I finished Infinite Jest. Now I am back to reading War and Peace, giving myself a quota of at least 10 pages a day. Also, I have been reading a collegiate dictionary. By "reading" I mean mining for interesting etymologies, perhaps a few new words and the years of birth for historical people -- I put the things I want to learn into Anki. I have finished the letter A, which was about 100 pages. I am trying for a quota of 5 pages a day, though my priority is War and Peace, so I can get it done by end of the year, so my prediction is right.
Published on Medium
- My Walden Years
- Go Into the Silence
- My Nifty Answer to "So You'd Feel Sorry for Hitler?"
- How to Respond When the Leftist You Love Accuses You of Policing Them
- 100 Day Bland Food Challenge: Day 10
Scott Alexander
I've also been noodling around in Scott Alexander's older writings, including his old Live Journal.
From Scott Alexander
If I may expand upon Oscar Wilde, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, and the only thing worse than not being talked about is being talked about by your parents.
From a different post:
Within the Zone of the Clearest Confusion, always try to be more body and less person.
That one is from a pamphlet he saw in Japan when he was twenty. I include it because I think Scott "Alexander" is one of the greatest interesting engines in the world. The title for this often goes to Maria Popova of Brain Pickings, but I like Scott and Scott's eco-system of commentators better.
Scott has done a piece for those jealous of his talent and output. It's really good. I'm jealous.
I think I did good work on this thread, although it was the odd request of someone with a very high recorded IQ not feeling like they were living up to his potential. (The comment thread breaks down in a lot of places because there are few things more ridiculous than high IQ people taking about IQ-- it's even less enjoyable than stoner's talking about weed).
A thread on inequality in the U.S. vis a vis meritocracy.
I was in a really dark mood, so I made a lot of comments on this thread about tying universal basic income to sterilization.
The comment of the month gets to be someone else's.
Trying to get on it a lot less, but here are some gems.
Becoming really informed about news over which you have literally no power is just another fun way the state keeps you contained.— holly wood phd 🌹🔪 (@girlziplocked) July 21, 2017
Media is a drug more powerful than stimulants. Works on the premise of amygdala by-pass - supercedes your rational functions.— Sindre (@Triquetrea) July 20, 2017
Back to my theme for the year: healing is a social process, not a privatized arrangement between the ill and a middle class therapist.— holly wood phd 🌹🔪 (@girlziplocked) July 18, 2017
Join the funding club, because China also intends to become an AI leader by 2025. Actual money committed: $60B/year. Game over. 3/3— Sami Mäkeläinen (@smakelainen) July 20, 2017
"Policing" is a highly sticky meme that prevents tribe-D (or tribe-S) from self-examination. Thought-stopper.— Keith Huddleston (@KeithHudd) July 21, 2017
