BenGoldhaber(.com) Year in Review Newsletter
Happy holidays dear newsletter subscriber. As always I’m most grateful for you, the brave and discerning reader of Ben Goldhaber related news.
#personal-updates
I left HASH in November - It’s been a great two years working there, and I remain quite fond of the team. But there are a couple of projects that I’ve been excited to work on for some time, and now feels like the right moment to lean into experimentation. I’m looking forward to sharing more in 2022.
Speaking of 2022, I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. I think if there’s a ‘policy’ level change you’re looking to make, you should enact it as soon as you’ve aligned yourself to it, not just because it’s time to buy a new calendar. That being said, I like the idea of setting ‘themes’ a lot. As CGP Grey describes, it’s much more valuable to focus on an idea that resonates, and allow the actions to emerge organically throughout the year (or season) of the theme.
My theme for, at least the first half, of 2022 is connection. It’s been easy to be heads down and a tad isolated in the past two years - in some ways that was the pro-social move! - but it’s not a stance that I want to be in forever. Biasing myself to take actions that will bring me out of hermit mode and back into community feels right.
So I guess expect these emails to continue?
#selected-2021-quotes
Quotes I encountered in 2021 and saved in my Roam DB.
The tyranny of the cat is better than the justice of the mouse.
Arabic Proverb
2030 is very soon.
Patrick Collison, interviewed by Byrne Hobart. (On the importance of orienting to the future).
I think you can get by in a 100-year life not being too much attuned to things of eternal significance because there’s so much fascinating stuff out there, and one can go from one thing to the next and not get bored. But if we’re talking about eternity, or even thousands of years, you’d better find something to occupy you that is really riveting in the way that I think only eternal things are. I think that what you’re really asking is something like, “Could I be a god?” And I think, “Well, if you became godlike, you could, and then it would be OK.”
The loot of conversations is ideas.
Interview with Robert Kurvitz, lead designer of Disco Elysium. Alas too many good quotes from the game to pick just one.
Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
George Orwell
If your vision of the future is not weird & disturbing (and orthogonal to current culture wars), you aren’t trying.
Gwern
I find that I have only so much room for taking risks. When I can reduce the risk in some places in my life, I can more easily face risk in other areas. I provide myself the courage to do some things by reducing my need for courage in other areas.
Ivan Sutherland
Computers keep the philosophy honest
Daniel Dennett (quoted by Jaan Tallin)
In the 21st century, the main question in American social life is not “how do we make that happen?” but “how do we get management to take our side?” This is a learned response, and a culture which has internalized it will not be a culture that “builds.”
Fighting the commies he saw how they built networks and how effective it was. The only way to counter it was relentless efforts on the ground for years between elections.
Dominic Cummings on Lee Kuan Yew
If you are reading a secular thinker, always ask yourself: “what is this person’s implicit theology?” No matter who it is. There are few more useful questions at your disposal.
#favorite-2021-content
Book: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent. I’ve raved about this in previous newsletters, but it’s almost impossible for me to praise this biographical series enough. The level of detail and the complexity of the subject are incredible, but even more than that it’s the best book form education in the nature of political power I’ve encountered. Means of Ascent, the second volume in the series which details LBJs 1948 senate race, was my favorite, but the entire series is worth reading.
Runner ups: A Deadly Education, The Wisdom of Crowds
Movie: Don't Look Up. I just watched this dark comedy about a comet heading to Earth, and it’s great, an instant classic. A Dr. Strangelove for the modern existential risk crowd.
Runner ups: Ladybird, Bo Burnham's Inside
TV Show: Better Call Saul. Incredibly compelling acting and plot - it’s getting close to rivaling Breaking Bad in ‘epic TV show’ quality.
Meme:
I hope you have an excellent New Years; see you in 2022.
- Ben