Laura Evans

@laura

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114 Followers

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"With a completely dark city, the German bomber planes struggled to see where to drop their bombs and many historians credit millions of lives saved to the blackout efforts." h/t Glimpse

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"Without sophisticated tracking systems, German aircraft relied on sight during bombing runs and so the European Allies instituted blackouts and recommended blackout curtains."

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The history of technology is endlessly interesting... Fun fact: "Blackout curtains were invented to keep light from escaping, not the other way around as they’re used today."

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To be more accurate, you’re right, I should soften the language, but in an era of increasingly engrossing television, somehow the sharper language feels helpful? David Foster Wallace’s concept of “the entertainment” feels cautionary here.

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I appreciate the feedback. That’s fair re: balance — truth resides in paradox. And re: books, I hear you. I derive an unreasonable joy from the classics, but Paul Graham offers a nice counterpoint in the notion that reading virtuous books is not always a virtuous endeavor: http://www.paulgraham.com/island.html

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And while there's nothing wrong with these qualities themselves, they're beautiful, there's a dysfunction in experiencing these qualities vicariously. Instead of enjoying them in our own lives, we find ourselves sitting on the couch… satisfied, yet starved.

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Hollywood is an especially powerful producer of constructed worlds. It excels at distilling, condensing, focusing, and enhancing the seductive qualities in life.

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The key to a successful life is to embrace reality. Constructed worlds are a form of kryptonite – draining us of our life force and leaving us addicted to jam instead of fruit. Does anyone else feel similarly? https://notes.lauraevans.io/permanent/Prefer+reality+to+constructed+worlds

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Would love an invite! Have been running a number of experiments around this recently

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New thought algorithm: Use GPT-3 to generate disconfirming evidence for every key belief I hold. I've found this implementation of Darwin's method has helped me and add rigor to my thinking. Has anyone else tried something similar?

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That's solid advice - don't want to know what the context switching is doing to my neurons haha

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I've been meaning to do that! Thanks for the inspiration to finally make it happen

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Love this approach, thanks Les!

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Customizable algorithms of the future should optimize for the individual's goals - rather than the goals of the platform.

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How do you systematically manage your attention? A few of my experiments: - Obsidian spaced repetition (see more: shorturl.at/cLRY6) - Training social media algorithms like a pet - Feedly for article consumption Our outputs reflect our inputs. Would love any suggestions!

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Tomales Bay: Bring a picnic blanket and some wine, pick up fresh oysters from the farm, and enjoy them on the beach! https://www.tomalesbayoystercompany.com/picnicking

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Sending love to you and your mum!

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The classic Feynman Technique!

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Agreed, but there are a number of downsides to day one liquidity. Will be interesting to see the ways in which programmable money/equity can be leveraged to address some of these risks

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