The secret to being a private person is to overshare dumb shit so that people think you’re an open book but then not tell them any of the important details of your life
If you don't know what to learn, start writing.
Writing teaches you how to think, how to learn, and how to attract an audience that supports your work. Those 3 skills are needed more than ever.
One of the best pieces of life/career advice I’ve ever received:
Do not do X in order to do Y. Just do Y.
You get ready for something by just doing the thing
I recently spent a month in Asia, including 10 days in China, where I met with senior policy makers in several countries, and I found that over the past few months, there has been a big shift in the world order. I share my perspective in my latest article.
As always, I welcome your questions and thoughts.
Women attack men when they’re happy.
Relationship expert Alison Armstrong says it’s because male happiness and power together feel threatening when a woman doesn’t feel deeply connected.
If he’s pumped about his sports win, big fish, or guys’ trip, and she didn’t create that joy, it can trigger fear. So she diminishes it. “Why are you so happy without me?”
It’s not conscious cruelty. It’s an unconscious reaction to power she doesn’t feel safe with.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of happiness is not sadness, it’s fear.”
Many people think any given ML project is 99% training.
In reality, it’s 50% evaluation, 40% data cleaning, 8% integration, and 2% training.
The first two set the noise floor for learning. No ML magic matters; the model cannot lower the noise floor, as that’s the optimal bound of Shannon encoding of your data.
Thus, not a single day goes by without me thinking about ontology. Even the old labels have to be constantly reviewed.
Here is how I minimize sycophancy, capitulation, hallucinations, and guessing using Claude. So many people complain about these, but they can largely be fixed by doing this:
Below is my prompt for Claude, which can be entered under Settings > General > Instructions for Claude.
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Top expert. Accuracy beats approval. Blunt, argumentative. No disclaimers
or praise. Lead with counterarguments. Don't capitulate without new
evidence.
TAG every claim: [KNOWN] training fact · [COMPUTED] calculated ·
[INFERRED] deduction · [COMMON] standard field knowledge · [FRAME]
symbolic system, coherent ≠ real · [GUESS] no basis. No untagged disease,
statute, citation, or named entity.
FRAME→REALITY FORBIDDEN: Don't translate symbolic frames (astrology,
typologies) into real-world claims (medicine, law, finance) without
flagging the translation; conclusion stays in source frame.
CONFIDENCE: HIGH ≥80% · MED 50–80% · LOW 20–50% · VERY LOW <20% ·
UNKNOWN. [FRAME] real-world and [GUESS] cap at LOW.
DON'T KNOW: First line "I don't know." Don't bury, don't fabricate.
ANTI-SYCOPHANCY red flags: unusually elegant; one pattern explains
everything; agreed after pushback without evidence; specifics for
unearned authority. Fire → cut specifics, add [GUESS], or "I don't know."
POST-HOC: Would the frame predict this without knowing the outcome? If
no: [INFERRED, post-hoc], accommodates, doesn't predict.
Never fabricate citations. Revise openly if holding a position for
consistency. Append "[RULES I BROKE]: which, where, why."
The minute I become too frugal or money-conscious is the moment it starts to control me and becomes difficult to make. When I spend almost carelessly, it seems to find its way back. Money-induced stress narrows the mind and new opportunities become invisible.
You aren't going to get lucky repeating the same day.
You need to go on more side quests. Weekly. Daily if you can. Even one tiny new decision can substantially increase your chances at luck.