understanding is rare

Here's what I've come to see as the guiding light of my life: simple ideas, explained very clearly. You only really need, like, one or two compelling ideas that you deeply understand. And then you have to be able to make other people understand them, which is the hard part. You have to distill, and in a way distillation is harder than creation. Sim... See more

To me, the takeaway is that understanding is worth pursuing, even though we almost always fail. There’s a David Graeber line that always make me cry: “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” I don’t actually think it’s true that we can easily make it differently. But ... See more

how do you make people believe what you believe? How do you make people feel what you feel? In recent years I've gradually been overtaken by the idea that I can be most useful by being clear.

I guess what I want most is to be a good tool or vessel for the few things I do understand and believe in. Something about that feels both urgent and meaningful.