Andrea Mendez

A related theory is to think of understanding as unification. When you are able to unify more facts under the same umbrella, you have a deeper understanding.

- Understanding Understanding (Substack)

“Something about the subject of intelligence has a warping effect on its most furious proponents,” writes Lewis, though it’s probably the other way round – the subject seems to attract people who are neurotically fixated with dominance. For such individuals, the idea of genius functions as a self-validating affectation; it “makes a fetish of

“If I act without desire, am I being inauthentic or forcing myself?”

This is such a human worry — because authenticity feels like it should mean “only doing what feels right or natural.”

But from a psychological point of view, authenticity isn’t the absence of effort; it’s the alignment between your actions and your chosen values, even when the

When you do something — say, write, work out, or study — your brain releases a small dopamine burst after completion or progress.

Over time, it starts releasing dopamine before you start — in anticipation — because it has learned:

“This leads to a good feeling later.”

That anticipatory dopamine is what we subjectively experience as wanting.

So through