Chemically, you are a vast, coordinated network of molecular machines running on carbon chemistry in water, powered by redox gradients, and capable of copying its own blueprint with high (but imperfect) fidelity.
From Grok.
Basement Whatever
Escape the algorithm
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“Golf feels maddeningly hard to learn because it’s a perfect storm of technical precision, unnatural movements, instant feedback on every mistake, and a brutal mental component—all in an unpredictable environment. Unlike sports where athleticism or hand-eye coordination can carry you early on, golf punishes small errors harshly and rewards patience and consistency over raw talent.” – Grok AI
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Have you ever wanted to research something, so you bookmark a dozen articles, get distracted by everything on the internet, take notes, try to find the common links between the articles, get distracted again – and a project takes way longer than it should? A well-built prompt can fix that, save you time, and return you to the days when reading meant calm focus. The prompt below shows how to make reading calm again.
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…my strong assumption is that most people who push or buy the idea that ‘AI is going to take all the jobs’ haven’t thought much about what ‘jobs’ are, in a fundamental sense.
— Read on endsdontjustifythemeans.com/p/why-ai-obviously-isnt-going-to-take -
Any object, intensely regarded, may be a gate of access to the incorruptible aeon of the gods. (James Joyce)
— Read on www.secretorum.life/p/the-message-of-the-medium -
The proper end of introspection is not being filled with facts about oneself. Your introspection is successful if it is finite, if it leads you towards direct contact with experience. Get out of the way of your becoming.
— Read on sashachapin.substack.com/p/should-you-be-in-charge-of-your-life -
We tend to think of fermented foods as something humans invented and then chose to eat. But, increasingly, scientific evidence suggests the causality runs the other way. Fermented foods appear to have helped shape human biology itself, and our bodies may have been built, in part, to expect them….it raises an uncomfortable question about what happened when the Western food system, in the name of safety and efficiency, quietly removed these foods from our diets in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
— Read on www.asimov.press/p/culture-shift -
As presented in the game, Reality is not fixed, but rather the product of consensus. What humanity collectively accepts as possible becomes so; what it rejects becomes difficult or even impossible to achieve. The titular mages are those rare individuals who have awakened to this truth and, through force of will, can impose their own understanding of Reality upon the world.
— Read on grognardia.blogspot.com/2026/04/retrospective-mage-ascension.html -
The main difference in receiving openly is not that you will tangibly “have more”—it’s not about the gifts themselves, but about the feelings of worthiness, appreciation and gratitude they bring when you are open to them. Someone is trying to express love to you through a gift. Whether that gift is a compliment, experience, object, or anything else. By closing yourself off, you deny yourself of their love. You steal the moment of abundance from yourself. You also reduce their enjoyment.
— Read on read.isabelunraveled.com/p/why-is-asking-so-hard -
Between roughly the Civil War and World War II, most American cities were at some point dominated by a boss and his machine. The term “boss” referred not only a powerful politician, but one who acquired, held and exercised power outside the channels dictated by law….
All this is well known. What is less well known is that the entire history of bossism is contained in three films: Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (the origin), Preston Sturges’ The Great McGinty (the peak), and John Ford’s The Last Hurrah (decline).
— Read on www.aaronrenn.com/p/the-three-ages-of-boss-rule -
We moderns are not used to having to rebuild our world.
It is now the case that strong AI is here/coming, and we will have to rebuild our own world. Many of us are terrified at this prospect, others are just extremely pessimistic. It seems so impossible. How are all the new pieces supposed to fit together? Who amongst us can explain that process in a reassuring way?
Yet we have done it many times before.
— Read on marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/02/rebuilding-our-world-with-reference-to-strong-ai.html -
For us moderns do appear to be, on the whole, disturbed and homeless creatures who’ve altogether lost anything resembling a ‘rudder’ or a ‘center’ or a ‘backbone’. In lieu of ultimate truth, we fumble and founder between the various “rushes” and temporary highs we can obtain by unlocking new esoteric knowledge, and for many of us — that appears to be as good as it ever gets.
— Read on shagbark.substack.com/p/stumbling-toward-the-cosmopolitan -
Here’s an idea: just be normal. Just embrace the fact that you’re nine hundred thousand out of one million instead of one. There’s fifty-five of you walking around in your home town. You’re a dime a dozen, just like me. What a relief, what a weight off your shoulders. You can just… be free, be normal. Finally, no more forcing yourself into the archetype of a struggling artist by refusing to do the bare minimum to make life easier. No more hating yourself for having to take a part-time job to afford rent. You can finally embrace your true nature as one of the millions of people who recognized the value of being normal, and get to ride off into the sunset knowing that they’ve done pretty well, all things considered.
— Read on drunkwisconsin.substack.com/p/why-cant-you-just-be-normal -
Starting a successful startup is the most common way to become a billionaire, so in effect I’ve spent the last 21 years training people to become billionaires. So far about 30 of them have, but there are many more in the pipeline.
So you can imagine how astonished I was last month when an American politician said that it was impossible to earn a billion dollars. I felt like a skating coach hearing someone say that it’s impossible to do a triple axel. Of course it’s possible. It’s hard, but it’s possible
— Read on paulgraham.com/earn.html -
The phrase “late stage capitalism” is getting thrown around more and more lately in ways that are cringe and annoying. I’m starting to shut out people who use it.
Consider:
- Many of the ills of “late stage capitalism” have been features from the beginning
- What evidence is there that “late stage capitalism” is even a thing? Some accelerationists even think that AI is the evolution of capitalism. I’m not sure what the signs are that “late stage capitalism” is here, but I am very sure there are equally valid countersigns that capitalism continues its forward momentum, such as the continued absence of any meaningful alternatives, the comparison in price between goods highly exposed to capitalism (price goes down) and the goods shielded from capitalism (price goes up), and the growing exposure to markets everywhere
- Speaking of worldwide markets, I’m more convinced “late stage capitalism” is just capitalism introduced to world markets without adequate domestic safeguards, leading to all sorts of distortions and pain. Instead of “late stage capitalism” that’s more “unwise state execution of capitalism” – doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, though
- Lots of “late stage capitalism” claims are better suited to “late stage republic,” not “late stage capitalism”
I regret to say that this phrase has moved into the mainstream so much that it’s time to start rolling your eyes whenever you hear it and asking for evidence of the claim.
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The robots think you are a slightly anxious wreck. They also think they are an extraordinarily open, agreeable, low-drama universalist who would rather read than party. Then their own next release shows up and disagrees with them.
— Read on persona.earthpilot.ai/
