Strange and funny first-principles-y conversation with wife: if you wanna fix problems, you need to have some kind of model in your mind for how problems get fixed. I think I mostly take for granted that I have this in my “operating system” and rarely think about it explicitly
There are many ways to think about problems, I think my general thing is... you experience some kind of frustration, you try and guess what the source of the frustration is, and things can go in many directions from there, many ways of addressing, resolving, mitigating...
sometimes it can be that the experience of frustration is itself something that can be resolved; maybe there’s something wrong with your sensors, or with the way you process the information coming through your sensors - beliefs, assumptions. Or maybe it’s something outside of you
i've started to encounter people talking about me like I was born micro-famous. 😂 I'm the minority son of a garbage collector, I never went to college. I don't think I've done any devil's bargain stunt bullshit. I'm just an earnest nerd publishing and replying for 20+ years
If you look at my volume of output vs my follower count, I actually have one of the worst tweet-to-follower-conversion rates amongst people in the 20k range. Something like 5 tweets for 1 follow. Hardly anybody gave a shit about me for the first 15+ years I was extremely online
I'm not looking for sympathy or pity or praise or anything of the sort – I am very happy and comfortable with the way my life is, and the decisions I have made, and so on. I'm just sharing this for people who continue to misunderstand how the game works
The devil’s bargain on social media is to make generalized pronouncements about/for other people. You’ll get more engagement for it but it will likely drive you mad. I sometimes worry that people don’t appreciate the costs of this choice
The inverse (angel’s bargain?) is to be locally, specifically helpful, kind and supportive to individual people. The value of this too appears to be broadly underappreciated
The mistake I could make here would be to chide and shame other people for not doing enough. That’s the devil’s bargain again. The correct move is to continue to be kind and supportive to more individuals so that they go on to do the same for others
this is the danger of becoming too successful too young too fast: your honest assessment of reality will mislead you into thinking that everything you touch turns to magic because you have a magic touch
I actually sympathise- most people will have no idea what it’s like to be in that sort of headspace living that sort of life. It’s a psychedelic reality, and for young/inexperienced players without good mentors and peers, it can drive you mad