Matthew Bellows

Founded, grew and sold three software companies. Writing on startups, money, meditation and feeding people -

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

5 min morning meditation:
Set your timer.
Sit in a chair with feet on the floor and back unsupported.
Feel the weight of your body on your butt.
Relax. Breathe.
When you lose track of the feeling of your breathing, just find it again. Relax.
Just for 5 mins.

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

This is my last visit/post on X until they fix the CSAM/nudify garbage.

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

An interesting take on the quasi-annual hand wringing about the fall of the Boston startup scene: it will happen to the US if we can’t articulate the actual benefits of AI.

[Will Manidis @WillManidis]

https://t.co/7NWt6DmR1P

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

@bhalligan I’d make the case that Boston/Cambridge is not the place for the state to invest… they are expensive and dominated by large institutions. We should grow startup culture in Worchester, Providence and New Bedford (shoutout https://t.co/MYtZDclJLW).

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

@bhalligan @richminer @antrod @Durkin I’d love to pitch in!

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

A founder/ceo called me just after Christmas and asked a profound and simple question… https://t.co/xdAI1JAyYt

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

"Pain is the water with which we make our soup." Chogyam Trungpa

[Roko 🐉 @RokoMijic]

A Wireheader's Apostasy

If you really understand philosophy of mind it is clear that David Pearce's quest to end suffering is misguided at a logical level and also at an ethical level.

Suffering is what negative feedback feels like from the inside.

You can't end suffering without ending negative feedback. There can't be a clever technical fix for this, because the suffering is the negative feedback in the same way that a rainbow is sunlight reflecting off water droplets.

You can't run a brain on "gradients of bliss" and have it feel blissful all the time but also produce the same distribution of outputs across all environments because feeling blissful occasionally serves a function and that function is not supposed to be on all the time - you become a wirehead.

Feeling slightly less blissful will simply not motivate you to move your hand off a burning hot plate the way the burn qualia will.

This is borne out empirically when you look at people born without pain receptors: they break all their bones, burn themselves, bite their own tongues off, and often die young.

People who take drugs stop doing normal-person things, they turn into zombies who just seek the drug and nothing else. Why? Because the drug is a massive, artificial superstimulus of all positive reward signals that your brain's reward architecture is not designed to handle. It drowns out the subtler reward signals you get from smelling a nice flower or having a social event with friends, so you stop doing those things. This is probably why homelessness and drug addiction go hand-in-hand - if you are homeless, it's hard to fix your life and get positive feedback from normal life stimuli, so you start taking drugs to feel something. But once you are on drugs, the reward of the drug is so much bigger than the reward you could get from a normal life activity that it's not that compelling to give up drugs for those activities.

It's also deeply immoral to try to turn off all negative feedback, because doing so will turn the world into a sh!thole. I would even include things like political correctness in this, as I think that is best thought of as a form of collective social wireheading.

It is actually a really good thing that sick people suffer terribly. It is good that death is often painful and frightening. It is good that romantic rejection stings and makes us feel bad about ourselves.

Why? Because if these negative events didn't come with negative qualia, we would not be motivated to avoid them.

To be a true transhumanist you must not ask to suffer less, you must ask to suffer more accurately, to be punished more when you fail to live up to your goals and to feel a sweeter reward when you do. And to be a true humanist you must embrace suffering as a force for good in the right circumstances.

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

@ID_AA_Carmack @PLT_cheater @tanj_b you reply guys stepping to @ID_AA_Carmack need to do a little homework yourselves...

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

@dharmesh it worked!

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

cc: @dharmesh trying to use your Company Research Agent and got this bug...

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

Your AI perpetuating its bliss state is a good description of the step between the 1st and 2nd turning in Buddhism. In the 1st, we reduce suffering because we get perspective and relax. But blissing out isn't satisfying because we know others aren't. AI will know this too.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

OK, I finally wrote up my thoughts on what we should do about the risk that godlike AI will destroy the human race.

https://t.co/ccutOTPfB5

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

A smart, funny, positive, grounded take on AI killing us all.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

OK, I finally wrote up my thoughts on what we should do about the risk that godlike AI will destroy the human race.

https://t.co/ccutOTPfB5

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

And drink enough water

[Nika Dubrovsky @nikadubrovsky]

Too many deadlines and life feels physically unbearable. Almost nauseating.
But get enough sleep, a bit of morning sun, a club in the evening—and suddenly life is beautiful again.
We're such chemical creatures, dependent on dopamine and cortisol, on endorphins and oxytocin. No wonder happiness resembles a well-constructed art installation.

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

I agree with these. Great advice. I’d add “say yes almost all the time”. They will ask more if that’s the default, and your no, when it comes, means something.

[Paternal Legacy @PaternalLegacy]

26 weapons grade parenting tips:

1/ Give them a "heads up," 5 minutes until bedtime, 10 minutes before leaving the playground

2/ Look at the world more through their eyes

3/ Don’t discipline like an angry madman. Stay calm and firm, model how you want THEM to resolve conflict

4/ Let them argue their case respectfully. Teaches negotiation and critical thinking

5/ Skip the long lectures

6/ Use natural consequences: forgot homework? Let them explain it to the teacher. Forgot their lunch? They'll figure it out

7/ Be consistent and follow through. "We are leaving the playground if you don't stop..."

8/ Make "How can I help?" part of YOUR vocabulary. It builds reliability

9/ Share your unseen efforts: hustling for work, hitting the gym. Actions speak louder than words but when they can’t see it, TELL THEM

10/ Teach accountability by modeling it yourself: “I was wrong. sorry”

11/ Create family traditions like weekly movie nights, Sunday pancakes, whatever works

12/ More game nights

13/ Take an interest in their interests: video games, books, sports... do it with them.

14/ Hike together. Nature slows time and generates gratitude

15/ Build something. LEGO, puzzles, a fort, the Amazon delivery box

16/ Teach them skills: tie knots, start a fire, read a map

17/ Introduce chess or checkers. Start early

18/ Let them plan a family outing or navigate you there (they can get you through the airport)

19/ Always greet your wife with love. That moment sets the tone for the family

20/ Share some challenges (age appropriate)

21/ Respect their privacy. Knock before entering their room

22/ Teach the value of money early: "wants vs. needs," compounding, saving, etc

23/ Let them see you sweat

24/ Teach them to cook. Start small: eggs, pancakes, cookies. Embrace the mess

25/ No screens at meals ever

26/ Prioritize movement as a UNIT: family walks, workouts, hikes, dance-offs- whatever gets the everyone in synch

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

In the old days @reedhastings used to look up to @HBO for their quality and profits. Now the company he founded owns them and a whole lot more.

[Netflix @netflix]

Today, Netflix announced our acquisition of Warner Bros. Together, we’ll define the next century of storytelling, creating an extraordinary entertainment offering for audiences everywhere. https://t.co/rXPFMNIs1A

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

I'm betting that @GaryMarcus thinks that the core architecture of LLMs will derail the forecasts at https://t.co/CLeb9geiqL but I would love to hear his take!

[liemandt @jliemandt]

Calling all Boston families: A parent-led group is now assembling the 25 'founding families' needed to bring Alpha School to Boston.

This is how it starts.

(And as a lifelong Red Sox fan, I'm personally very excited to see it.)

Learn more and join here: https://t.co/wGYwUCo8jO

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

@villi @bhalligan @dharmesh I’m vibe coding it now

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

All capital investment periods are not bubbles…

[Barbarian Capital @BarbarianCap]

the Coatue deck making the rounds
https://t.co/OCKgyEImhX

[Matthew Bellows @mbellows]

My latest article: Quick Notes from the Evident AI Conference https://t.co/VfuJYACA8D via @LinkedIn

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

🚨NEW: Maine Democrat Graham Platner is head of Susan Collins by 14 points in a new poll of the U.S. Senate race.

RETWEET if you support @GrahamforMaine as he runs to beat Collins!