I think what’s happening to America right now can best be captured as a catastrophic loss of meaning. Bowling Alone is the canonical work on the loss of community in our lives. We’ve spent decades cutting religion out of our lives, we’ve stopped interacting with each other, many core “American” jobs have been deprecated due to automation efficiencies.…

If a rat is experimentally injected with infectious bacteria, it behaves a bit like I did after the dentist. It withdraws from social contact with other animals; it doesn’t move so much; its sleeping and eating cycles are disturbed. In short, infection reliably causes a syndrome in animals — called sickness behavior — that is roughly recognizable as akin to the human…

There’s a lot of confusion about the term Postmodernism. To people on the far left, it’s their shadow religion—basically a healthy disregard for any value system that has exerted influence (and caused suffering) in the last few thousand years. To the far right, it’s a rejection of all that is good in the world—like tradition, family, piety, and…

I have been drawn to questions of happiness and fulfillment for much of my adult life. I’m not sure the reason for that, but I think it’s a combination of some things in my family history, it being an extremely hard problem, and the fact that so many people I know are deeply unhappy. The suicide rate in…

We in the West are in the beginning—or perhaps the middle of—a catastrophic crisis of meaning. Many of us sense it. We know it’s happening. But it’s hard to corner and identify. And it’s even more difficult when authors like Steven Pinker use all of their intellectual powers to convince us that things are in fact getting better.…

The idea is that there are two ways for humans to derive happiness: This will be a stream of consciousness thought process that will likely lead to an essay later. By following tradition and ritual By being curious and evidence-based Humans have long been sustained by number 1. It’s what family and religion are based around, and to…

I think a lot about happiness and how to achieve it.—both as individuals, and as societies. I can think of nothing that’s as important, once the more tactical issues are out of the way. I believe I’ve come into some ideas recently, spawned by reading as usual, that I hope have brought me closer to the truth. That…

A while back I wrote a short piece called Addiction Caused by Isolation, where I talked bout research saying that the main cause for addiction to drugs is basically the lack of another meaning loop. The research, which has been done by a number of people now, essentially asked if we’ve been thinking about the problem of addiction…

For like the last 10 years I’ve been looking for a solid book summarization service. I occasionally see one and get excited about one, but upon inspection they usually turn out to have like eleven books, or the summaries are crap, or the interface is unusable. Well I think I might have just found an actual solution, and…

I think I bring this up every year or so, but the point is becoming more acute for me. Reading is life. I’m starting to believe that the most brilliant people in the world were, before and above all else, obsessed readers. Christopher Hitchens basically read and wrote constantly, and I’m now understanding why. When I am reading…

I’ve been thinking about the role of desire in the human identity, and I think I’ve identified a fundamental relationship between the two that isn’t appreciated nearly enough. Quite simply, I think the center of human identity is the presence of core desires. This is important for many reasons. Understanding this can help us pursue a more healthy…

As I get older I become increasingly convinced that the center of happiness is gratitude. I receive this message in many different forms. Practically, I notice that much of the top advice on how to become more happy starts with making lists of things you’re thankful for. In terms of common wisdom, we hear things like, Be thankful…

I have a theory for why music makes us feel good. Not a theory—a hypothesis. It goes like this: beat –> pattern –> story –> struggle –> survival/reproduction –> meaning –> hormones –> happiness So beats and music are patterns, and patterns remind us of stories. Stories remind us of struggle and romance and danger and love, which…

There are many articles—like this one—that say that automation and AI are going to take menial human jobs, but that it’ll be a good thing. The argument basically goes like so: Yes, many human jobs will disappear, but those will be replaced with jobs we actually want Everyone will move to more advanced work that requires more creativity…

“It has no relationship whatsoever to anything anchored in some kind of metaphysical superspace.  It’s just your cultural point of view […] Travel shows you the relativity of culture.” — Terence McKenna Source: How VR Gaming will Wake Us Up to our Fake Worlds I find this perspective fascinating. Essentially, anyone trying to create an experience for you,…

I read a fantastic piece in Las Vegas on a guy who did LSD regularly for over a year. As time went on, I stopped viewing myself as a being separate from the universe. Sensations became interesting to watch, not motivating. I entered such a permanent state of utter peace and contentment that I stopped wanting anything at…

I think the most important skill in life might be facing failure, defeat, and criticism. So much of life’s training is about how to win and how to achieve success. Not nearly enough focus is placed on how to fail and then continue. We should be teaching young people three main things: Do your best to accomplish great…

I realized something a few months ago about youth and meaning. I think the reason we feel more alive when we’re young, and the reason that everything feels more significant, is because we’re full of evolution’s pixie dust—hormones. The movies we see as teenagers. Our first loves. The music we hear during that time. These are all made…

I’ve been somewhat serious about coffee for many years, and I’m settling on some preferences. If I had to describe my preference using non-expert terminology I think I’d say I prefer stronger brews that are smooth and subtle, with moderate character that emerges later and doesn’t overpower. Things I dislike strongly: weak coffee (if I can see through…

I woke up at 5:30am this morning with an idea. Many studies have shown that appreciation and gratitude are critical to happiness, and perhaps the first levels of this have to do with appreciating certain things, or people, or periods of time. One example might be high school, or college, or the time with a certain company. I…

Perhaps one of the problems in the western world is that there is an inherent conflict between being a good parent and focusing on yourself. People seem to be getting more selfish. More about what they want to accomplish. Where they want to go. What they want to eat. And when they want to do these things. That’s…

The question of how to attain happiness is one of the most timeless and important questions in human history. There are thousands of theories on how to pursue it, and I’m curious about the similarities the meta-studies have found. So based on reading many of these over the years, here is my latest model for human fulfillment, based…

I subscribe to a model of human understanding that sees each person as a combination of multiple people. When you’re dealing with someone, you have to know which person you’re actually talking to. It’s not always so extreme, of course, but it often is. Here are some people (traits) that my friends are/have: Self-confident elitist Will give shirt…

In this post I talk a good amount about the future of happiness, but I want to expand further on what this might look like once we become digital lifeforms. Background Here’s some background from the future. Humans have been seeking immortality for thousands of years. Ever since we’ve been afraid of death, really. Which is since we’ve…

I am a lucky bundle of molecules. I received this form after the big bang happened, for reasons nobody really understand. Things blew up and there were laws that governed how they interacted with each other. Smaller things joined to become bigger small things. We got a few small molecules and started making stars, which in turn made…

The search for happiness has been in progress for millennia, and despite numerous answers being found, the search continues. To complicate the issue, there are many types of happiness. There is being happy with what you have, being happy with what you’ve contributed, and being happy in seeing others be happy—just to give a few of the options.…

“Future research should investigate whether the decreased rate of depression diagnoses and better mental health among men and women stems from decreased mental healthcare utilization or increased social support and time for recreational activities,” Dr. Dagher said. Source: http://interrete.org/lower-depression-better-mental-health-during-the-great-recession-national-study-finds/ – Lower depression, better mental health during the Great Recession, national study finds | Interrete I have a theory…

So why was I being sidelined? I demanded answers. Dustin did not disappoint.He gave me a single sheet of paper. On it, in a dull monospace font, were anonymous quotes about me from my coworkers.“Boz is one of the better engineers at Facebook” one read, and then the next “I would have a hard time working with him.”…

If you had to come up with one thing that monks and psychopaths have in common, what would that be? The lack of baggage and fear. Regular people fret about things. Their bad upbringing. How people will accept their ideas. What this person thinks about them. They are basically saddled by the past and worried about the future,…

Money in Politics: Representing people in government is public service. Politicians should be locked in at upper-middle-class through a great salary and complete services for their entire families, and should not be allowed ANY affiliation with private companies until 10 years after leaving office. Going forward with a new policy, violators of this sacred trust should be labeled…

I’ve mentioned this book I’m reading, Spent, a number of times, and it continues to change how I see the world. One of the most tangible outcomes of reading the book will come in the form of a material purge. I’m getting rid of most everything I have. I already have a lot of clutter, and needed to…

You may have heard some version of a cliché that, “We are our memories.”, but the more you think about it, the more it seems true. What struck me the other day is the connection to happiness. What happens when we can manipulate memories at the level of the brain? What happens, in other words, when we can…

Researchers have wondered for a long time why those who are religious tend to be happier than those who are not. I’m sure I’m not the first to figure this out, but I think I have the answer and some analysis. So, happiness researchers have long known that one thing correlates with happiness more than any other: Gratitude.…

I am going to do something that could be considered embarrassing: I want to capture what I consider to be my ideal work. Perhaps you’re wondering why that would be a sensitive thing to write about. Let me give you two reasons: If you’re being honest work you describe could make you look bad. It could be that…

As a manager one of the core things I focus on with my team is keeping track of what value our team has provided for others. We not only want to know this so we can see if we’re doing good job, but also so that we can communicate successfully the value that we offer. The same concept…

In both work and life, there are few things worse than having the wrong metrics. Let me explain. Most people think metrics are similar to spreadsheets or staplers—part of the office setting that nebulously help it be successful. But metrics are more than that. I’m arguing here that they deserve your ultimate attention, both in your life and…

I just finished reading Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect for the first time in around 15 years. It was even more remarkable the second time, I think because I’m more thoughtful now than I was then. [ NOTE: There will be spoilers if you continue. ] The book is about human happiness, and how it relates to (and seems…

We humans are fantasy engines. Evolution, wanting to make us as successful as possible, fills our thoughts with what we wish we were. Those dreams could be that of a beautiful princess, a savage warrior, or a powerful superhero. These all make sense because they represent pinnacles of reproductive fitness. Everyone wants to be irresistible, or all-powerful, or…

I believe it’s hardest to lose someone you love when it happens unexpectedly. Either way it’s devastating, but if you have time to say your goodbyes you at least know, after they’re gone, that things were made right before they passed. But having someone simply go to work one day, and never return, is infinitely worse. It leaves…

I rarely read essays that I know to be in my top five of all time, but I just read one. I’ll include a funny quote from it here that’s rather unrelated to the content, but I encourage you to read the entire thing: This assumption actually has a name: the “Coolidge Effect,” named after the 30th president…