astukari Newsletter #61 - Climbing the Wrong Hill
Hello there,
Got quite a few updates for this week:
I’ve added a premium sub for this newsletter. It is $7/mo, or $72/yr. I will add on more to this over time but for now I hope to use it to give a) access to blog posts well in advance of their release date (the posts I make now are usually written 3 months or so before their release. People who have premium will get them right after I write them) and b) repurpose an old Discord server as a community discussion base. You’ll start seeing the premium posts pop up on the feed pretty soon, and I’ll be alerting in a future newsletter when I’ve made the Discord.
Shanah is now on its way out. Full details are here. My main reasoning behind this is to focus more attention on astukari (this) and Apalla (that). Shanah’s content will be open-sourced and available for free permanently with the move.
Anyway, on to the fun stuff!
🔨What I’ve Been Making
Immortality - Biological immortality is impossible. But is there another form of immortality that is achievable, and may even hold greater value?
Biases Against Consistency - Most people say that consistency is just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to success. The reality is that it may be the keystone that ties it all together.
📚What I’ve Been Reading
Get Specific - A couple of weeks ago I talked about a Justin Kan post called How to do anything. This post is essentially the sequel. Goal chunking, everyone!
How I Practice What I Do - I’ve read this before, and I’m pretty sure I might have recommended it before. This is a very short post going over Tyler Cowen’s “productivity” strategy. I think it provides a basic outline for what anyone should do, regardless of their occupation — just change words here and there for what fits best for you.
Climbing the Wrong Hill - A post highlighting the dangers of complacency. Another relatively short one — should take you only a minute or so to read.
I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup - The secret of tolerance: it’s easy to tolerate people you share similar opinions with. Hell, that’s not even tolerance by that point — that’s just having a normal human relationship. The point of tolerance is to tolerate people on the other spectrum. Can a socdem tolerate a Trump supporter, and vice versa?
Class (in America) - Class is complicated. You can be apart of the wealthy social class without actually being wealthy. People can treat you with respect if you appear wealthy, and likewise treat you with disrespect if you appear poor. Money is surprisingly uncorrelated.