Elena

The concept of efficiency — how much one can accomplish per unit of time (or per dollar, etc.) — requires a quantitative numerator as well as a denominator. It requires a metric. Therefore, it tells us nothing about results we cannot quantify or measure. When we gear our society around efficiency, we produce more and more of the measurable, while t... See more

¿cómo puede ser que, de las dos acepciones de la palabra «patético», hayamos elegido pensar siempre antes en la segunda, con todas sus connotaciones negativas, cuando necesitamos precisamente más de lo primero?

What the neural network “learns” is emergent rather than deduced. For example, it may notice a pattern that if it’s cloudy, then people are more likely to carry an umbrella. But it would not be able to explain that this is because cloudy implies rain and rain implies umbrella. Instead it effectively identifies a “rainy” vibe through correlations of... See more

Flirting is intelligence at its peak because it’s the ultimate spontaneous social situation where you have to delicately balance humor, sincerity, & formality in order to explore unknown territories of conversations using cheeky cryptic language all while performing a vibe check

Despite having to peel myself away from work-based identity time and again, I still strongly believe that to do our best work — the most impactful work we’re capable of — it is healthy and necessary to associate a piece of our identity with our work.

For the entire history of our species, we have attached meaning to our role within our group. Hunte... See more

In New York, people speak fast. In the American South, they speak slowly. Both of them are a form of politeness, understood in a different way. In New York, you speak quickly because you respect the value of the other person’s time and you don’t want to take up too much of it. In the South, you speak slowly because you want to respect the person by... See more

Taste is easily defined as the ability to discriminate between the valuable and the expandable. It’s another word for Good Judgment. When you decide whether to eat sushi or calamari for dinner, you're in fact erecting a hierarchy of value, and passing judgment according to said hierarchy. If you choose sushi, that is because you've deemed it best f... See more

Taste requires originality. It invokes an aspirational authenticity. Writer George Saunders calls this “achieving the iconic space,” and it’s what he’s after when he meets his creative writing students. “They arrive already wonderful. What we try to do over the next three years is help them achieve what I call their “iconic space” — the place from ... See more