AI and Creativity

6/15/2026

A response to this youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eFNbxqFjd8 The comment section in this video is especially reminiscent of the industrial revolution. The resistance to see nuance in novelty is quite surprising to me. "I think you've got a lot of truth here, but on the whole I disagree. There are some tasks that AI is brilliant for, and where using it does not diminish creativity or the final product. I strongly believe structured vibe coding is one of the best examples of this. Sure, there are some elements of creativity in learning to code and developing the exact structure/shape of the product yourself, but I think there are many cases where the end-result is the key place for creativity. Vibe coding allows for a much, much lower barrier to entry, meaning people who are very creative and have very creative ideas are able to produce them without having to learn to code. In practice this already happens often, someone comes up with a good idea, and hires a developer to create it. Using AI instead of that developer is going to be a rough transition and we have to be careful about how we move through it, but I strongly believe there is great potential for increased creativity BECAUSE of AI, if only we choose to use it correctly. At the end of the day, I think most of this will work itself out. Tasks that can be performed by AI without losing their core will be performed by AI, mostly because people won't be able to tell that AI was used in their creation, and partially because people who use AI will be far more productive in those tasks than people who try to forgo it (i.e. coding). Tasks/products where AI clearly removes an important element of said task/product will see very little AI use as people recognize AI's inability. btw I didn't use ai to write this because I 95% agree that writing is one of those tasks where AI is not a good replacement for human capacity."

On purpose

4/19/2026

Are you sure you know why you’re here? How do you know you’re sure? Most people accept the answers given them by their parents, but I suspect most people don’t have the whole answer. I hope some of what we believe is close, but I don’t know. We should stop seeking so early, and we should bend our religions to the pursuit.

Relatability of Plato

4/9/2026

In Book 8 of "The Republic" Plato outlines imperfect societies and their citizens. He describes four such societies, including Timarchy, Oligarchy, Democracy, and Tyranny. While not very scientific, many of the observations that Plato makes are still made today. I will cite three. Plato describes the Timarchic citizen as one with great ambition and a lack of reason. He argues that this person develops within a family where the father is lazy and content with mediocrity, and a mother who is upset by this. When the son of such a family hears his mother complain, he will try to be the person his father wasn't and neglect reason and imagination in favor of success. This person is alive and well today. When speaking of Oligarchs plato says “There’s no transition quicker or more violent than that from ambition to avarice."¹ Many people start in business with a desire to create something good, and once the profits begin to roll in, they care less about the good and more about wealth. "The teacher fears and panders to his pupils, who in turn despise their teachers and attendants; and the young as a whole imitate their elders, argue with them and set themselves up against them while their elders try to avoid the reputation of being disagreeable or strict by aping the young and mixing with them on terms of easy good fellowship."² While not a one to one reality of the relationship between the young and the old today, you can see many places where Plato is spot on. Two and a half centuries later Plato's observations are still relevant. This speaks to two things. One, that humans are not blank slates, that human nature is at least partly innate. Two, that Plato was a brilliant person who could describe the world with great accuracy. 1. Plato, The Republic, trans. Desmond Lee (Penguin Classics), 288. 2. Plato, The Republic, trans. Desmond Lee (Penguin Classics), 300.

AI and Scarcity

4/9/2026

Tristan Harris was on the Modern Wisdom podcast recently and spoke about the idea that as governments see their revenue shift from being human-driven to being AI driven, they will no longer support humans to the same extent as they currently do. I disagree. Wealth is not the goal of government, creating a stable and better society is. Wealth is just a tool the government uses to help create that society, and if wealth becomes irrelevant due to a lack of scarcity, then they will just lose that tool. That tool won't be much of a loss though because if we do overcome scarcity, that is an aspect of society that will no longer suffer. Obviously this is speaking in an ideal world, and to some extent Harris' prediction will prove true, but in democratic nations, ones where the people eventually choose the rules for themselves, wealth hungry governments are very low on the totem pole of fear we should have about AI.

Too Cynical

4/8/2026

Our culture has become far too cynical. It’s a trait that has found its way into everything. Politics has always been that way, but now sports, gaming, education, movies, music, everything and anything you could care about is going “downhill”. There’s something wrong with the industry or things just weren’t like they used to be. As Elon says, I would rather be an optimist and wrong than be a pessimist and be right. Even if I’m wrong, my example and efforts might help another future optimist.

Thank your Janitor

4/6/2026

When I go out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse I think little of what it took to make the experience possible. When shopping at the grocery store I rarely thank the employee stocking the shelves. When driving home I only complain about how bad the roads are, despite my inherent appreciation for their mere existence. I think this lack of appreciation for the world around us is a primary failure of capitalism and liberalism. The pursuit of individual wealth/success is so pre-eminent that we forget to appreciate and be grateful for the historic success of our community. If we don't value our community, then it will breakdown. So, thank your janitor and the kid putting away your grocery cart.

The Information Landscape

4/6/2026

What information should we be consuming, and from where? There are books, podcasts, newsletters, blogs, journals, papers, tweets, films, and more. Each category holds enough information to keep a man busy for lifetimes. What information is best? Here are my top 5 ranked with brief explanations, given that the specific source is high quality. #1 Books - They force you to spend time with ideas and go deep. #2 Journals/Papers - Scholarly work is the cutting edge of knowledge. #3 Newsletters/Reputable Blogs - Short and pithy synthesis of old ideas as well as current issues. Authentic. #4 Podcasts - Digestable no matter where you are. #5 News Articles - Culturally relevant. That said, my ideal consumption makeup would look something like this: 40% Books 10% Journals/Papers 20% Newsletters/Blogs 20% Podcasts 10% News Articles For reference, my current consumption looks more like this 20% Books 0% Journals/Papers 10% Newsletters/Blogs 60% Podcasts 10% News Articles Here are specifics I am currently consuming. Books - Plato "The Republic", Jonathan Haidt "The Righteous Mind" Journals/Papers - N/A (I don't read journals right now, hopefully that changes. Newsletters/Blogs - Marginal Revolution, Lesswrong Podcasts - Conversations with Coleman, Triggernometry, Ben Shapiro, Ezra Klein, Lex Fridman News Articles - NYT, WSJ I hope to push towards my ideal consumption makeup and increase the quality of what I consume along the way.

Time Draft

9/30/2025

Recently, as i was scrolling Youtube shorts I came across some clips of a 2011 film titled "In Time" where time is literally money, as in you pay for everything with time. In this fictional world wealth is dependent on how much time you have, and once you run out, you die . Intrigued, but also living in 2025, I opted to save some time (so that I could watch more shorts obviously) and watch a recap instead of watching the whole movie. Upon finishing the recap I think I made the right decision, that said, I also think that the films premise points to a deep truth; that many of the injustices we see in the world revolve around time, and to bring more justice into the world, we should seek a world where everyone can use their time as they see fit. Let me start by listing a few common injustices that are related to time. #1 Gender Inequality - In doing some reading before writing this discourse, I came across a study that found that men have slightly more free time than women. #2 Income Inequality - If time is money, then the plot of the film I didn't watch is all too true. Those with money, especially inherited money, can spend their time any way they like, while those without are forced to spend their time wasting away in the office or the jobsite to make ends meet, and even if they can come out on top, it'll only be through hours and hours of grinding instead of enjoying the little time they have.    #3 Slavery - One terrible aspect of slaverly, among many, is that your choice of how to use your time is taken from you. So while choice is really the root here, the loss of free time is a large part of why slavery is so bad. #4 Death - A bit somber, and a bit obvious too. Even the most devout believers struggle with understanding their limited time in life, and it can feel so unfair that some get to live for 100 years, while others only get 100 seconds. Death itself feels unfair, for many the 70 years they get doesn't seem like enough to experience all that the world has to offer. So what? Time is money, but in the same sense, time is art, time is beauty, time is thought. Time is the fundamental resource from which all others flow. Value your time highly, and value the time of others even more.

Welcome to Discourses

9/24/2025

I watch so many people put their thoughts and ideas out into the world, but I rarely join them. There are many reasons for this—laziness, fear (of being cringy and wrong), lack of knowledge, perfectionism. I’ve always wanted to get my ideas out there, to share them, and I do with those close to me. But I’m always worried about what others will think. I’m not sure my ideas are right, but I know they have merit—so here I am, putting them out into the world. There’s a good chance these posts will sound unoriginal and basic, like a great value knock-off. And I’m sure someone, somewhere, has written them better. But if I don’t start now, I know I’ll wake up in five years mad at myself for never trying. Maybe by then I’ll have ideas that I’m confident are original. And who knows, maybe I already do.