruption." It’s everywhere in Japanese art, from the emphasis of the

Start where you are. Start with what you’ve got. Start now. Now is the perfect moment. It only feels ‘fast’ if we’re rushing. Don’t rush. But act. With deliberate prog…

The next dish. It might be better than the one you have now. The presence of the next dish, its possibility, corrodes our experience. “Compared to what?” keeps needling us. The next ema…

How we research, write, and read with AI—or not. Some tricks and recommended apps and services to leverage AI as a thinking assistant.

Perhaps this metaphor will help: Nails are the easiest to use and require the least skill. Glue can make a more solid bond, but it’s often a one-way commitment–you can’t undo it w…

I spent months as a Senior Staff Engineer before realizing nobody had clear and consistent expectations of what I should be doing. In leadership roles, everything becomes less defined. You’re responsible for shaping your own position and how you...

There’s a simple law: No one buys anything unless it produces more value than it costs. This seems obvious. Value could be in the form of sustenance, status, affiliation, peace of mind or hea…

Here’s a summary from a book industry newsflash about what’s selling right now: Dystopia, Dark Romance, Dark Literary, Horror, Paranormal, True Crime, Alternative Histories, Decline of …

The purpose of haste is to prevent any semblance of rest.

Couple motorcycling on the beach at Oostvoorne, Netherlands, by Aart Klein, 1966 Hello there, Boy, I don’t know. Here’s some art, ideas, and internet for...

“You think that because you understand ‘One’ that you must therefore understand ‘Two’ because one and one make two. But you forget that you must also

Learning to Catch What AI Misses

Your biggest mentor isn't someone else. It's the person you used to be.

I’ve been studying the early history of electricity’s discovery as a map for our current discovery of artificial intelligence. The smartest people alive back then, including Isaac Newton, who may have been the smartest person who ever lived, had confident … Continue reading →

Big company customer service has evolved to be pointless, a useless shadow of its former self. Big companies can’t take responsibility, only humans can. And when we depersonalize our interact…

This is the last month in my year-long Foundations project. The focus of this month was service. In this post, I’d like to share some takeaways from the ten books I read this month. Next week I’ll share my reflections on trying to improve this foundation in my own life. Those interested can also check […]

Plato – ever heard of him? Of course you have. He’s arguably one of the most impactful philosophers who ever lived. Without getting into the metaphysical

Some projects run in silence for months. Status reports aren't enough. Real momentum comes from small wins, demos, and milestones that show your team is moving forward.

Organizations built on heroes eventually break. You don’t need a 10x engineers — you need a 10x organization that scales sustainably.

This, in itself, is a compromise. When we insist that our vision be accepted, completely, without alteration, we’ve already compromised. It might be that we’ve settled for a much smalle…

Someone should write a book: “Everything I Need To Know About Life I Learned Twenty Thousand Years Ago.” Everything that makes us tick was hardwired

Talk to a clear-headed 107-year-old today, and you could expect to hear stories of adolescence in the Great Depression, or — if you're lucky — the Jazz Age seen through a child's eyes.

Systems allow for more complex analysis, further from direct experience, using longer chains of reasoning.

You wrap up your tour of the Burj Khalifa and step out into the hot Dubai heat. A supercar passes. License plate: “1.” Just “1.” You shrug. To you, it’s