Type: Essays
All the posts of type "Essays".
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Highlights From the Comments on AI Doom
My coming-out post on why I'm no longer an AI doomer seems to have struck a nerve.
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Why I am No Longer an AI Doomer
At the exact same time we're seeing a real-life explosion in AI capabilities, I've become much less worried about the prospect of doom. Here's why.
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The ‘Bias’ Bias: No, Your Brain is Not Made of Swiss Cheese
Most apparent biases are, in fact, perfectly good heuristics, and people are far more rational than we have been led to believe.
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Things that Surprised Me About the First Year of Parenthood
One year ago my daughter was born. This is the single most monumental thing to ever happen to me.
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Bro, Do You Even Lit? Why I Switched to Reading Fiction
Almost all my adult life I've been an infovore obsessed with hoovering up all the knowledge.
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Is Crypto Bullshit? Calling My Shots
Nothing in this arena can be taken at face value, which makes it unusually fertile ground for battle-testing your own critical thinking skills.
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Why Bitcoin is Not That Stupid
No, not even at these apparently ridiculous prices. Not even when financial illiterates are making grandiose claims about where it'll end up.
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10 Principles of Optionality For an Uncertain World
What is optionality? If you want a thorough answer, check out the big juicy book I spent the last couple of years writing.
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Happiness is a Greased Pig Chase
Happiness is a greased pig chase: the harder you grab at it, the more it squirms away. Here's what the happiness research gets wrong about the good life.
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Is Blogging Worth It? A Cheap Option for Attracting Serendipity
Blogging is an endurance sport. As Deep Dish's 4th birthday approaches—a million views, a thousand comments—I have a decent sense of whether it's been worth it.
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Make Frugality Great Again!
The modern practice of frugality has become a funhouse-mirror perversion of the original virtue. What happened?
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Kindly Stop Saying The Efficient Market Hypothesis is Dead
There are whispers that the efficient-market hypothesis is dead, or dying, or at least has a very nasty cough. But rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated.
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How to Profit From Coronavirus
A black swan event unleashes destruction, but also opportunity. What would it take to not only weather this situation, but profit from it?
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Inevitable Coronavirus Post
If it costs nothing at all to mitigate a small chance of a big risk, then do it! Ignore anyone who makes fun of you for being 'paranoid', and don't wait for permission.
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The Embarrassing Problem of Premature Exploitation
Video games give you a clear pathway for leveling up into a muscle-bound hero, and impressing scantily-clad elven princesses with your Very Big Sword.
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Time Travel for Pleasure and Profit
Our meatsack bodies slavishly plod along at the precise rate of one second per second.
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2019 Spending Breakdown: The Year of Becoming a Fancy Bitch
After tracking all my expenses, I calculate that my lifestyle has inflated by 1.25x this year. Honestly... I’m kind of into it.
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Getting to 'Good Enough'
Time for some Reverse Life Coaching: a shared ambition to become less ambitious. Here's the plan for reaching 'good enough' (and staying there).
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An Interview with Alain de Botton
The British philosopher speaks out on the curse of fame, the cruel expectations of self-help, and why we're all "hellish propositions".
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Better to Reign in Hell Than Serve in Heaven
‘Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven’ is the unofficial motto of freelancers and entrepreneurs. But escaping the tyranny of work comes at a price. Is it worth it?
