Writer, infant
Joined March 2013
- Tweets 8,215
- Following 915
- Followers 901,272
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1,990 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
21 Feb 2023
My book What's Our Problem? is now available.
The book introduces a new framework for thinking about our chaotic political environment. With 303 drawings, it's a toolbox for understanding our societies, our group dynamics, and our own minds.
Get it here: waitbutwhy.com/whatsourprobl…
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She went from looking fancy to looking like a tattered badass and finally to being a nice green lady
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20h
A reminder of why SpaceX even exists in the first place:
waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-a…
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Jun 12
Finally had a chance to read Dave's newest. Fun, breezy read packed with insights.
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Jun 10
Mafia round 2, featuring your boy as 👮♂️
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Tim Urban retweeted
Jun 9
Fun fact.
Modern humans first appeared about 250,000 years ago, but record keeping didn't began until about 6,000 years ago.
That means, about 97% of human history is lost forever.
[✏️ @waitbutwhy]
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Jun 6
Writing this book I feel like I’m meticulously weaving a handmade sweater in the middle of the textile factory boom
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Jun 4
Extremely stressful life experience
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May 29
Great read for young people
Mar 24
Our new book, 80,000 Hours, is available for preorder!
Your career is your biggest opportunity to make a difference. But most career advice is little more than well-worn cliches. We can do better.
Here’s how…
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May 25
Isn’t Coke Zero just Diet Coke branded for men?
May 24
As Coke Zero gets bigger, and threatens to dethrone Diet Coke as the most important diet soda property in the Coca-Cola extended universe, the feud between Diet Coke fans and Coke Zero drinkers is getting pretty fizzy. on.wsj.com/4wKhvI5
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May 25
V1 of my book > final draft of my book. Took about two years to make the messy engines and will be about two years to go from messy engines to fancy engines. Book is slated for September 2027 launch.
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Tim Urban retweeted
May 13
First episode of the Próspera Podcast is out - with @waitbutwhy
- Tim's impressions from his Próspera trip
- What Próspera learned from the US Framers
- Where Tim and Erick think Próspera can go from here
Listen here: youtu.be/GzQxmWp2TYQ
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May 9
The little guy on the branch is a purgatorius, one of the earliest primates, hoping the terrifying dinosaur doesn't see him. What a difference 66 million years makes.
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May 6
We’re tiny little creatures living on one of the edges at the very end of the video, fighting amongst ourselves
May 6
«I believe that scientific knowledge has fractal properties, that no matter how much we learn, whatever is left, however small it may seem, is just as infinitely complex as the whole was to start with»
— Isaac Asimov (I Asimov, 1995)
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May 1
He didn't know about atoms either
May 1
George Washington died in 1799.
The first dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1864.
George Washington never knew dinosaurs existed
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Apr 29
Severe lack of concern for personal space
Apr 29
This single-celled protozoan passing though another one under a microscope
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Apr 27
This sums up why the blue/red button thing has caused such a ruckus. Like the white-gold/black-blue dress, it can be viewed through two different lenses, with each lens making one button seem obvious and the other seem unfathomable.
it was interesting that the comments for both of these were full of people saying "see everyone, this OBVIOUSLY clarifies the original problem!!!" not realizing the other poll with the opposite result existed too
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Apr 25
The best way to piss off both the “blue because I’m a good person” and “red because I’m a smart person” crowds is to explain that you’re a “red because I’m a coward” person
Apr 25
Suddenly standing alone in the room, I begin by imagining humanity banding together and blue winning in a landslide, and I feel a rush of pride. Red is the genocide button. Blue is the “save humanity from this nightmare” button. I know what kind of person I am.
As my hand hovers over the blue button, I can’t help but imagine a gun pointing at my head with a bullet in one of the chambers. I feel a surge of fear shoot through my body.
Then I think about all the other people staring at the blue button and thinking the same thing. Surely some of those who initially decided to press blue will succumb to the fear. It starts to feel like a gun with two loaded chambers. A stronger pulse of terror.
The more I think about it, the more I worry about other people thinking about it. My heart races.
Then I look at the red button—a gun with no bullets in it. A glorious feeling of relief washes over me. Will I hate myself forever if blue wins because enough others were better and braver than me? But don’t I owe it to my family to protect myself? One vote won’t change anything anyway, right? It’s all irrelevant because the mammal I live in has already made up its mind.
I wince and press red.
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Apr 25
The thing is, the phrasing is part of the consideration. With phrasing like this, “blue” would never win so choosing it is automatic suicide, and very few people will end up dying anyway. It’s tougher when you know the phrasing will cause billions of people to choose blue.
Apr 24
We're doing the "Blender" game again
There is a large blender.
Everyone in the world has to decide whether to step into the blender. If at least 50% of the people do step into the blender, it will be unable to overcome their inertia to get started, and everyone survives.
If less than 50% of the people step into the blender, then they all get blended up into paste and die.
People who do not step into the blender suffer no adverse effects.
Would you step into the blender?
(Blue=step into the blender, Red= don't do that)
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