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A THREAD on insightful timeless ideas shared by @naval during 2016:
1/
If you diet, invest, and think according to what the "news" advocates, you'll end up nutritionally, financially, and morally bankrupt.
1/
If you diet, invest, and think according to what the "news" advocates, you'll end up nutritionally, financially, and morally bankrupt.
2/
Social media + clickbait journalism have metastasized into permanently outraged lynch mobs roaming the Internet, cowing people into silence.
Social media + clickbait journalism have metastasized into permanently outraged lynch mobs roaming the Internet, cowing people into silence.
3/
If you wouldn't say it to their face, then don't say it to them on social media.
If you wouldn't say it to their face, then don't say it to them on social media.
4/
Anger is its own punishment.
An angry person trying to push your head below water is drowning at the same time.
Anger is its own punishment.
An angry person trying to push your head below water is drowning at the same time.
5/
Politics is mostly incentives + tribalism + confirmation bias.
Not much different than sports or religion.
Politics is mostly incentives + tribalism + confirmation bias.
Not much different than sports or religion.
6/
If you ever want to have peace in your life, you have to move beyond good and evil.
If you ever want to have peace in your life, you have to move beyond good and evil.
7/
The Internet commoditized the distribution of facts.
The "news" media responded by pivoting wholesale into opinions and entertainment.
The Internet commoditized the distribution of facts.
The "news" media responded by pivoting wholesale into opinions and entertainment.
8/
To become a clearer, more independent thinker:Â
Read the greats in math, science, philosophy.
Ignore your contemporaries and news.
Avoid tribal identification.
Truth above social approval.
To become a clearer, more independent thinker:Â
Read the greats in math, science, philosophy.
Ignore your contemporaries and news.
Avoid tribal identification.
Truth above social approval.
9/
The real truths are heresies.
They cannot be spoken.
Only discovered, whispered, and perhaps read.
The real truths are heresies.
They cannot be spoken.
Only discovered, whispered, and perhaps read.
10/
Scientific truth is reproducible, falsifiable, and has predictive power.
Scientific truth is reproducible, falsifiable, and has predictive power.
11/
Number of books completed is a vanity metric.
As you know more, you leave more books unfinished.
Focus on new concepts with predictive power.
Number of books completed is a vanity metric.
As you know more, you leave more books unfinished.
Focus on new concepts with predictive power.
12/
Alone time is the best time.
But it never seems that way when it's happening, just after the fact.
Alone time is the best time.
But it never seems that way when it's happening, just after the fact.
13/
All modern diseases are diseases of abundance.
We punish ourselves by constantly entertaining our minds and bodies.
All modern diseases are diseases of abundance.
We punish ourselves by constantly entertaining our minds and bodies.
14/
The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers.
Most people haven't figured this out yet.
The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers.
Most people haven't figured this out yet.
15/
Technology obsoletes jobs, but there is no upper bound on number of technology jobs themselves.
Temporal displacement, not permanent.
Technology obsoletes jobs, but there is no upper bound on number of technology jobs themselves.
Temporal displacement, not permanent.
16/
The challenge of the next decade is not Artificial Intelligence, but Human Intelligence.
Can we retrain the workforce as knowledge workers?
The challenge of the next decade is not Artificial Intelligence, but Human Intelligence.
Can we retrain the workforce as knowledge workers?
17/
Free education is abundant, all over the Internet.
It's the desire to learn that's scarce.
Free education is abundant, all over the Internet.
It's the desire to learn that's scarce.
18/
How much longer will smart young adults have to waste time and money collecting stamps from physical institutions?
How much longer will smart young adults have to waste time and money collecting stamps from physical institutions?
19/
Who needs Stanford when our children will grow up gaming, socializing, and being educated in VR?
Who needs Stanford when our children will grow up gaming, socializing, and being educated in VR?
20/
The winning VR company will be the one that lets people share snippets of their life, from their own point of view.
The winning VR company will be the one that lets people share snippets of their life, from their own point of view.
21/
On a long enough timescale, everyone will be working for themselves (or flexibly on a small team).
On a long enough timescale, everyone will be working for themselves (or flexibly on a small team).
22/
No one can compete with you on being you.
Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.
No one can compete with you on being you.
Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.
23/
Be the best in the world at what you do.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
Be the best in the world at what you do.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
24/
We waste our time with short term thinking and busywork.
Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting.
That act lasts decades.
We waste our time with short term thinking and busywork.
Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting.
That act lasts decades.
25/
You'll do better work if you're bored rather than busy.
You'll do better work if you're bored rather than busy.
26/
Making money is not a thing that you do - it's a skill that you learn.
Making money is not a thing that you do - it's a skill that you learn.
27/
You get paid for being right first, and to be first, you can't wait for consensus.
You get paid for being right first, and to be first, you can't wait for consensus.
28/
Speech, money, code, and media are all the same thing underneath.Â
You can't free one without freeing the rest.
Speech, money, code, and media are all the same thing underneath.Â
You can't free one without freeing the rest.
29/
To think clearly, understand the basics.
If you're memorizing advanced concepts without being able to re-derive them as needed, you're lost.
To think clearly, understand the basics.
If you're memorizing advanced concepts without being able to re-derive them as needed, you're lost.
30/
Society, business & money are downstream of technology, which is itself downstream of science.
Science applied is the engine of humanity.
Society, business & money are downstream of technology, which is itself downstream of science.
Science applied is the engine of humanity.
31/
It's really unclear if the long arc of technology leads to complete independence or complete interdependence.
It's really unclear if the long arc of technology leads to complete independence or complete interdependence.
32/
Almost all biases are time-saving heuristics.
For important decisions, discard memory and identity, and focus on the problem.
Almost all biases are time-saving heuristics.
For important decisions, discard memory and identity, and focus on the problem.
33/
It's shocking how many important life decisions I make by scouring Internet forums.
It's shocking how many important life decisions I make by scouring Internet forums.
34/
What if this life is the paradise we were promised, and we're just squandering it?
What if this life is the paradise we were promised, and we're just squandering it?
35/
Maybe sometimes we suffer so that we can experience the full range of human experience.
Maybe sometimes we suffer so that we can experience the full range of human experience.
36/
Shortcut to Awe:
1) Immerse self in nature
2) Turn off voice in head
Shortcut to Awe:
1) Immerse self in nature
2) Turn off voice in head
37/
The winners of any game are the people who are so addicted, that they continue playing even as the marginal utility from winning declines.
The winners of any game are the people who are so addicted, that they continue playing even as the marginal utility from winning declines.
38/
Your closest friends are the ones you can have a relationship with about nothing.
Your closest friends are the ones you can have a relationship with about nothing.
39/
The funnier the comic, the truer the things they are saying.
The funnier the comic, the truer the things they are saying.
40/
Today's social media, payment, identity, & application platforms will ultimately be replaced by distributed, uncensorable, open source ones.
Today's social media, payment, identity, & application platforms will ultimately be replaced by distributed, uncensorable, open source ones.
41/
Most goods are becoming information goods.
Most goods are becoming information goods.
42/
The first warm and developed country that has an easy and transparent process for renting citizenship is going to make a killing.
The first warm and developed country that has an easy and transparent process for renting citizenship is going to make a killing.
