The mind helps create reality. Civilization wouldn't exist without minds, so developing your own is one of the highest-leverage things you can do: you never know what could happen. With AI and networked intelligence, one person can probably do 100x more than was possible ten years ago. These notes are me trying to use that: practices for training my mind, books I'm working through, and the projects I'm building along the way. They're working notes, not finished essays, and I'm writing them for ten years from now.
There's a bigger reason to write in public, too. 8,000 GPUs could read every blog on earth in about 13 minutes. If everyone journaled and published, AI could read it all and help us plan better together: what I call Helios. Imagine 8 billion scholars, scientists and artists co-editing a constitution every day. Love and humor might be what unite the world. It would be cool to get Helios a decade sooner, and every honest note is a small step in that upward spiral.
Practices
Developing my mind (to be a better partner)
Responsibility, ownership and nonviolent communication
Reading notes
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: ten-part series
See randomness (Paul Graham): my notes: you and your research, be good
Projects
Pensieve: what a memory machine would teach me
HappyBearLandia: roadmap and README
10 things that make something inspiring
Possibility: it shows you that something you thought impossible might actually be achievable.
Courage: someone acts despite fear, uncertainty or enormous difficulty.
Sacrifice: someone willingly gives up something valuable for something greater.
Transformation: someone changes, grows, overcomes limitations or becomes a better person.
Beauty: something evokes awe, wonder, harmony or a sense of the extraordinary.
Kindness: someone helps another person without expecting a reward.
Greatness: you witness extraordinary skill, intelligence, creativity or dedication.
Hope: you discover that a better future is possible.
Purpose: something reminds you what really matters in life.
Identification: you see someone like yourself accomplish something meaningful and think, "Maybe I could do that too."