David Pennington

To put it in a nutshell: any idea significant enough to need permission is too threatening to thosewith the power to grant it

This doesn't mean all permissionless fabrications succeed. Most fail. But the right ideas almostalways start without permission. They have to, because permission systems are designed tofilter out anything that might change the status quo.This changes how we should approach problem solving.First, we must stop asking permission to solve problems we... See more

“If the machine can take over everything man can do, and do it still better than us, then what is a human being, what are you?”

When Krishnamurti (1895–1986) asked this question, he was an 85-year-old sage who’d spent nearly 60 years probing the mysteries of the mind, consciousness, and the need for a psychological revolution.

the belief that you can do anything, including things you are blatantly not qualified for or straight up lying about— should be pathologized. It has many names (Dunning-Krueger, illusory superiority), but I suggest we call it blowhard syndrome as a neat parallel.

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • National Bestseller • A brilliantly conceived and illuminating reconsideration of a key period in the life of Ernest Hemingway that will forever change the way he is perceived and understood.

It is a mistake and a misreading of nature to think that you, a living creature, will be flourishing all the days of your life.

in 2020, only 268 titles sold more than 100,000 copies, and 96 percent of books sold less than 1,000 copies. That’s still the vibe.

You might think of this chart as the shape of attention. After clicking to start, thousands rapidly exited, some immediately, some after a minute or two. But if you could make it past three minutes, you were more likely to finish than to give up. And once you hit five minutes, your odds of completing the exercise were very high. A quarter who... See more