Life

Many of the best quality-of-life improvements seem to have known costs but unknowable benefits.

“Life runs on sunlight. Life rewards cooperation. Life builds from the bottom up. Life banks on diversity. Life recycles everything. Life builds resilience through diversity, decentralization, and redundancy. Life optimizes rather than maximizes. Life selects for the good of the whole system. In short, life creates the conditions conducive to... See more

I think the point of life is to feel deeply — mostly good stuff like love and pride, but also some bad stuff that broadens your spectrum of experience and allows you to better appreciate the good. For instance, I like sprinting through the city streets at midnight while listening to sad music because it makes my heart feel like it’s being put

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Studies of individuals who report high life satisfaction consistently show one pattern: they engage in activities with naturally extended feedback loops. Mastery of skills, service to others, deep relationships, creative expression—all require tolerating periods of boredom or frustration before delivering their rewards.