Welcome to the first Monday of the new weekly letter.
Here’s the new format: same section headers with more links and content. I’ll pick one topic under each header to dive into and share my thoughts.
I hope the new cadence is easier to keep up with and find value in.
Knowledge
Still Alive
Today’s deep dive is on the New York Times (NYT) v. Slate Star Codex (SSC) battle. If you’re not familiar, Slate Star Codex was a beloved blog with six-figure readership written by an pseudonymous author. NYT, in the process of writing an article on SSC, uncovered the author’s identity and threatened to reveal it (see: dox).
The dox threat kickstarted a wave of protest in the tech world and was one of the proximate causes for the ongoing tech v. journalism war. The conflict culminated with the fiery combustion of the SSC blog in protest of NYT’s article. Ultimately, the gesture was received and the article never published.
Now, SSC is back in a new medium: Substack. The first post, Still Alive, tells the fascinating story of how the near-dox went down. It’s an inside look at the mechanics of the tech-journalism divide and shows what it takes for a lone individual to stand up to an institution like the NYT. Moreover, it’s an exploration of the future of online pseudonymity/anonymity and its importance to public discourse. In order to maximize intellectual diversity, we need to protect anonymous thinkers, not threaten them.
Does everyone eventually feel so unsafe that we completely abandon the public square to professional-opinion-havers, talking heads allowed to pontificate because they have the backing of giant institutions? What biases does that introduce to the discussion? And if we want to avoid that, is there any better way than a firm stance that people's online pseudonymity is a basic right, not to be challenged without one hell of a compelling public interest?
The ability to have anonymity at scale through online identities empowers anyone to speak freely about what they’re experts on without fear of censorship or repercussions from those in power. Consider Richard Horton, a police officer whose award-winning blog was taken down when a judge refused to protect his anonymity.
Wisdom
10,000 Hour Rule
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. This is Goodhart’s Law. Once you understand it, you see it everywhere.
K. Anders Ericsson, an expert on experts, determined in a study that it takes experts roughly 10,000 hours to become proficient in a given field. 10,000 hours is thus a measure based on a set of data. Malcom Gladwell brought the ‘10,000 hour rule’ mainstream in his book on the nature of extraordinary people, Outliers. The idea has since permeated hustle culture and become a target. Goodhart’s Law is kicking in.
People view the 10,000 hour rule as a framework for success: put in your hours and you’ll be in the top cohort of performers in your field. And it’s probably true! But here’s the caveat: 10,000 hours of going through the motions to hit the target is antithetical to 10,000 hours of focused, impassioned effort without heed for time invested.
The 10,000 hour rule creates a stopwatch mindset where you rack up half-hearted, going-through-the motions hours until you hit the arbitrary target.
Not all hours are created equal. Focus.
In the first case, you have someone who’s grinding for the sake of becoming something they’re not. In the second case, you have someone who’s pouring their heart and soul into becoming more of what they are. The two people couldn’t be more different. Even if they both net 10,000 hours invested into the same discipline, the first person is likely to be a burned-out workaholic in the top 10% of the field, while the second person is one of the best in the world because they’ve mastered the skills that surround doing what they love to do.
Do more of what you love. The process matters more than the goal.
Inspiration
Just Do It
Consider: what’s causing you stress today? How much of it is in your control? How much of it can you act on right now?
Taking care of the immediate tasks that you control is one of the best, most satisfying ways to spend time. It’s a surefire way to minimize regret and ensure that your time is well-spent. If you exhaust all of these tasks, then you can proceed into more abstract work with a clear, focused mind. In the words of Seneca:
Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.
― Seneca, “On The Shortness of Life”
What are you waiting for?
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Weekly Vibe
Honorable Mentions
Technological Stagnation: Why I Came Around
Now that I understand what was possible around the turn of the last century, I can’t settle for anything less. We need breadth in progress, as well as depth. We need revolutions on all fronts at once: not only biotech but manufacturing, energy and transportation as well. We need progress in bits, atoms, cells, and joules.
The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class
The more you have committed to being seen as interesting within your particular area, the more you detach from reality and move into a construct of your own creation. As this evolution takes place, more of your and your peers’ language will become Posturetalk, and more of the language that gets spoken to you by outsiders will become Babytalk.
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people. I want students to leave my classroom knowing that.