jacob news

A TED talk on the power of the Paleo diet . Sarah Blakely, the inventor of Spanx hosiery, is an Atlanta legend. All entrepreneurs will find her story of hustle inspiring.

Our work is constrained by our beliefs about what is possible. We can only create what our minds can first conceive. So when we encounter something that lies outside our mental limits, it is an incredible event. We can think thoughts that we could not think before and create what was previously inconceivable. It is like a painter living in a black and white world who discovers color for the first time. People that have the capability to do creative work outside the limits of what is currently believed to be possible are rare and important. They have a powerful catalytic effect on human progress. Once a boundary is breached it triggers a wave of exuberant productive energy. New fields of art, science, and technology are launched. Creators delight in discovering that their belief in some limit was wrong and eagerly explore the fresh world of new possibilities. In the computer industry, Steve Jobs was known as a creative genius, and with good reason. His work in human-computer interaction...

This is the best technical talk I've ever seen. Brett Victor, author of mind-expanding essays at  worrydream.com , gives the clearest exposition of his philosophy in a talk at CUSEC while demonstrating some mind-blowing experiments in user interface. It is up there in quality with Steve Jobs' presentation of the first iPhone and the Mother of All Demos. Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle from CUSEC on Vimeo . More thoughts to come on why it is so good.

Morality/Ethics is about how we should treat other people. On the other hand, Wisdom is the art of living well and thriving in our personal lives. Both subjects interest me, but few people in the secular world study them in a serious or systematic way. The exceptions I know of are academic philosophers and the small hyper-utilitarian demi-cult centered around Eliezer Yudkowsky . Religions have a lot to say about Ethics and Wisdom. Since religions survive and spread by serving the needs of the human psyche , we should expect that we can learn something from their approach to two topics so vital to human interests. Many religions, including Christianity, have the peculiar habit of conflating ethics and wisdom together. They transform the art of living well from an individual choice into a moral duty. This is accomplished by inserting a second person, God, into our private lives. Private actions thereby gain an ethical dimension since they now effect a third party with an interest in seei...

I love this post from Less Wrong -  Generalizing from One Example . Also, this interview from Nassim Taleb on the Economist podcast. 8 audacious minutes of Taleb at his mind-blowing best. On the topic of favorite things, Hayek's essay  The Use of Knowledge in Society  was a big influence on me.

Treat other peoples' utility functions as your own In the long run, the long run is all there is Contribute more to the commons than you take away Can you think of any others?