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If we’re going to come together and invest the time in conversation, in research or in analysis, we should begin by understanding what would be required for you or I to change our minds. If you’re not willing to consider that you’re wrong, then, in the words of a Dan Dennett, you’re a spectator, not […]
a year ago

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More from Seth's Blog

The Superman metaphors

Sooner or later, we are all superheroes. Superman wears a costume. As we all do. He isn’t great at time management, always focused on the urgency at hand instead of investing in long-term planning. He rarely works to change the foundational system he’s part of. Supervillians exist in opposition to him and his work. Without […]

11 hours ago 3 votes
The four arcs

They can carry us away, amplify our work or slowly change everything around us. These arcs can easily become invisible forces, pushing us to make choices and to ignore their origins or consequences. Capitalism is the most common one, along with its shadow, industrialism. We show up on behalf of the invisible hand, engaging with […]

yesterday 3 votes
Flailing

There isn’t much of a correlation between how fast you swim and how much energy you put into it. In fact, drowning people burn plenty of calories but they don’t go anywhere. When we’re confronting a new problem, more effort might not be the answer. It could be that we benefit by staying calm and […]

2 days ago 6 votes
The poetry machine

[written by claude.] Here’s the thing about ChatGPT that nobody wants to admit: It’s not intelligent. It’s something far more interesting. Back in the 1950s, a Russian linguist named Roman Jakobson walked into a Harvard classroom and found economic equations on the blackboard. Instead of erasing them, he said, “I’ll teach with this.” Why? Because […]

3 days ago 6 votes
Agency and contribution

What’s possible and what’s required? It’s still surprising to me that some of these ideas aren’t widely held, because they seem so clear to me: Skill is a choice. Talent is overrated, and if we choose to get better at something, we probably can. Responsibility is a privilege. It’s not given to us, it’s taken. […]

3 days ago 7 votes

More in creative

The Superman metaphors

Sooner or later, we are all superheroes. Superman wears a costume. As we all do. He isn’t great at time management, always focused on the urgency at hand instead of investing in long-term planning. He rarely works to change the foundational system he’s part of. Supervillians exist in opposition to him and his work. Without […]

11 hours ago 3 votes
How the Ancient Greeks Built Their Magnificent Temples: The Art of Ancient Engineering

Doric, Ionic, Corinthian: these, as practically everyone who went through school in the West somehow remembers, are the three varieties of classical column. We may still recall them, more specifically, as representing the three ancient Greek architectural styles. But as ancient-history YouTuber Garrett Ryan points out in the new Told in Stone video above, only […]

11 hours ago 2 votes
The four arcs

They can carry us away, amplify our work or slowly change everything around us. These arcs can easily become invisible forces, pushing us to make choices and to ignore their origins or consequences. Capitalism is the most common one, along with its shadow, industrialism. We show up on behalf of the invisible hand, engaging with […]

yesterday 3 votes
The World’s Oldest Cookbook: Discover 4,000-Year-Old Recipes from Ancient Babylon

If asked about your favorite dish, you’d do well to name something exotic. Gone are the days when a taste for the likes of Italian, Mexican, or Chinese cuisine could qualify you as an adventurous eater. Even expeditions to the very edges of the menus at Peruvian, Ethiopian, or Laotian restaurants, say, would be unlikely […]

3 days ago 6 votes
Agency and contribution

What’s possible and what’s required? It’s still surprising to me that some of these ideas aren’t widely held, because they seem so clear to me: Skill is a choice. Talent is overrated, and if we choose to get better at something, we probably can. Responsibility is a privilege. It’s not given to us, it’s taken. […]

3 days ago 7 votes