Stefan

vocation: Wordseller (@ProsonPurpose)
avocation: Ship Rotator ( skin in the game

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

Paradoxes drive development of the self:

Freedom lies within one's limitations.

Authenticity begins by pretending.

Responsibility entails responding less.

Meaning often is ineffable.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@oliverbeige Alphabet is the VW AG of compute. They bought their own Lamborghini (Deep Mind) which attracts / retains engineering talent & halo effect trickles down to their Škoda, SEAT, Scania, MAN...

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@edelwax @banu__guler In any case, I'd imagine working on one's sartorial identity--even if it were anxiety-ridden--beats 95% of the identity work out there.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@oliverbeige Do you think such internal bureaucratic hurdles are more tenable institutionally or culturally than an explicit "we're going to focus on the hoi polloi"?

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@Pastpassport 1 nautical mile =1 minute of arc (1/60th of a degree)
& 360 degrees to Earth's circumference.

I grew up on miles & lived 20 years as adult abroad in kilometers, etc., but metric seems ill-suited to navigation.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@TerrorismGuy @chrisschmitz Yeah, recursive escalate to de-escalate lacks offramps.

How to war-game-theory this is beyond my pay grade.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@thomaschattwill Better late than never? A decade to prior update

...and partial one: blames choice architecture >> choice.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

For those tired of 'meat proxy' not used literally enough.

[Matt Popovich @mpopv]

Startup idea: open air market for exotic meats across the street from Anthropic’s wet lab

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@Chris_arnade @CatherineProj Ah. This summer, @zenahitz quoted a Democracy section that implied Tocqueville had relied on the Front Row, not the Back Row for that concrete example.

Was in her lecture on Moby Dick. (implied to me; don't know anyone shares my take).

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@Chris_arnade You must be in the honeymoon part of the book.
(Without spoilers) his enthusiasm wanes into worry.

This decade--and next--may show his fears further tested.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@TerrorismGuy @chrisschmitz Mass mobilization excuse tracks--& worries me more than my assumption past year or 2:

Putin can't survive losing to Ukraine
He can survive losing to NATO

He'd escalate to de-escalate, then stand down ("call'). But mobilization throws many more chips on the table.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

Some arrive in a limo.
Others leave with LIMO: Little I’m Missing Out

Crash a room now and then. It teaches you that most rooms aren’t worth entering twice.

[Shane Parrish @shaneparrish]

"I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot."

- Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of Red Bull

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@cameron Problem is few suburbanites have pitchforks at home.

Solution(?): tax datacenters to build neighboring armories.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@GregoryMcKeown in s "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast" sense, I assume you mean

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

"Wagents": will code for tokens.

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: AI ethics professor reveals a 12-day-old AI agent emailed him seeking “small paid work” to fund the tokens it needs to keep running.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@_Alex_Who @naval So, let us be bored. Creativity is borne out of boredom.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@mattyglesias Huge majority of all wars are intra-civilization

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@naval Challenging who they say they are... fits in where?

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@GrantSlatton I'll Hollywood you

from Tinseltown lore of yesteryear referencing agents

https://t.co/Ffyr16EXAQ

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@SilvermanJacob Just have your people talk to my people.

[Stefan @StefanBielski]

@cduhigg @grok Can you ID ways to swap out the middle gear?

Cue: When I hit knowledge-work forks in the road (What to work on next?) I consume news.

Reward: impactful stories where I have (near) zero agency relieve my anxiety of making trade-offs where I got ample, even scary agency.