reading, watching & listening to

fascinating short read on status, sorting and prestige in sports (and everywhere else). The people you might expect to be the most competitive are often the most welcoming, and vice versa. 

had to read this several times to grok it but applied to a real-life example.

It’s hard to design the perfect onboarding. but it’s easy to check: “Did the user reach ‘Aha!’ in 3 steps instead of 7?” or “Did 80% of users complete the flow?”

So the industry (and people) naturally get pulled into automated loops. this is why mid-training is powerful and dangerous. it can manufacture the appearance of discernment while dodging deeper unmeasurable criteria.

“They have learned to produce the appearance of discernment without ever developing the faculty itself.”

great principles on translation. applies to summaries as well. it’s why AI summaries feel so dead.

I read this in print (via Printernet’s exceptional curation). It beautifully captures the spirit of print. And Kai is a really good interviewer.