15 Novel Ideas For June 2024

“Yesterday, June 17, Dr. Murthy [the current US Surgeon General] dropped a bomb: An essay in the New York Times in which he called for government-mandated warning labels on social media, akin to those that a previous Surgeon General called for in 1964, on cigarettes.” - H/T Jonathan Haidt

“There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little.” — Andy Groves

The general public believes that the average profit margin made by American corporations is 46.7%, while the actual average is just 3%. - H/T Rob Henderson

“The first rule of handling conflict is: Don’t hang around people who constantly engage in conflict.” - Naval Ravikant

Video game designers are to psychology what the UFC is to martial arts. It’s a specific domain of psychology that works because it has to work. If the video game fails, the company goes bankrupt. But if a psychologist fails, they can always blame your childhood. - H/T George Mack

“Many of the people you disagree with are not stupid, evil, or insane, but have had thoughts and experiences you haven't which led them to different conclusions.” - Gurwinder Bhogal

“So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.” - Neil Gaiman

Per day, according to DataReportal, the average American spends 5 hours and 30 minutes sleeping (an all-time low) and 7 hours and 11 minutes on screens (an all-time high). - H/T Chris Williamson

You can be fuelled by love or by hate. Hate is more potent, but also corrosive enough that it will destroy the engine if used indefinitely. Choose wisely.

“The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it.” — Michael Singer

“The social rewards for going with the crowd are felt long before the benefits of going against it are gained.” - Shane Parrish

Social connection increases lifespan because loneliness increases blood clotting. It should be no surprise then, that the two leading causes of death for isolated people are heart attack and stroke. Clot complications. - H/T David Robson

The smartest 3rd grade students in the USA score better than 50% of high school seniors in math proficiency. Makes you ask what students are learning for 9 years?

“If we don’t pause and ask ourselves what we want to want, we will spend our lives focused on unhealthy aims defined for us by others and the worst parts of ourselves.” - Kyle Eschenroeder

The Noise Bottleneck: The more data we collect on a topic, the greater the ratio of noise to signal. Ostensibly, on everyday topics, a little info is enough or you waste a lot of time gathering low quality (or useless) information. - H/T Nassim Taleb