High agency

Midwit Trap Escape Route: What would the guy on the left do? Find it via inversion.

Step 1 - Stop trying to be the guy on the right - The midwit mistake is to try and be the smart guy on the right. ‍

Step 2 - Become the guy on the left - Find the simple ideas via inversion. Flip the problem around. And take them seriously before adding any complexit... See more

at an institution, you can’t just do what is best, you also have to build trust and coordinate with others so you are on the same page. This, however, doesn’t mean that you should abdicate your judgment and get in line.

I like the approach Sholto Douglas expressed in his interview with Dwarkesh Patel:

If I’m trying to write some code and something is

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Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency... See more

Usingsoftware called PitchBook, a venture capital database, I downloaded a list of 2,000 firms. I started emailing them personalized notes. I pitched myself but did not mention my visa situation.

Many firms replied to me even though they weren't hiring, and I met people for coffee and built connections.

I started getting some interviews by my 200th e... See more

Let's pick something absurd people think is impossible: Teaching yourself Quantum Mechanics. That's level 100. What are the first 5 levels of that video game?

‍ Level 1 - Write down everything I could possibly do to start learning quantum mechanics

‍ Level 2 - Use notes from level 1 to create the next 3 levels

‍ Level 3 - Search “Quantum Mechanics” on... See more

I think what happened is this: When the stalker entered my life, I was at a low point in personal capacity — broke, alone, addled, etc. My approach towards him at that point (ignore, hoping he’d stop) was the only one that seemed available given my spiritual and psychological resources at the time. But my orientation to the problem became fixed in ... See more

It seems like, by default, you are stuck with whatever level of resourcefulness you brought to a problem the first time you encountered it and failed to fix it.

Let’s say you tried therapy when you were 20, and it didn’t help with your high levels of anxiety. When you think about your anxiety, as the years go by, you think, “hard problem, tried the... See more