both are true
on holding two conflicting ideas at once
both are true
There is so much mystique around the creative life. It’s fetishized and coveted and seen as mysterious even by the people who inhabit it. We have a cultural script that says: There’s too much consumption, not enough creation! If you want to be a [tasteful/interesting/admirable/happy] person, you should make more things. But then also: Social media... See more
Ava • Making Things Is Hard
Logic requires that people find universal laws, but outside of scientific fields and once human psychology has a role to play, it is perfectly possible for behavior to become contradictory. A tax rise can cause you to work less because the returns of your labor are lower, or work harder to maintain your present level of disposable wealth. There are... See more
There’s a lot of speculation and rhetoric these days about whether AI democratizes creativity or advances it. However, it is abundantly clear to me that both are true.
On the one hand, humanity’s creative confidence for humanity has gone up as people of all ages are able to prompt whatever is in their mind’s eye and express themselves visually.... See more
On the one hand, humanity’s creative confidence for humanity has gone up as people of all ages are able to prompt whatever is in their mind’s eye and express themselves visually.... See more
Scott Belsky • The Era of Abstraction & New Creative Tensions
on the shift from being skills-constrained to being imagination-constrained
At Stanford’s dy/dx program, founder Tony Xu was asked about the qualities he interviews for at DoorDash. One of the five traits is holding and making sense of opposing ideas. As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to... See more
Holding Opposing Ideas
A prominent billionaire gave a graduation speech the other day. The key message? Work hard to be successful.
Another prominent billionaire gave a graduation speech a year later. The key message? Working hard is bad advice. Do what feels fun for you to be successful.
Another prominent billionaire gave a graduation speech a year later. The key message? Working hard is bad advice. Do what feels fun for you to be successful.
Julie Zhuo • The Looking Glass: Our Souls Need Proof of Work
post-truth world
Are we idealists or pragmatists? Do we have principles we hold dear, and a vision for the future we want to create? Or are we fumbling along, tinkering, finding what works, and forever allowing contact with reality to rearrange our mental furniture, make a mess on our conceptual floor, and occasionally punch so many holes in the walls that need to... See more
Chris Best • Principles and pragmatism
on pragmatism vs. idealism
both are true: I hold a lot of conflicting beliefs, and have become happier the longer I’ve sat with them and realized that internal conflicts are a fact of life.