Dialectic with Jackson Dahl

.@jacob on the wisdom of the Midwit Meme:

Most people use the midwit meme as a dunk on the others or to try to subtly suggest that they're on the right side of the curve.

I love how Jacob uses it to look inward and instead push himself toward simpler thinking:

"I love the midwit meme because it's mostly a vaccine for myself to stop thinking too much. 

I have a tendency to extrapolate too far, or go to big extremes, or construct worlds or potential scenarios or products that might not exist.

I can just look at that image to remind myself to think way, way, way less. Like, what is ostensibly the most dumb version of the thing, which is the most simple version, which is probably more correct?

[So you're better off moving left on that graph than trying to move right?]

"Yeah, exactly. The easiest way to be gigabrain is to be smooth brain.

I think that meme resonates so much with me because I can be the midwit very often. So it's a nice mirror to just be like, "No, chill out and stop thinking here."

Big brain move: think less. Simplicity wins. 🧠