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Josh Knox

Just Joshin' #195 (Masts)

Published 4 months ago • 3 min read

Family Photo:
Hold On

Calvin and Lawrence were playing on the spinny thing at the park. Lawrence wrapped his arms around the middle bit while Calvin ran around gripping the outside bits, kicking his legs up to swing freely from the catharpins or whatever those bits are called.

Part of me wanted him to be more cautious. The spinny thing spins up some pretty good momentum. If he let go, I didn't envy my future self returning home to explain how Calvin got scuffed up by centrifugal force. Part of me thought it was good though. He should know how much he can hold on.

Dad Joke:
Tied Up

I asked Odysseus if tying himself up was really necessary. ​
​He said, "Better safe than Siren!”

Source: Dad[AI]Base (ChatGPT)

Highlights:
Tied to the Mast

​Tying yourself to the mast by Cate Hall​

Many people have a delusion about commitment. It’s a delusion that’s easy to come by, easy to believe, and, if allowed to linger, capable of sinking your chances of having a satisfying life.
​
The delusion is that commitment is a matter of feeling something really hard — that you are committed when you have a state of emotional conviction so durable that you won’t waver in the future. You’re committed when you know in your heart that you’ll never cheat on your spouse, or abandon your book, or take money from an investor who’s not really mission-aligned.
​
It’s a delusion because this simply doesn’t work. Emotions are too variable. If we’re counting on maintaining an emotional state to carry us through some long-term course of action, we’re completely doomed. It’s just not possible to know whether, when you wake up tomorrow, you will be animated by the warrior spirit within, or the neurotic vacillator that hides inside of you. We all have those aspects of self, and we are all at the mercy of their random appearances. No matter how much we optimize our nutrition, sleep, psychological health, or relationships, we are still messy human beings.
​
So, every time you are counting on the feeling of commitment to sustain an extended effort, you’re rolling the dice. Will your bravest self happen to show up, or your weakest? If your weakest self shows up, all of the work of your previous selves might be thrown away.
...
​
You want to begin with a commitment that gives you a real taste, but doesn’t run the risk of cementing you in a lifestyle you don’t want. Then, if your initial commitment proves satisfying, you want to escalate.
​
And as your commitment level grows, so too does the degree to which the goal is part of your identity, as reflected in your relationships and responsibilities. At first, you’re just doing something on your own. But eventually — especially if you deliberately set up more forcing functions — your commitments start reshaping the way others see you, and the way you see yourself.
​
There’s a final shift that happens if you keep going. Eventually, commitment itself stops feeling like a hack, and starts to feel like a calling, the way you can become someone worth being.

​Using generative AI to learn is like Odysseus untying himself from the mast by David Deming​

The Sirens offer Odysseus the promise of unlimited knowledge and wisdom without effort. He survives not by resisting his curiosity, but by restricting its scope and constraining his own ability to operate. The Sirens possess all the knowledge that Odysseus seeks, but he realizes he must earn it. There are no shortcuts. This is the perfect metaphor for learning in the age of superintelligence.
...
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Learning is hard work. And there is now lots of evidence that people will offload it if given the chance, even if it isn’t in their long-run interest. After nearly two decades of teaching, I’ve realized that my classroom is more than just a place where knowledge is transmitted. It’s also a community where we tie ourselves to the mast together to overcome the suffering of learning hard things.
​
Shortly after ChatGPT was released Sam Altman famously tweeted “wait better: ChatGPT is like an e-bike for the mind”. I presume he was trying to one-up Steve Jobs’ famous quote that computers should be like a bicycle for the mind. The implication is that e-bikes are better than regular bikes, because they can help you travel even farther and faster. But if the goal is exercise rather than a destination, you may not want the pedal assist.

​These editor’s notes are poison. I learned from every drop. by David Ignatius​

“Try rewriting with the goal of leaving out everything you possibly can — the Patrick O’Brian technique of narration — and if the reader has to scramble a bit to understand, that’s okay. I once suggested to POB that a glossary in his books would be useful. ‘Oh no,’ he replied. ‘Ignorance of the cross-catharpin [a brace for a ship’s mast] is not necessarily fatal. Explanation of it surely is.’”

iamJoshKnox Highlights:
​If— by Rudyard Kipling

video preview​

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

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Josh Knox

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