Maybe the Optimization Bros were a little right afterall. Implementing some changes Failed Health Plans After a stretch of health excellence I made a number of changes that have taken me the wrong direction Feels Bad Man My HRV is off a cliff (89 -> 69). Deep sleep way down (1 hour 30+ -> 45 mins). Lifts and running speed going in the wrong direction (-30% across the board). Screen time way up (45 min daily average to above 2....
channeling momentum, mojo, reading the universal mosaic Below I explore the idea of “the Mo” - or being in tune with the universe, in a useful way that allows you to take larger risks and do better work - but only in short bursts. Famous fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller has stated that the most fundamental job of a trader is knowing whether or not he has a “hot hand”. When you have a hot hand, you size up....
What the Optimization Bros Have Wrong and How to Fix It Willpower and Capability Gaps Consider “screen time”. Every Sunday, Apple Users get our screen time report. And every Sunday we say, “You know, next week I’d love for that to be below 1 hour per day.” And - it’s seldom below 1 hour per day. This is one, quantified gap. I am bringing it up because many people are familiar to it and can relate to it....
a philosophy for simple folk pursuing Faustian bargains with future Intelligence All things are either addictive, or non addictive. All activities either align with your true calling or they do not. Thus - any activity can fit into 4 quadrants Addictive and not aligned with your calling. This is the worst - examples would be injection drugs Addictive and aligned with your calling. An example would be taking uppers to go faster towards your goals....
One man’s screen time is another man’s profit. Mental models and tools of a digital samurai. Screentime Check I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing I have. Sunday comes around. Apple displays your weekly screen time. And you ask, “Wait, what the f*ck? How did I spend so much time on my iPhone? What was I thinking?” And, you probably know at some level, you weren’t thinking. And that was the entire point....
Escaping the socio-spiritual prison from the starting position of a speculator Sidepots in the Asylum When I started trading, I was in it for money and pride. My father lost a lot of money starting a hedge fund and we lost our house when I was a kid. I got into trading as some kind of redemption arc. My father is a renegade. He viewed markets as a way to escape the simulation....
A hypothetical exploration of the world we are heading towards There have been 3 major technology shifts since 2022. The market has weighted one much higher in terms of valuation - Artificial Intelligence. But a second, more subtle shift was the launch of the MetaQuest Pro and improvement of visual tracking in Virtual Reality. A third, and final tech change is the rise of ZK technology in cryptocurrency enabling highly scalable, verifiable and largely anonymous currency transactions....
An exploration into accelerationist extremism and its logical conclusions Below I’m going to get into some very pragmatic behavior modifications that could follow logically from accelerationist beliefs. Advances in AI, and biotechnology make it seem likely there will be substantial medical breakthroughs in our lifetime. However - I do not think these breakthroughs - which will include genetic modification of children, and live therapies - will be distributed to society. Even more - I think developments will be kept secret....
the Last Samurai, Darth Vader, the world of entertainment bleeding into the world of things “There are only two industries. This has always been true….There is the industry of things, and the industry of entertainment….After people have the things they need to live, everything else is entertainment. Everything.” ― Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer Now that I’ve spent some more time in the weeds with LLMs as applied to capital markets, I have some reflections about what the building blocks are, how things are likely to play out as well as how I’m going to position myself....
how to use CBT augmented with accelerationist religious fanaticism to improve your work performance Atheism is a Base Case But Its Vibes are Not Immaculate Below I’m going to talk about Stress Zero - an approach I use to actively cut my stress levels to zero on a daily basis. Usually before sleep, or at night time. But sometimes, in the morning. Fundamentally Stress Zero supercharges CBT with religious zealotry to immediately kill all your bad feelings....