both are true

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

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

I like to think that I'm both hip and square at the same time, that these two terms aren't irreconcilable, that, in fact, the book is a kind of a reconciliation of those two worlds of thought. So I think it's possible to be a square motorcycle mechanic at the same time a groovy rider, and that this isn't a conflict for anybody. Or it's possible to

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On the one hand you have — the point you’re making Woz — is that information sort of wants to be expensive because it is so valuable — the right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information almost wants to be free because the costs of getting it out is getting lower and lower all of the time. So you have... See more

The worst kind of company is usually not the one where there's too much real work to do, but the kind where there's not enough. It's in this realm the real monsters appear. Without enough real problems to go around, humans are prone to invent fictitious and dreadful ones.

This is the root of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs analysis. That a shocking

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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

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.