both are true
on holding two conflicting ideas at once
both are true
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 pe
... See moreI 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
... See moreLogic 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
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 the... See more
Seth Godin • Information wants to be free*
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 fu... See more
Holding Opposing Ideas
“Life is not like formula fiction. The villain has a heart, and the hero has great flaws.”
— Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
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
Two conflicting perspectives I’m trying to reconcile:
Having a “north star” mission is critical.
Difference between success and failure on everything I've worked on has always been in persisting and getting unsexy details right.