Johanna

Old age is much better than we think it will be. For a lot of people who read the book, I think they will wind up being a lot less fearful about the last third of life, and much more optimistic. As one person told me: “My advice about growing old? I’d tell them to find the magic.” 

A lot of things are happening here, including the mess that’s been the 2020s, but also the combination of a) news publisher abundance b) media negativity bias c) social media amplifying high-arousal negativity (eg, outrage) turns the news into a virtual realm... See more

Any skill or attribute you claim makes you unique—”I’m really funny”, “I’m good at shining shoes”, “I’m an attentive lover”—you can always find someone else better than you on that dimension. They’re funnier, fitter, richer, sexier, smarter, or better at shining shoes than you are. We can’t help but desperately compete in this unwinnable game of... See more

Your internet is not as fast as it could be. Does that matter as long as you can load this article? Arguably not. Our world runs on the functional, not the perfect.

Something that you personally can replicate is replication. Watching someone else do it is also pretty close, since you still get to see it for yourself. Something that a big lab would be able to replicate is not really replication. It’s nice to have confirmation from a second lab, but now you’re just taking two people’s word for it instead of one... See more

If the authors use Twitter and the news media to promote their work, doesn’t that suggest they’re inviting public discourse about their research? Not sure I have any good answers for this. Maybe sharing stories of errors uncorrected isn’t the right approach. I’m willing to try any other approach offered to help fix our current poor practices of... See more

The very worst kind of manager is the one who feels threatened by his team. Consciously or not, he is afraid of those who are "the very best", so he consistently staffs his team with people who will not challenge him.