Being impressed is one of the best feelings there are.
Sometimes you may read a book that is just too good. Nate Silver’s On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything and Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI are the latest too examples.
Both are ripe with insight. The first one proposing Agency, Plurality and Reciprocity as a forward-looking version of the French revolution’s iconic Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité motto. The second calling out the old established belief that more information equates desirable progress –the ‘naive view of information’–.
In other instances, it might be a blogpost or a podcast. Matt Yglesias’ full of conviction “A Common Sense Democrat manifesto”, Scott Alexander’s just hilarious “Lives of the Rationalist Saints”, This American Life’s refreshing episode on How to Win Friends and Influence People –with the brilliant David Sedaris–, or a particularly pointed interview by Tyler Cowen or Sam Harris come to mind.
And yet, some other time, you decide to write a quick letter to the editorial features editor of The Wall Street Journal –James Taranto himself–, seeking clarification on a point about freedom of speech argued in one of his columns, to find that he engages within the ten-minute mark. Not only that. He does it with remarkable precision and addressing the points raised in a most concise manner.
Then, slowly, the thought sinks in. All of them have one thing in common: high standards. An entire culture that underpins that demand –inner and outer– for top quality output. And that makes me envious, but also motivates me to want to do better every single day.
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