Some Raw Stream of Consciousness II
The Roman Empire, Marijuana, Marxist Professors, Mental Models, Healthy Habits, Journaling, Real Friendships and More
The following is an collection of thoughts I’ve expressed on Airchat since July 2023. They are unedited and come from asynchronous conversations about various topics. I didn’t include other people’s responses or anything I said in Spanish.
The Roman Empire
Nassim Taleb made an interesting point in his book, Skin in the Game, where the Christians being quote-unquote persecuted, the Romans not being tolerant of them, was actually much more about the Christians being intolerant of other gods, and this concept of the intolerant minority. Because, of course, the Romans were ruthless conquerors, but the people they conquered, they were, as I'm sure you guys know, very open and accepting to the gods. So yeah, throw them in the pantheon, yeah, worship whatever you want, until the Christians…But the Christians were like, nah, we don't want to go in the pantheon. All your gods are false. We got the good one. We got the real one. We don't want to join this. And then that's when problems started arising.
Marc Andreessen was talking about this book (The Ancient City) on Lex Fridman's podcast, and it was fascinating when he was saying how this is so revealing, explanatory for why the human psyche is programmed for religious-type thinking, because before the Greek and Roman Empire was even established, before their pantheon of gods was even a thing, for eons, who knows how long, people were living in these cults, cults centered around the family, the sacred fire, who knows what else? And that was just incredible to hear, very interesting.
It's really long, but Dan Carlin's Hardcore History about the Roman Empire, I remember being mesmerized by. Podcast.
Also, I think the Roman Empire community needs to give some more love to Trajan. Everybody loves Marcus Aurelius, rightfully so. Them boys Julius and Augustus. But the Empire was actually under its biggest extent under Trajan, borders-wise, and he did some amazing things too.
Marxism and Universities
Karl Marx, the favorite person of many of my college professors who, shockingly, must have not got the memo from their darling's 1848 manifesto about abolishing all private property because they still showed up to class in, I imagine, probably a pretty nice car considering their salaries are public information, and while wearing fresh Nike shoes and a nice button-down, preached about wealth inequality in an incredibly pretentious way.
…In my mandatory junior year writing class that I thought was gonna be about writing but was actually really just My professor handing out Marxist papers that we would read together Almost every week. So at one point I stood up and asked the whole class. Does anyone know who Karl Marx is? No one answered. Blank stares.
Prison Workouts
There's people who think that just by scanning a gym card something's gonna change but then they're just sitting on these bogus machines and scrolling on their phones when they would be better off as you said focusing on the fundamentals push ups pull ups squats etc.
Travel Tips
I was recently solo traveling and for meeting people, well if you're staying in a hostel like I was, you can of course just walk around it and say hello. But I also met a cool group of girls and guys on a tour, city tour, and we got food after then we met up for dinner and went out to a club and that was a great time…Learning the language will make it a million times more fun when you're in the cafe, the taxi, wherever. And especially if you're in a touristy spot near big attractions, I would stay away from those restaurants. Those are the quote-unquote tourist traps that they're probably fine, but they're not authentic to the place, likely, and they're also likely overpriced. So I would ask people who actually live there for more authentic restaurants to go to. That will probably be a better overall experience.
Mental Models
Extremely simple, but still very powerful. Saying I don't know and being very willing to change my mind. People think it's a gotcha when they're like, well you, you should say or think this. Or that it's embarrassing when you're just like, I don't know, I have no idea. But of course it's actually really stupid to not change your mind if there's good reason to. Or to pretend you know something that you don't.
One of the most powerful quotes I ever heard was that champions don't have something that you lack, they lack something that you have. They don't have that bad habit, they don't do those stupid activities, they don't hang out with those bad people, they stopped doing that drug, they cut out those distractions, they got rid of those limiting beliefs.
Then the classic inversion thinking, which I really dove into through Alex Hormozi talking about Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett and how the human brain is good at identifying problems. So when you flip all these questions like, how can I become healthy, wealthy, more intelligent, whatever? Just ask, how can I become the dumbest, most miserable, weakest, poorest, overall worst version of myself? It will be easy to get an answer to that. And then you just don't do those things.
And anti-role models, I first heard this term from Nassim Taleb, same with Via Negativa, I think. My interpretations of it are, which can be hard to implement for anyone because naturally you want approval and acceptance from people, but if someone is not supporting you or criticizing you for whatever, but it's someone who you don't want to be like, whose character and way of thinking and lifestyle is so unattractive, even scary to you, then that is a good sign. Or another way to, I think about anti-role models, find people you want to be like least and think and act the opposite of how they do.
Strong Opinions on Coffee
There's two types of people in this world. Those who drink black coffee and those who are the source of all evil…Just made the mistake of going to Starbucks at 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Drive-thru was insane, so I go in. I like going in coffee shops anyways. Million people in there, all probably waiting for their frappamocchinos with triple sugar. I go up, I say, hey, can I get a large hot black coffee? Make it simple. Instantly gives it to me and people are like looking at me. They've probably been waiting for so long. Black coffee wins again.
Hey Neil, as someone with a coffee emoji in their bio, I'm deeply offended by this. I'm kidding, of course. I do love coffee though. Perhaps we should blame Voltaire. Because legend has it he drank 40 cups a day. Must be a legend…but in all seriousness it all depends on your approach and biology of course everyone's body brain reacts differently to certain drugs right but I think if you're viewing coffee as something that will make you less tired you already lost as opposed to oh this is a mood enhancer or this is whatever uh jolt of energy and focus but if you're like I am not going to survive because I'm so tired and I need coffee there are surely other bigger problems and reasons why you're tired in the first place like you'll be much better off to just say hey like I'm probably not sleeping enough not working out enough drinking or smoking too much whatever and then coffee becomes much less of something that stops you from being tired and much more of just a supplement that is really fun.
That first sip of coffee that gets you thinking you know everything really is all right as you look out the window and smile.
Coffee rule number one is no sugar under any circumstances, and I have a sweet tooth in general, but it will never ever be my coffee I don't think you can really be considered a true coffee drinker if you're ruining it with sugar.
Coffee rule number two is I want to enjoy it in solitude, Or at least in my own world journaling writing my blog, Just thinking, looking at a tree.
Coffee rule number three, and I'm just making up these rules right now, But this is actually what I do if you think you have been consuming excessive amounts of coffee switch to tea tea is great.
It’s Just a Plant, Man
…I get it. When you're high with friends, it can be epically hilarious. So funny that it's epic. Or maybe you didn't have the best day and it's cold outside and you're feeling lonely but then you... And you know, it's all good. And the snow looks really, really cool. And it can make any moment more interesting and even great. But this is also the problem.
The reason I'm particularly resentful of this drug at this point in my life is not just because of the mistakes that I've made with it and time I've thrown away using it and playing video games and playing online poker and just being a buffoon. It is also the effect it's had on people who used to be my friends, people who I care about watching what it's done to them.
There's some exceptionally talented basketball players athletes in my city who were at the practices high at the games high, They'd fail off the team. They're doing all the wrong things and then there's others who were at a similar level of talent, But they just didn't get high and some of them are absolutely thriving playing division one basketball doing all these great things, Not just with the same wrong people doing the same wrong things and it's tragic.
Then there's some girls who I hung out with at university. Some of whom were absolutely convinced that weed was the cure and the savior to their anxiety. But I was absolutely convinced that it was the source of their anxiety, or one of the main sources.
I know that's all anecdotal, and again, if it helps people with certain conditions, good. Just voicing some frustrations that I bet some other people have similar experiences with.
…I would say what's uniquely dangerous about it is the overcorrection and the narratives about it. From corny old oppositions of, it's the devil's cabbage, or the reality of people being incarcerated for ridiculously long times just for having it, to now people saying, oh it was good and fine and harmless all along and they tried to hide it and criminalize it and all this. It's that story that's dangerous, I think.
…It's definitely becoming more normalized. Dispensaries are popping up on every block. I was at a Yankees game recently, and right outside the stadium, in the streets, there's weed getting blown everywhere. And I'm like, it's the Bronx, whatever, I guess. But there's little kids walking around, and that's screwed up. And then I saw a police officer in uniform blowing trees. I don't know what world that's a good thing in.
And everything I'm saying right now, I would have rolled my eyes at a couple years ago and probably been like, sounds like you need a joint. But who can look in the mirror and say, am I more intelligent, ambitious, energetic, everything good when I'm high or when I'm not high? The answer is obvious. And if you still don't care, that's fine. Do what you want. It's a free society.
Books That Inspire Me
Hey, Jason, big fan of the pod. I was recently inspired as always rereading the lessons of history by Will and Arielle Durant. Absolute classic. I did a room reading my highlights from it here on air chat. If you want to listen, also have been reading the Analects of Confucius. Nothing like some ancient Eastern wisdom and amongst all the emphasis on humility. One part that stuck with me was when Confucius flexed on him and said, ain't nobody love learning more than me. I don't know if that's exactly how he said it, but.
The Incredible Importance of Hearing How Something Was Expressed
Hey Brett, great points as always. You don't need me to tell you that, but I think what you said reflects the true beauty of AirChat is that it makes people act as they would with others in person or at least the closest thing to that online. Because when you hear someone's tone of voice and the emotion in their voice and how they deliver something and all the things you said, it makes it much more difficult to have those misunderstandings, misinterpretations that lead to so many problems online.
I keep seeing that word intimate people describing this app, and I think that's right I think that's partly because of the voice factor and also because It's so refreshing to have an online space where you're encouraged incentivized to have Intelligent nuanced conversations in good faith because that is obviously foreign to other social medias, Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome, right?
Exponential Relationships
Hey Sean, great room. I'm probably too young to have any relationships that have gone truly exponential, but definitely have some that are on the curve. But I want to talk specifically about friendships.
Three useful standards for friends: First, and most important, gut feeling. Second, do they inspire me in some way? Do they have qualities that I admire and want to soak up and emulate? Third, when I share something that I'm proud about or excited about, do they ignore it or mock it or belittle it? Or do they recognize it, respect it, encourage it?
To give examples for number three, it's been very revealing the past couple years the way certain people in my life have reacted to going out less and eventually giving up drinking, or wanting to talk about some book, or learning another language and making videos of it, or launching a blog. The way people have reacted to this, it's been very telling and useful information for who is my real friends, who do I want to be friends with.
To put the second standard differently, do they have a craft or pursuit that they really care about? That they sacrifice for and put serious effort into and think long-term about and are enthusiastic about? Whatever it is, whether it's a business or a martial art or an art that I respect and that they work really hard on and are smart about. Their thing.
Because there are many people who don't have a thing or even try to have a thing that they're skilled at, that they commit to. In other words, are they someone who wants to do anything, anything at all, other than work through some job they hate so they can live for the weekend and go get drunk at the bar and be like, I got BAMA minus 7 on the sports book tonight. Then wake up just hating their life and just repeat until they die.
And I don't care if any of that sounds harsh, one life and I'm trying to have good thinking and make the best decisions possible during it, which of course are heavily influenced by the people around you.
Enjoying complete silence for a long time with someone without it feeling awkward, sign of a true friend. Made me think of one of my good ones who, how many times at school we drove to the dining hall, sat down, ate dinner, went home, without saying anything, really, the whole time, but it was so fun. And then when you finally do open your mouth a few times, without exception, it's hilarious for some reason after you've been enjoying an intense silence together.
Hey Brett, yeah, I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm ever consciously auditioning friends, That would be a great way to never have any friends that would be a terrible thing to do and That was actually the first time I've ever outlined the criteria. I was just thinking about it and What better place to share it than air chat?
Okay, good. I also hope I didn't give the impression that a friend has to be exactly like me or agree with me on everything. No, I grew up going to public school in a city, playing baseball, football, basketball. Naturally, I've always enjoyed and been curious about people who have wildly different perspectives, believe different things, speak different languages, whatever. And that's not some virtue-signaling DEI statement. That is just the reality of my life.
Quotes From Stoics
I absolutely love this quote. Thanks for sharing that. Maybe think of another one from him. I think it was from Seneca. It might have been from Epictetus, but he says something like, if you are looking upon someone who you call a friend but do not trust them as you trust yourself, realize that you have made a grave mistake and have failed to grasp the meaning of true friendship.
Music In Unintelligible Languages
I don't always listen to music while I work, but when I do, it's usually in another language. Or what I like better and do more often actually is classical music. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach. It's enjoyable and I've found it's really good for focus as many people have.
My Uninspiring Near-Death Experience
I have one of the silliest and least inspiring near-death experiences of all time That nonetheless was real and deeply changed how I think and act and I would like to share it…June 2019 College orientation. I'm at the dining hall. I see this kid who I just met with a tasty-looking plate of some Chinese food. I say hey, where'd you get that? He points me I go over and get some walking around all giddy and bright-eyed about this new chapter in my life Sit down excited with all my new friends start eating Suddenly feel like I'm drowning from dryness and And my whole skin is catching on fire and it's itchy and I get even lightheaded
And I was in denial about what was happening even though I was feeling worse and worse by the second I'm severely allergic to all nuts And I was like No way, this is happening. I'm always careful about what I eat. I always check. Of course, I would do it at college orientation I didn't though and Started hyperventilating and really struggling to breathe and feeling such genuine horror embarrassing to say that it was from this but It was so scary And I go if I don't do something right now, I might die gotta get my epi pen.
So I dart to the bathroom with my skin on fire, and my eyes watering, and worst of all, my throat closing. I couldn't swallow. And another kid who I just met sees me, he goes, Oh my goodness! He goes, Are you okay, man? I go, No. And then, we go to the bathroom, and with my blurry vision and panicked state, figure out how to actually use an EpiPen, and did, and heroically survived.
It's a ridiculous story but it woke me up in so many ways because the idea of death became a real thing because the grim reaper was coming for me he was coming around that corner hot i juked him out thankfully but that tangible feeling and the realizations of oh yeah it can actually come at any moment arbitrarily even for the dumbest possible reasons and just really waking up to the shortness of life and the fragile nature of life
And echoing the chit from Kamal that got stitched in, thinking about your mortality has such practical value. It tends to understandably get talked about in a sort of inspirational sense like you only have one life and it's gonna end so live it or whatever but it can actually be so useful in the day-to-day sense of saying okay my time is limited and it's going to end and when you constantly remind yourself this you all of a sudden you're way more focused you are way less afraid to be yourself. You are acting more aligned with your values…Perhaps it's a bit morbid but I can't help but have the thought when at least in the scenario of say you have a passing conversation with someone new on the street and then go your separate ways the thought comes well, that was it with that person! You know, we'll never see each other again most likely and maybe that sounds sad but it's also sort of romantic in the sense that we were both privileged enough to share a moment together in time and space in this mysterious finite existence.
On Sleep
I have a saying that if you wanted it bad enough, you would sleep more.
When it comes to sleep, I'm the most selfish and uncompromising person of all time and it will always say that way Because sleep is for the strong How many times at school my roommates would or one of them would come in my room at 10 p.m Even 9 p.m. Sometimes they'd be like, what are you doing? I'd be like, what do you mean? What am I doing? It's the lights are off and I'm under the covers with my Kindle I'm going to sleep and they'd be gone like you're kidding. No, I think no like I'm sheets.
Of course, some people struggle to actually fall asleep, which sucks. Luckily for me, my mom, until I was an embarrassingly old age, would force me to go to bed at 7:30 p.m. That was bedtime. And I used to get so mad about this, but I'm actually so thankful for this, because it got me into good sleeping habits. And still, all the time, I have deep, restful, vivid dream-filled sleep. And that is one of the ultimate keys to mental and physical health.
…If you do a truly intense workout, it will be hard to not fall asleep.
Our Knowledge Will Always Be Incomplete
Curiosity is a truly sacred word.
Manifestos
The techno-optimist manifesto was incredible. Definitely my favorite manifesto. Way better than that communist one. The communist one I found dull, just hopelessly naive, and full of actually rotten, even evil ideas, just completely ignorant of human nature and economics.
Concepts That Changed How I Think
Two concepts that have insights that have really changed how I think and act every single day are memetics, mimesis that is, well both memetics, memetics with an e and an i, and also evolutionary mismatch.
When I really on my own started diving into studying evolution, reading Darwin, books like The Ape That Understood the Universe and people online who talk about evolution, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary mismatch, it really helped me in a powerful way build better habits and make better choices because I actually started to understand why the bad habits were there.
Realizing that our species spent eons evolving in simpler habitats with little to no access to food, or pleasure, or stimulation, or drugs, or information, contrasted with our current environment where we have an excess of these things, and humans spent more time in the evolutionary environment than in the environment in which we have an excess of these things, which is why so many people are addicted to them, even though they do them too much, they become desensitized to them, and they can't stop because we're programmed to pursue these things, even though when you do them too much, they are making you weak, or miserable, or anxious, and being aware of this can just be so useful day to day.
And that was probably no revelation to you, but hopefully it was a useful reminder. If you're not aware of this concept, all too easily you can fall into the hell of what I call the default addictions. The default addictions in 2023 are alcohol, smoking weed, nicotine, porn, video games, and social media scrolling. And excess of these things is the path to hell. And in all of these things, a fundamental aspect of your nature is intentionally getting hijacked. So awareness of this, some discipline, some love, some curiosity, some positive people, stop being addicted to those things and you'll live a better life.
Fasting
I used to be a big breakfast guy, now I'm an anti-breakfast guy. I love breakfast food, but I do not eat until at least around noon. And as many people have pointed out, this really helps me focus. All morning, locked in. Coffee and water and work. Bang. Feels great.
Three Word Optimism
Think. Wait. Fast.
Laughter is contagious.
Ignorance Is The Opposite of Bliss
He who fails to increase knowledge increases sorrow.
My Conversation With GPT-4 About The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
…having conversations with GPT about interpretations about novels and different books and asking what are the different perspectives, interpretations on this particular book or idea. I think it's really useful in that sense. Also, going in the settings and saying what you do and what you care about, what you're interested in, etc. is helpful too.
I told GPT that one of my main takeaways was that due to the often cruel nature of life, due to our growing knowledge, due to science, due to skeptical mindsets, it becomes natural for me personally, and as for Ivan in the story, to reject religion and to lose faith in God. However, it seems clear that the human mind has a deeply ingrained need to believe in a higher power, and that when the human mind does not have this belief in a higher power, it becomes all too easy to slip into weakness and malice and resentment, like Smerdyakov in the story, or complete madness in the case of Ivan in the story, and that Alyosha was a symbol of wisdom and strength because he was empowered by his belief in a higher power, and that life is better, your mental health and society overall, when there is a belief in God.
GPT responded, your point about the benefits of belief for mental health and society is intriguing and has been the subject of various studies and philosophical inquiries, the idea that faith can serve as a stabilizing force is certainly represented through Alyosha's character who stands in contrast to his more troubled brothers. What do you think about the ways in which these themes are portrayed? Do you feel they resonate with your experiences or worldview? It asks me.
I reply, I feel as if I am Ivan sometimes. I'm the middle of two brothers and some of his internal conflicts and thoughts really resonate with me. Especially the famous Grand Inquisitor chapter. I even wrote my own version of the Grand Inquisitor which I know is obviously not as elegant or profound as this actual chapter before reading this, which was really just dealing with the timeless question of the problem of evil and what God would allow such evil and suffering and a certain vivid example from my life was this guy on a train I saw once who was either mentally challenged or on drugs maybe both I don't know his legs were deformed he's rattling a cup hoping people will put change in it with a toy piano made of batteries thinking he was gonna have people think he was playing music and it's just stuff like that you know that shakes you sometimes stuff like that, that you see that, yeah.
Stuff like that, that makes you think, how could there possibly be a God and just want to be like Sam Harris and go own all the religious nuts. But I also feel the tension because it seems that when people reject God, whatever it is to them, they often unconsciously take up another religion. And this connects to what Nietzsche said about God is dead and we have killed him, which the ever so important full quote, how shall we comfort ourselves now, the murderer of all murderers, that people find comfort in their, quote unquote, liberation from religion by simply adopting new religions, often without realizing it with the prime examples of from the 20th century that Nietzsche and Dostoevsky talked about because they were they predicted rather because they were writing in the late 1880s or many of their stuff with communism and Nazism and arguably many ideologies today that are simply replacements for religion or religion.
GPT said the risks associated with these quote new religions are that they can become dogmatic and repressive substituting one form of absolutism for another. Do you find that your own intellectual and spiritual journey resonates with these themes is the tension between skepticism and the need for belief? Something you personally struggle with it asks me.
I reply, yes, it does. I struggle with it all the time. I became really disillusioned with all religion and denounced all of them after going to a Catholic high school and soon after discovering certain philosophers. But it's tough, because when you see certain forms of moral decay, it's hard to not think, wow, everything would be better off if people believed in God. But there's nuance, of course, because it's like, what God? Take your pick. The religion that you were born into and got indoctrinated into. And I reject so much of these institutions and certain practices and things you have to do that aren't really about a personal relationship or belief or love for a higher power, but rather dressed up politics and tribalism and commitment to certain groups and institutions. That is religion.
GPT says, your struggle resonates with the complexity and depth of the questions that both Dostoevsky and many philosophers tackle, the tension between faith and doubt, the yearning for a moral compass and the fear of nihilism or moral decay.
I say I haven't been able to shake the intuition that death will be like how it was before birth nothing a general anesthetic But I started crying at the end of this novel and it felt like I felt God's love in that moment an overwhelming sense of love I feel all the time in my life It's still hard for me to shake the intuition about what death holds and sometimes I just think we are definitely in a simulation, But How much love there is in the world and in my life and beauty in the world and why there is something rather than nothing how we even have consciousness in the first place and how the Big Bang even happened and I Don't even know it breaks my mind all of it every day.
Summary, love for a higher power will make every single aspect of your life better.
Literary Humor
Can you imagine if Prince Mishkin and Alyosha Karamazov met? That's like Jordan and LeBron on the same team.
More on The Brothers Karamazov
I recently ripped through Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and there was a memorable line where one of the characters said Everything you need to know about life is in a book called The Brothers Karamazov.
At the end of the Brothers Karamazov, when Alyosha is giving his speech, he says quote, You must know that there is nothing higher or stronger or sounder or more useful afterwards in life than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory preserved from childhood is perhaps the best education. If a man stores up many such memories to take into life, then he is saved for his whole life.
The Poison To Non-Poison Ratio In The American Food Industry Is Extremely Concerning
Not a hot take at all, but it is genuinely disturbing the way many people in America fill up their grocery carts. I was at market 32 this morning and the poison to non-poison ratio in some people's carts is baffling. Riding the Twinkie and Ding Dong Express straight to hell. No wonder you're not in good shape. Lord knows what their minds are like after eating that crap habitually. My goodness.
The Magic of Journaling
So my dad keeps these three journals, one for each of his sons, where he writes about our lives. And during the dog days of COVID, I couldn't help but look through them and really read them. And when I was looking at mine, an early entry was, Jeffrey asks more questions than anyone I've ever met in my life. And I laughed and was also moved when I saw this because it's accurate. But also because I always say that curiosity is sacred and it really connects to the beauty of wonder. And feeling that about the world and how mysterious everything is and how little we know and just leaning into that.
…I've written in a journal every single day since the middle of 2021. Definitely one of the most transformative habits ever and I will never stop. It has sharpened my thinking. It's literally made me way happier. It helps me remember and apply and make sense of all the lessons and stories and ideas and insights from books that I read and it is just so useful in so many ways.
…I'm sure many people get a lot of value out of the build your second brain stuff Online organized note-taking with notion whatever but for me, and I'm sure some people can resonate with this I like to just have a physical journal one of those desaglio notebooks from amazon and a pen Carried around in my bag have it with me when I read and it's a completely all-purpose, spill my brain into there whether it's An article I want to write or quotes from a book or something I heard on a podcast that I want to remember a habit that I want to pick up or stop whatever it is just All purpose physical journal. This is awesome.
…And it's really chaotic and it's really messy and it's really unorganized but the important stuff sticks right and I bet a neuroscientist could explain why it's better for your memory to physically write things articulation thought processes whatever but also i just find it pleasurable actually putting pen to paper like just this morning after an early morning workout at the cafe good music library around sitting there with my journal writing random stuff just grinning like an idiot just like it's a rapture it's rapturous.
…Ray Bradbury said, You've got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.
…Well said, Nicholas. Goes back to the ancient Greek maxim, right? Know thyself. Great way to do it is with the pen. The pen is powerful.
…I think it was Horace who said the pen is the tongue of the mind.
…You begin to write when you love reading so much that you have no choice.
…Bring back thoughtful handwritten letters. Bring them back. We need more of them. Civilization needs more of them.
What If There Were No Language Barriers?
This is an intriguing question. Okay, so the last month of college, these two kids from Sweden who were friends with one of my roommates were at our house all the time, and sometimes they would speak in Swedish. Of course, they want to be comfortable using their native tongue. That's fine. But you couldn't help but suspect that sometimes they were doing this because they were saying something about someone in the room that they were making fun of them or they're saying something bad and maybe they weren't at all. But this is definitely something people do with language where if they know you don't speak it and they want to say something they don't want you to hear, they'll just say it in their language real quick. I once knew two Dutch kids who said they would do this and they felt especially confident doing it because not that many people speak Dutch.
More succinctly people wouldn't be able to say negative things to your face without you realizing anymore.
Yeah, and well, I didn't think they were in that particular situation. I was just using it as an example of the natural human tendency to feel some type of anxiety or discomfort when you hear a language you understand which makes perfect sense from an evolutionary perspective And yeah, it would be interesting if there was none of that at all going back to your first question if there was just no Language barrier at all that'd be insane.
Idea Generation
Hey, Gbron. Am I saying your name right? Nice room. Yeah, I am definitely with you. That idea generation is baffling. The fundamental mystery of consciousness itself. Crazy.
I think having a routine that cultivates idea generation boils down to genuine solitude and time free of input whether that's going on walks outside or reading by yourself or something I like to do lifting weights without listening to anything you know I think there's a lot of wisdom as in much of their writing in Nietzsche saying that all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking and Schopenhauer saying something like the crowd is the enemy of the imagination.
All-Time Villain
Lucky Jack from Master and Commander. I don't know if he can really be classified as a villain, but he is in the sense that so…They're the English. It's 1805 and he this man Lucky Jack is Relentlessly pursuing this French Ship who they've been battling with on the hot just treading the high seas down Outside of Brazil and this really intelligent doctor on board. You can tell he's forming the baselines of evolutionary theory, He has all these ideas. He's writing stuff down. He's really curious. He's like, hmm But he's not quite there and they they go on the Galapagos Islands and he starts collecting the animals and you're like, oh my god Goodness, this guy's Darwin But then, Lucky Jack needs to keep pursuing the French ship and the movie ends with them playing the violins still Going after this this Moby Dick of a ship and yeah, that guy wasn't able to be Darwin or finish his scientific theories because of bloodthirsty revenge thirsty Lucky Jack.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
An example of something similar from my own life that drove me to get into jiu-jitsu is, How many times you would be at the bar or somewhere and the fake tough guy is talking about how he sees red, Always that annoying phrase Pretending like he wants to get in a fight likely doesn't train because if he did he won't be talking like such a clown I see red bro. Oh my goodness This makes me so angry and just wanting to know that I could defend against Clowns like that and what and watching my one of my best friends who is super skilled at jiu-jitsu and his Georgian friend who is a master of of the art of the art give people like that a contemptuous smile because they know they would destroy them if they had to and Instead of wanting to be the you know Posturing fake tough guy rather be like my friend and his friend in that confident quiet assurance.
Impactful Quotes
Marcus Aurelius said, You can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind, things that exist only there, and clear out space for yourself by comprehending the scale of the world, by contemplating infinite time, by thinking of the speed with which things change, each part of everything, the narrow space between our birth and death, the infinite time before, the equally unbounded time that follows.
Richard Feynman said, I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.
Habits
Habits are so powerful that it's almost terrifying. The good news is, if you have good habits, your life might become scary good.
When it comes to changing your habits, you need to, at the very least, be hyper-aware of them. Your habits of speech, of thought, of environment, etc. And then focus on discarding the bad habits before you obsess over acquiring new ones.
Also, simply understanding the insane compounding nature of your habits makes it easier to choose ones that make your life better. You look at the math and you're like, oh my goodness. I remember in high school, driving to another school that was kind of far away with some friends to watch the big playoff basketball game of another friend who was playing. Walk into this really nice building, look up, carved in stone high above is the Will Durant quote. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. And I was like, this is the greatest thing I've ever read in my life. And it's simple, but it's profound. I just remember being so struck in that moment and forever internalizing that line.
It's awful how easy it is to stay trapped in bad habits for social reasons, One phrase that I find particularly ridiculous is the health nut, And obviously there are people who are hypochondriacs whatever but it's so twisted the idea that the crazy person is the one who works really hard in physical pursuits and eats natural foods and doesn't want to sit in a musty room and stare at a TV With a cigarette in one ear and a beer in the other and talk about gambling and video games for four hours The person who doesn't want to do this is crazy, This is actually a very common type of thinking and it's so twisted.
That was a bit of a straw man argument by myself, perhaps, but you get the point. And for all the tips and tricks and hacks for developing good habits, which can be useful, at some point it's about just making a decision. Just deciding, I am not the type of person who does this, I am the type of person who does that. And making it your character through your daily actions. Coding it into your brain, just making that choice.
The Abilene Paradox
Hey, Sean, smart room to make considering the air chat community seems to be one that would jump at the opportunity to discuss a paradox.
An example I can give is somewhat trivial, but it was the first thing that came to my mind thinking of this. I think it applies.
So junior and senior year of college, I lived in a house with seven kids total, and There are two separate units but when the three roommates upstairs would be hanging out with all of us downstairs on an ordinary say Tuesday night and There's a show on the TV. Someone's doing homework. Someone's just on their phone. Someone's reading a book. Everyone is just kind of zoned out in the living room all together as the night is getting later and later and we're just Not really doing anything or talking to each other but just in the living room and I would always be the first to just go to bed. I'm like, all right, like I'm going to bed like it's just like nothing's going on and I would notice when I would do this Most of the time everyone would just go to bed after but it would just be like people thinking like oh, yeah We're hanging out in the living room. Like keep hanging out.
Books Worth Rereading
Those are three that I've probably re-read the most, along with Lessons of History by Will and Arielle Durant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgensen, 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, Waking Up by Sam Harris, Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Bed of Procrustes and Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Maxims and Reflections by Goethe. These come to mind as ones that I love re-reading.
Some more that I've thought worthy of re-reads. The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain. The Ape That Understood the Universe by Steve Stewart Williams. Maxim's by La Rochefoucauld. Our Oriental Heritage Caesar and Christ and the Renaissance by Will Durant. Wanting by Luke Burgess. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. The Analects of Confucius. The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. And parts of the Bible. And some other ones. Which again, these are all made even more enjoyable. By the second time around looking at the highlights you made the first time. The third time around looking at the highlights you made the second time. And so on. Thank God for books.
Ooof this was a reach stream of consciousness. I love Taleb's idea of the intolerant minority - it explained so much for me especially in social dynamics when I first came across it