Johanna

The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make some headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really... See more

I can’t remember the last time I went into (or ordered from) a restaurant without looking up its Google or Yelp reviews first. We have become totally reliant on external factors to tell us how to lead our lives. Where should I go? Check Google maps. What should I wear? Check Instagram shopping. What political opinions should I adopt? Check... See more

It’s worth emphasizing that basic income does not have to be an amount of money that meets people’s basic needs. Such an amount may be both desirable and achievable, but it is not part of the definition. Basic income is “basic” only in the sense that everyone gets it. The income itself is basic — not what it buys.

There are four key steps to the Feynman Technique:1. Choose a concept you want to learn about2. Explain it to a 12 year old3. Reflect, Refine, and Simplify4. Organize and Review

At the end of the day, though, what is needed is not a few reforms, but “metanoiete”: a deep repentance, a change to the industry‘s entire way of thinking. Devanney is not optimistic that this will happen in the US or any wealthy country; they‘re too comfortable and too able to fund fantasies of “100% renewables.” Instead, he thinks the best... See more

Habits can mean we overshoot our goals. Habits are easy to complete. Habits are for life. Habits can compound. Habits can be as small as necessary.

The control of the thinking machine is perfectly possible. And since nothing whatsoever happens to us outside our brains, since nothing hurts us or give us pleasure except within our brain, the supreme importance of being able to control what goes on inside the mysterious brain is patent… people complain of the lack of the power to concentrate, not... See more

No blinding. Experiments must have a test and a control arm. “Blinding” is when the researcher doesn’t know whether the subject they are analyzing (be it proteins, cells, mice, or human subjects) is the test or the control. Results are more reliable if the researcher is blinded, and this is standard part of clinical trials, but is often not... See more

The problem with most management, leadership, and business books is that many of them harp on the same self-evident points, overconfident in the usefulness of their prescriptions for would-be imitators. They tend to vastly underestimate the role of circumstance, luck, the nature of completion, and the effects of scale, among other things.