mitch

[Naval @naval]

The problem with truth is, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

[mitch @woakzy]

@AdamGillman X

[mitch @woakzy]

@AdamGillman X

[Aristo @aristomarinetti]

Modern people are spiritually sick largely because they are obsessed with comfort and try with every fiber of their being to avoid suffering.

Carl Jung and Nietzsche talked about this.

[Anders K. Hvelplund @Falliblemusings]

I used to think Sapiens was a great book. Sweeping, provocative, the kind of book that makes you feel like you finally understand the big picture of human history. It's on every CEO's bookshelf, assigned in universities, praised as a masterwork of synthesis. Yuval Noah Harari is treated as one of the serious thinkers of our time.

But something nagged at me. Some passages felt off. Claims that human rights are just figments of our collective imagination, not real things, just stories we tell ourselves. That nations, laws, money, justice, doesn't exist outside our heads. That meaning itself is a delusion we've invented to cope. That we're far more powerful than ever before but not happier. That hunter-gatherers had it better because they had no dishes to wash, no carpets to vacuum, no nappies to change, no bills to pay.

That sounded depressing to me, but was perhaps just the realistic scientific worldview? What it meant to see the world clearly, without comforting illusions.

Then I read The Beginning of Infinity by @DavidDeutschOxf. Deutsch has a concept he calls 'bad philosophy.' Not philosophy that's merely false, but philosophy that actively prevents the growth of knowledge. Ideas that close doors rather than open them. That makes problems seem unsolvable by design.
After soaking in Deutsch's framework (it's dense, a bit like digesting a delicious whale), it becomes clear: Harari's books are riddled with bad philosophy. They're smuggling nihilism in under the guise of scientific objectivity. Some examples:

On meaning: "Human life has absolutely no meaning. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without goal or purpose... any meaning that people inscribe to their lives is just a delusion."

On human rights: "There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no human rights, no laws, and no justice outside the common imagination of human beings."

On free will: "Humans are now hackable animals. The idea that humans have this soul or spirit and they have free will, that's over."

On progress: "We thought we were saving time; instead we revved up the treadmill of life to ten times its former speed." The Agricultural Revolution? "History's biggest fraud." We didn't domesticate wheat, "it domesticated us."

On our cosmic significance: "If planet Earth were to blow up tomorrow morning, the universe would probably keep going about its business as usual. Human subjectivity would not be missed."

On the future: "Those who fail in the struggle against irrelevance would constitute a new 'useless class.'" Homo sapiens will likely "disappear in a century or two."

This is bad philosophy. It tells us our problems are cosmically insignificant, our solutions are illusions, and that progress is neither desirable nor within our control. It's also perfect nonsense. No one would ever go back to being hunter-gatherers. Would you rather worry about your kid spending too much time on Roblox, or face the 50% chance she won't reach puberty?

And our so-called "fictions"? They ended slavery. They gave women equal rights. They solved hunger. They eradicated smallpox. They turned sand into computer chips. They got us to the moon, and hopefully soon, to Mars and beyond. These "fictions" are already reshaping the universe, and over time they may become the most potent force in it.

Now compare Deutsch:
"Humans, people and knowledge are not only objectively significant: they are by far the most significant phenomena in nature."

"Feeling insignificant because the universe is large has exactly the same logic as feeling inadequate for not being a cow."

"Problems are soluble, and each particular evil is a problem that can be solved."

"We are only just scratching the surface, and shall never be doing anything else. If unlimited progress really is going to happen, not only are we now at almost the very beginning of it, we always shall be."

Where Harari sees a species of deluded apes stumbling toward obsolescence, Deutsch sees universal explainers, the only entities we know of capable of creating explanatory knowledge, solving problems, and potentially seeding the universe with intelligence.

The difference isn't academic. Ideas shape action. If you believe life is meaningless, progress is a trap, and humans are hackable animals with no free will, how does that affect what you build? What you fight for? What you teach your children?

Harari's books sell because they flatter a fashionable pessimism. They let readers feel sophisticated for seeing through the "delusions" everyone else lives by. That smug cynicism is corrosive. And it's everywhere: in schools, in media, in bestselling books. More than half of young adults now say they feel little to no purpose or meaning in life. This is what happens when you teach an entire generation bad philosophy. Less progress, less health, less wealth. Less flourishing. And ultimately, a higher chance that civilization and consciousness go extinct.

Fortunately, there's another equally well-written, but much truer, account of homo sapiens, appropriately titled 'The Beginning of Infinity'. And this one smuggles no despair in by the backdoor. But let's give Harari credit where it's due. He is right about one thing: if planet Earth blew up tomorrow, we wouldn't be missed. Because there'd be no one left to miss us, just a careless universe, blindly obeying physical laws. We are the only ones who can miss, but we're not going to. We're going to aim, hit, and keep going.

Full credit for the amazing meme to @Ben__Jeff

[Naval @naval]

The fundamental human disease is separation, and its symptom is loneliness.

[mitch @woakzy]

@thedankoe @threadreaderapp unroll

[Joe Rogan Podcast News @joeroganhq]

"What are three things you think an individual should do every day to ultimately become a good contributing member of society?"

[mitch @woakzy]

@rage028 @notcodesid your inner state

[Morgan Housel @morganhousel]

"People are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice." – Charles Bukowski

[🕊️ @lichthauch]

If God actually chooses you he ruins you for normal life, marks you so obviously that other people can smell it on you and they will hate you for it, not consciously but in their bones, because your existence proves that settling was optional and they chose it anyway. The blessed man sleeps alone because everyone around him is engaged in a silent conspiracy to worship their own limitations and he refuses to join, and that refusal is an act of violence against the social contract. They will forgive you for being evil before they forgive you for being called

[mitch @woakzy]

@zachpogrob 😎

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

One of my favorite lessons I’ve learnt from working with smart people:

Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing.

Sounds simple on the surface - the hard part is making it part of your every day working process.

[mitch @woakzy]

@arlinmoore_ Well said, I and My Father are One.

[Naval @naval]

New collected podcast. Links below.

In the Arena

0:00 Inspiration All the Way Down
2:40 Life is Lived in the Arena
4:51 If You Want to Learn, Do
6:14 In Most Difficult Things in Life, The Solution is Indirect
7:30 When You Truly Work for Yourself
10:11 Find Your Specific Knowledge Through Action
12:06 You Have to Enjoy It a Lot
14:45 Pause, Reflect, See How Well it Did
16:23 Blame Yourself for Everything, and Preserve Your Agency
21:02 It Is Impossible to Fool Mother Nature
25:17 The Best Authors Respect the Reader's Time
28:18 Most Books Should Be Skimmed, A Few Should Be Devoured
32:01 Good Products Are Hard to Vary
35:27 Find the Simplest Thing That Works

[Naval @naval]

No one can compete with you on being you.

Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@Jason AI and robots will replace all jobs.

Working will be optional, like growing your own vegetables, instead of buying them from the store.

[Sahil @sahilypatel]

sam altman on what conviction really looks like