Weekly Highlights #2

A weekly round-up of things I found interesting, fun or useful.

📜 Articles

Paul Graham’s latest essay is on super linear returns.

One of the most important things I didn't understand about the world when I was a child is the degree to which the returns for performance are superlinear.” Teachers and coaches implicitly told us the returns were linear. ‘You get out,’ I heard a thousand times, ‘what you put in.’ They meant well, but this is rarely true. If your product is only half as good as your competitor's, you don't get half as many customers. You get no customers, and you go out of business.

You can read the full essay Here

The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

This is the first time I’ve read anything from Marc Andreessen and I found myself unable to take myself away from it. For those of you who don’t don’t buy into the ‘The world’s gonna end and everything’s shit’ narrative, this one’s for you.

🎧 Podcasts

I’ve always been intrigued by how much breathing (through the nose) can benefit us and how this seems to still be a rather niche topic in regard to health. James Nestor is a self-certified breathing expert and although I found myself eye-rolling at plenty of comments he made I did find this podcast extremely interesting. For all the proposed health benefits of nasal breathing as opposed to mouth breathing it’s staggering how many people aren’t aware of its benefits, after all as James says '“it’s free”!

💭 Quotes

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”

Adam Smith

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”

Richard Feynman

When in doubt, follow your curiosity. It never lies, and it knows more than you do about what's worth paying attention to

Paul Graham