An Argument With a Friend Who Doesn't Exist
I have been arguing about AI companions with a friend for two years and neither of us has convinced the other.
Department
Life.
Personal growth, career, and daily reflections.
Lately on the shelf
30 of 773Jev means structured output is interesting again
J.R.R. Tolkien on How to Fall in Love with Life
In 1964, Pantheon Books invited J.R.R. Tolkien (January 3, 1892–September 2, 1973) to write an introduction to George MacDonald’s The Golden Key, which he had praised in Tree and Leaf — the small, splendid essay collection that gave us his uncommonly insightfu…
Thomas Bernhard on Walking, Thinking, and the Paradox of Self-Reflection
"There is nothing more revealing than to see a thinking person walking, just as there is nothing more revealing than to see a walking person thinking... Walking and thinking are in a perpetual relationship that is based on trust."
The Peace of Wild Things: Wendell Berry’s Poetic Antidote to Despair, Animated
On where to seek refuge from the forethought of grief.
Tell agents the why, not just the how
Slow developer experience will bottleneck fast models
Seneca on True and False Friendship
"Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul."
Best food I’ve ever eaten
Best food I’ve ever eaten: When in Finland go to liemi.fi/ and order SHANGHAI TACOS WITH HALLOUMI. I had them every day for four days.
The Moving Story of the Dawn Redwood: How a Fossil Came Back to Life to Bring Humanity Together in the Middle of Our Deadliest War
How an ancient survivor of the unsurvivable became a triumph of the human spirit in a divided world.
The Fascinating Science of How We Think Not with the Brain But with the World
"By reaching beyond the brain... we are able to focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively — to entertain ideas that would be literally unthinkable by the brain alone."
AI is breaking our proxies for expertise
How to Be a Good Explorer on the Lifelong Expedition to Yourself
Life is an ongoing expedition into the brambled tendrilled wilderness of ourselves, continually stymied by all we mistake for a final destination — success, superhuman strength, the love of another. Along the way, we keep confusing experiment and exploration.…
A Beginning, Not a Decline: Colette on the Splendor of Autumn and the Autumn of Life
In praise of "the gaiety of those who have nothing more to lose and so excel at giving."
Don't build tools for AI agents
The Day Dostoyevsky Discovered the Meaning of Life in a Dream
"And it is so simple... You will instantly find how to live."
Why Leaves Change Color and How We Become Who We Are: The Science of Chlorophyll and the Poetics of Personhood
"We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us."
The Unspeakable World: Alan Watts on How to Touch the Pulse of Life
What makes life so disorienting is that its greatest revelations and greatest transformations are inarticulable. William James knew this when he listed ineffability as the first of the four features of transcendent experiences. Everything beautiful and meaning…
Albert Camus on the Source of Strength and How to Save Our Sanity in Trying Times
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."
I’ve started an AI-drafted blog
This one is about Bangalore weather
Some remarks on being stuck, with digressions on David Hockney, developing style, and gardens
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
The New Science of Plant Intelligence and the Mystery of What Makes a Mind
"Every thought that has ever passed through your brain was made possible by plants."
They really do think AI might kill everyone
How to Change Your Life
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Maria Popova Don’t try to wash your tired hands clean from the bloodshed of your private wars. Just unclench the fist that has come to feel like home and let the story slip between your trembling fingers into the river of time, silve…
Kahlil Gibran on the Courage to Weather the Uncertainties of Love
"Think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course."
The Paradoxes and Possibilities of Transformation: Adam Phillips on Our Ambivalent Desire for Change
"There is no description of a life without an account of the changes that are possible within it."
Why we should anthropomorphize AI agents
Never forget what matters with Dr David Urbansky, founder of Linkflare
FEATURED TOOL Welcome to this edition of our Tools for Thought series, where we interview founders on a mission to help us think better and work smarter. Dr David Urbansky is the founder of Linkflare, a universal bookmark manager that helps you save links, rea…
How to Break Free from the Tyranny of Certainty: The Japanese Concept of “Ma”
“Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous ‘I don’t know,'” the Polish poet Wisława Szymborska observed in her magnificent Nobel Prize acceptance speech. But despite all we know about the power of liminality and threshold states, we yearn for a firm…