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10: Notes To Self
Love, Specific Questions, Broken America, Foundational Knowledge, Massages
Luke Clancy
October 20, 2023
Yo!
Here is your weekly dose of 5 things I’m pondering and exploring.
You know how how people can meet, have a few drinks, spend the night talking to each other and sharing things about themselves, and then realize the next day that they’re in love?
Yeah, well some scientists figured out how to reproduce it. In a lab.
And 2 of the participants ended up getting married!
Here’s what they did:
Ask each other a bunch of increasingly personal questions
Stare into each others eyes for four (4) minutes
Repeat for 3 rounds
That’s it! Absolutely fascinating.
Oftentimes, all that stands between you and what you want is a better set of questions.
Life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific ask. After all, conscious thinking is largely asking and answering questions in your own head.
If you want confusion and heartache, ask vague questions. If you want uncommon clarity and results, ask uncommonly clear questions.
“The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.”
I’m back again with some more sobering facts on America:
Real hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers (most of the workforce) is the same as 1968, which combined with inflation is why people are finding it hard to stay above water. Link
U.S. renters make an average of $16.38 an hour, but to afford rent in a 2-bedroom home you need to make an average of $21.21. Link
43% of U.S. households can’t afford monthly bills such as rent, food, child care, healthcare, and a mobile phone. Link
A beautifully written (& contrarian) blog post on the process of learning (by a UIUC student). Here’s a snippet I liked:
“When we think, we are traveling. Thoughts are the roads we walk down, and topics the regions we visit on our way. Just like how cities are regions where many roads converge and roads connect city to city, topics are where thoughts meet each other and thoughts are how we get from topic to topic.
Common beliefs become daily commutes, while forgotten experiences become overgrown trails. When we reason, we take turns onto various routes of thought until we’ve made our way from assumptionland to conclusionland.
In this model, learning is exploring new roads, getting to new cities, and building your imaginary atlas. Sometimes this comes in the form of wandering by yourself, either with or without an aim.”
A satisfying & intuitive video about an underrated life skill.
Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday!
Cheers,
Luke