100. Solve Problems You Care About

I have always felt a constant presure to be remarkable. I never realized that it was harmful until David Deutsch posted something related on X.com. He referred to it as a "nasty pressure on young people to conform by being 'remarkable'". The heart of this

99. Everything I've Learned About ADHD In 2 Minutes

I posted the following on X(Twitter) the other day. If I were to travel back in time and could only slip a secret bit of information to myself, it would be this. I have spent an enormous amount of time trying to figure out ADHD. Here is what I&

98. The I in Brain

The Brain is the Source of all Emotion "And men ought to know that from nothing else but (from the brain) come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations. " Perception and Understanding "And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom and

97. Knowledge Poor Information Rich

On May 25, 2022, Darian Woods asked Tyler Cowen in an interview, “How successful do you want to be, or how ambitious are you?” It is a question from Tyler’s book, Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World. Tyler answered, “I want to be what

96. The Purpose Of Thinking

Charlie Munger, the famous former vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said, "All I want to know is where I'm going to die so I'll never go there." What is the purpose of thinking? “The purpose of thinking is to let the ideas die instead

95. My Emergent Ventures Application

Below is my application to Emergent Ventures for a grant to move closer to solving ADHD. I submitted this application late last week and while reflecting on it it seems ridiculous that I had the audacity to apply. Whether or not I receive the grant I am glad I did

94. The Hidden Structure of Causality: Paths vs. Forces

The following is an unedited excerpt of a conversation between ChatGPT 4o and me. It starts off with black holes and ends with a new way to understand causality. For the TL;DR version scroll to the bottom. Explain how we know black holes exist. I want a detailed explanation

93. Learning Is Always Fun (Repost)

Edit: The link to Andy's tweet was incorrect. Sorry! Andy Matuschak shared some insights he had while helping adults learn. It probably will resonate with you and your experience. Read Andy's tweet below. In my work with adult learners, conversation often focuses on materials, tools, and

92. Adulting

A personal reflection I had recently: As adults, we often face tasks that we need to do. We may need to do it for our jobs, health, or families. It seems the need-to-do activities increasingly outweigh the desired activities but this perspective may be wrong. Yes, you don’t get

91. Invert, Always Invert

Below is a summary of the core idea in Visakan Veerasamy's podcast with Dinesh Raju. Summary Imagine life as a game where some people win big and others don't, but the outcomes are not evenly distributed. Instead, in some areas—like starting a successful business, creating

90. A New Interpretation Of ADHD

Imagine your brain is filled with this thing called ideas. Some of these ideas are about what is and is not fun. It is your theory of fun. When something feels fun, you’re naturally drawn to it; when it doesn’t, you avoid it. But what if your theory

89. Slow Is Smooth & Smooth Is Fast

People often seek practical steps to fix their problems quickly. In their rush to find solutions, they may overlook the importance of understanding the underlying ideas behind those solutions. This approach, driven by a desire for speed, suggests that action is more important than comprehension. However, without understanding, how can

88. This Is Not A Pipe

By René Magritte(1898-1967) - Image taken from a University of Alabama site, "Approaches to Modernism": [1], Fair use (Old-50), Link The image above is not a pipe. It may look like a pipe but it is not one. This is "The Treachery of Images" as

87. Viewing Addiction Epistemologically

When viewed epistemologically, addiction can be understood as a state where an individual's capacity for critical thinking and knowledge creation is significantly impaired or overridden by an idea that coerces the individual to engage in a particular behavior. Where does the causal power of this idea come from

86. Joy As Something To Be Made And Given

If you look at the etymology of the word "enjoy" you would find that it originated from the Old French "enjoier" which means 'give joy to’. The word was a causative verb. This would make sentences like "I enjoy eating" problematic to understand.

85. My Theory Of Fun

Raph Koster, a game designer, wrote an excellent book titled A Theory of Fun for Game Design. It explores the idea of fun in games and its importance in game design. I have been thinking about games, more generally what fun is and what makes things fun. Perplexity.AI recommended

84. Subpersonalities Of The Mind

Consider your mind as a collection of ideas. Some of the ideas may compete with each other. How can we rationally choose between them? Every idea should be judged on its merits, but some ideas are hidden, and uncovering them takes time. We can introduce a variable called "parts&

83. Becoming Aware Of Our Preconceptions

"Suppose a child is for some reason unhappy with his situation—his home life or school or whatever—and he has very few creative outlets. Playing video games is such a good thing in this respect, that if he finds it, and finds other avenues blocked off, he may

82. Three Key Questions in Problem Solving

When tackling any problem, it's essential to consider the full scope of your actions. Here are three key questions every problem solver should answer: 1. What problem(s) am I trying to solve? 2. What problem(s) am I trying to prevent? 3. What problem(s) am I

81. Proof Of Problems Solved

I asked Perplexity.AI to explain the difference between The Bucket Theory and The Searchlight Theory of Mind. Bucket Theory vs Searchlight Theory The "bucket theory" is Popper's critique of empiricist views that conceive of the mind as a passive receptor of sense data, like an

80. Permission To Speak

One of the most common blocks to knowledge creation is coercion. Coercion relies on authority rather than reason. It is founded on force instead of explanations. It declares that it is not okay to disagree or disobey, but that philosophy is wrong. As rational people, we will exercise our right

79. Leaping To Solutions

One can't tell in advance what kind of knowledge will be needed to solve a particular problem. So, if you had asked somebody in 1900, what kind of knowledge will be required to produce as much electricity as we want in the year 2000, the answer would never

78. Life Is The Greatest Game

At the heart of my life's philosophy is an idea about reality and human potential. The idea is bigger than me as it must be. It describes an approach to living that encourages creativity in solving our problems. George touches on it below. What idea do you think

77. Time Management Is A Misconception

Time is a constant and cannot be controlled or managed. The things we can manage are within the constraints of time. The clock will tick independently of what we do or what happens so what should we manage instead of time? Factory vs Knowledge Worker Before we get to what

76. The Freedom To Correct Errors

A Promising Day For South Africa The South African general elections took place on 29 May 2024. The African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party since 1994, lost the parliamentary majority. Today they formed a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance (DA), the runner-up party and primary opposition of the