David Pennington

Friction-maxxing is not simply a matter of reducing your screen time, or whatever. It’s the process of building up tolerance for “inconvenience” (which is usually not inconvenience at all but just the vagaries of being a person living with other people in spaces that are impossible to completely control) — and then reaching even toward enjoyment.... See more

Language is humanity’s superpower. Without it, culture, cultural evolution, global cooperation, and the accumulation of knowledge across generations would be impossible. Through linguistic offshoots, such as writing, we are able to practice a unique phenomenon: exbodiment , in which byproducts of our cognition can be captured, stored, shared, and... See more

In 1938 humans were offered three global stories to choose from, in 1968 just two, and in 1998 a single story seemed to prevail. In 2018 we are down to zero. No wonder that the liberal elites, who dominated much of the world in recent decades, are in a state of shock and disorientation. To have one story is the most reassuring situation of all.

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In a culture obsessed with speed, certainty, and specialization, Leonardo’s secret feels almost rebellious: take your time, learn widely, think deeply.

Those who can, teach (and teach constantly). Those who can’t, administrate.

But E.B. White, one of our last great idealists, was eternally right when he asserted half a century ago that the role of the writer is “to lift people up, not lower them down” — a role each of us is called to with increasing urgency, whatever cog we may be in the machinery of society.

1 The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

2 It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.

3 It should do work that is clearly and demon-strably better than the one it replaces.

4 It should use less energy than the one it replaces.

5 If possible, it should use some form of solar energy, such as that of the body.

6 It

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