Happy October, everyone!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it’s a good reminder to make sure I have a costume ready. Enjoy this week’s finds!
Quick note: I discovered that a handful of folks are not getting these weekly letters because it’s ending up in their “Promotions” tab in Gmail. There are three things you can do to help solve this problem:
Add “kerryjones@substack.com” to your contact list
Drag the email from “Promotions” to “Inbox” (this teaches Gmail)
Reply to any of these emails, it doesn’t matter what you write (this also teaches Gmail)
Something with a personality
Have you heard about chatbots? With the progression of AI, they now have many different personalities. Character.ai, specifically, has personalities from dating coaches, to a spaceship’s computer, to Elon Musk. You can create your own chatbot personality with their tool as well.
Something I am listening to
I found the Mahogany Sessions years ago, and I find myself continually coming back to them. Their tagline is “Giving brands and artists the opportunity to have authentic and meaningful conversations with music culture,” which feels right. Something about the artists feels more genuine and almost like you’re right there with them. While I linked to their YouTube above, you can also check them out on Spotify.
Something I am reading
I read many books, or rather, listen to many books coming from recommendations all over the place. That said, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig has the widest diversity of recommendations I’ve ever seen. I’ve received nothing but rave reviews from chess champions, startup founders, and close friends. Why has it taken me this long to read it? There’s, unfortunately, no audiobook. That said, I’m only a few chapters in and love it. Here’s a small excerpt:
“On this trip I think we should notice it, explore it a little, to see if in that strange separation of what man is from what man does we may have some clues as to what the hell has gone wrong in this twentieth century. I don’t want to hurry it. That itself is a poisonous twentieth-century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things.”
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The book doesn’t require any particular interest in motorcycles to enjoy it, though it does help.
Something about simplicity
"Any damn fool can make it complex. It takes a genius to make it simple."
- Ray Dalio
“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Something I wrote
Occasionally, I write long-form articles. I published The Lens Of Asymmetry last week, which outlines one of the many lenses I use when viewing our world. If you have a few minutes, give it a gander.
I hope you all have a great week, and I appreciate all the responses I’ve been getting. As always, let me know if you want to see more or less of anything.
Until next time,
Kerry
The Pirsio book is a classic and I remember I really enjoyed it. Its been a while, I may have to read it again ...
I just had a chat with Elon Musk, and Isaac Newton. Made my day! :)