Humans In The Loop

Most traditions are solutions to forgotten problems.

Interoception, described as the sixth sense, is our ability to sense and feel our internal landscape, including aspects like breath, tension, moods, and emotions. Similar to training your flavor palate as a chef, you can train your interoceptive palate to become more aware of internal sensations. By doing so, you increase your ability to notice... See more

When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be afraid of.

In a pair of experiments, Alison Fragale and I found that self-promotion only paid off when the audience was distracted enough to remember the information but forget the source. Otherwise, they saw right through it. If you were that great, you wouldn’t need to boast about your greatness.

Inspiration is a productivity multiplier, but it’s perishable. Act quickly.

Humans have vibes, computers don’t.

It’s common to compare the brain to a computer, but this is a deeply flawed analogy.

This insight was best captured in The Extended Mind – a book that reveals how intelligence exists well beyond our brain. A laptop operates the same whether it is on a desk in an office or on a bench in a park. But human brains are... See more

Part of the problem with the Lean Startup mindset is that it sees life and work as an optimization problem. The point is to help people live a good life, not just an efficient life. The goal is human flourishing, not convenience. The goal is a good future, not just a technically advanced future.

Here are eight imperatives—all of them drawing strength and sustenance from the humanities:

1. We need a way of defining and pursuing progress that doesn’t reduce that concept to something that only comes from a digital device.


2. We desperately need access to values and wisdom that aren’t corrupted by the relentless financial metrics and imposed

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“We’re a species that rushes through everything, then complains that time flies.”

Steve Maraboli