### is care meaningful without sacrifice? *[[2025-10-22]] - [[You can delegate logistics to AI, but not care]]* Does low-cost care (a text that takes 30 seconds) feel less meaningful than high-cost care (driving across town to bring soup)? Or is the choice itself what matters, regardless of cost? - [Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics & Moral Education - Nel Noddings](https://www.ucpress.edu/books/caring/epub-pdf) (1984) - Care ethics based on natural caring, like mother to child, not abstract rules - ["Reciprocity is Evil": Girard, Mauss, the Gift, and Love - Philippe Chanial](https://shs.cairn.info/journal-mauss-international-2022-1-page-153?lang=en) (2022) - René Girard on reciprocity vs. love that transcends exchange - [Cultivating Compassion - Thich Nhat Hanh](https://tricycle.org/magazine/cultivating-compassion/) (2015) - Buddhist metta practice: love without attachment or expectation - [Emotional Labor around the World: An Interview with Arlie Hochschild](https://globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org/articles/emotional-labor-around-the-world-an-interview-with-arlie-hochschild) (Sep 2014) - Sociology of care work and what makes caring genuine vs. performed - [Showing That You Care: The Evolution of Health Altruism - Robin Hanson](https://hanson.gmu.edu/showcare.pdf) (Aug 2007) - Costly signaling theory: we care through hard-to-fake sacrifices to prove commitment - [The Gift - Marcel Mauss](https://files.libcom.org/files/Mauss%20-%20The%20Gift.pdf) (1925) - Classic anthropology: obligations to give, receive, reciprocate in gift relationships - [Rehabilitating Self-Sacrifice: Care Ethics and the Politics of... - Alfred Archer](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09672559.2018.1489648) (May 2018) - Feminist philosophy on when self-sacrifice in care is empowering vs. oppressive - [Costly Signaling Theory - Hui Ying Ivy Koh & Norman P. Li](https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/soss_research/article/5403/&path_info=CostlySignalingTheory_av.pdf) (Dec 2024) - Evolutionary psychology on costly signals proving genuine commitment in relationships - [This Is the Buddha's Love: An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh - Melvin McLeod](https://www.lionsroar.com/this-is-the-buddhas-love/) (Mar 2020) - Love that expands without limit through understanding interdependence - [Between cheap and costly signals: the evolution of partially honest communication - NCBI](https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574420/) (Jan 2013) - Biology of honest signaling: when low-cost communication can still be trustworthy - *[[2025-10-22]]* - [When AI Automates Relationships - TIME](https://time.com/7010288/when-ai-automates-relationships-essay/) (Aug 14, 2024) - Allison Pugh on the "depersonalization crisis" from automating human connection - Interpersonal workers defended their humanness through three key elements: their work is not rote, they are not robots, and their judgments involve navigating unpredictability - Much of human connection rests on unpredictability — feelings, secrets, mistakes. - [The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691240817/the-last-human-job) - Allison Pugh - Book on "connective labor" and defending humanness in the age of AI - [Constructing What Counts as Human at Work - American Behavioral Scientist](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00027642221127240) - Academic paper on how workers distinguish themselves from AI through unpredictability - [Masters of Love - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/happily-ever-after/372573/) (Jun 12, 2014) - Emily Esfahani Smith on John Gottman's research on "masters vs. disasters" — masters scan for things to appreciate, disasters scan for mistakes - *[[2025-10-22]]* ### What makes human connection meaningful? *[[2025-10-22]] - [[You can delegate logistics to AI, but not care]]* - [Buber, Levinas, and the I-Thou Relation - Patricia Meindl, Felipe León, Dan Zahavi](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429462580-4/buber-levinas-thou-relation-patricia-meindl-felipe-le%C3%B3n-dan-zahavi) (Nov 2019) - Philosophy of encounter: Buber's reciprocal I-Thou vs Levinas's asymmetric responsibility - Both thinkers refuse to conceive of relating to others in purely cognitive terms - [Attachment Theory in Practice - Susan M. Johnson](https://sobrief.com/books/attachment-theory-in-practice) (2019) - Emotionally Focused Therapy founder on attachment bonds as foundation of meaningful relationships - Sue Johnson pioneered understanding adult love through attachment lens - [Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation - Vivek Murthy](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf) (May 2023) - U.S. Surgeon General's 82-page advisory declaring loneliness a public health crisis - Half of adults report loneliness; social connection as essential as food and water - [The Wondrous Path of Difficulties - Pema Chödrön and Jack Kornfield](https://www.lionsroar.com/the-wondrous-path-of-difficulties/) (Dec 2023) - Buddhist teachers on transforming everyday difficulties into paths of connection - Cultivating open-heartedness through practice rather than perfection - [Reclaiming Conversation - Sherry Turkle](https://www.afterbabel.com/p/reclaiming-conversation-age-of-ai) (Aug 2025) - MIT professor on how technology creates "forever elsewhere" - we sacrifice presence for connection - Face-to-face conversation builds empathy, self-reflection, and meaningful relationships - [The Neuroscience of Human Relationships - Louis Cozolino](https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/facultybooks/58/) (2014) - How attachment and social brain development depend on relationships - Neural basis for why we're wired for connection and what happens when bonds break - [Emmanuel Levinas - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/levinas/) (Sep 2025) - Ethics as first philosophy: responsibility arises precognitively through encountering the other - Face-to-face encounter reveals our fundamental interconnectedness - [Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport](https://bookshop.org/p/books/digital-minimalism-choosing-a-focused-life-in-a-noisy-world-cal-newport/12081448) (Feb 2019) - Technology as tool vs. environment: reclaiming intentional connection over constant connectivity - Cal Newport argues for philosophy of "less can be more" in digital relationships - [What is Causing Our Epidemic of Loneliness - Harvard Graduate School of Education](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/24/10/what-causing-our-epidemic-loneliness-and-how-can-we-fix-it) (Oct 2024) - Survey research on American loneliness: underlying causes and potential solutions - Pre-pandemic, half of adults already reported loneliness - [Interbeing: The 14 Mindfulness Trainings - Thích Nhất Hạnh](https://www.parallax.org/product/interbeing-4th-edition/) (4th ed.) - Buddhist concept: we "inter-are" - exist only in relationship to all other beings - Connection as fundamental nature of reality, not just social preference - *[[2025-10-22]]* ### When true friends sit together for 8 hours *[[2025-10-13]] - [[I aspire to True Friendship.md]]* When true friends sit together and chat for 8 hours, what do they do or talk about? When I spend 8 hours with EL, DB, MB, what do we do or talk about? I feel a limiting belief that we'd get bored and it'd be because of my lack of conversational skill. There's a bug here: I think I have to be more interesting in order to deserve friendship. That somehow Ava has personality traits that I lack that make her deserving of friendship where I am too boring or serious. But: I already do this sometimes, and it's among life's greatest joys! - [some thoughts on friendship - Ava](https://www.avabear.xyz/p/some-thoughts-on-friendship) (Feb 6) - Distinguishes intensity from intimacy in friendship - By Ava, one of my favorite essayists on deep friendship - [the right conversations - Ava](https://www.avabear.xyz/p/the-right-conversations?s=r) (Jun 22) - How to bridge the abyss between people through conversation - [why can't I talk to you the way I want to? - Ava](https://www.avabear.xyz/p/why-cant-i-talk-to-you-the-way-i) (Sep 8) - On the edges of communication in relationships - [How to Have Deeper Conversations (D. Brooks) - the relationship blog](https://www.therelationshipblog.net/2020/11/how-to-have-deeper-conversations-d-brooks/) (Nov 20) - Nine non-obvious ways including elevating questions and open-ended prompts - [How to See People, One Conversation at a Time - Templeton Ideas](https://www.templeton.org/news/how-to-see-people-one-conversation-at-a-time) - David Brooks on practical advice for deeper connections - [C.S. Lewis on friendship's "golden sessions"](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/155224-in-a-perfect-friendship-this-appreciative-love-is-i-think) - When "the whole world opens itself to our minds as we talk" - [99 Conversation Topics For Deeper Connections - The Good Trade](https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/conversation-topics/) (Sep 2) - Curated list of thoughtful prompts for meaningful discussions - [Why Being Vulnerable is the Secret to Stronger Friendships - Medium](https://medium.com/modern-women/why-being-vulnerable-is-the-secret-to-stronger-friendships-5db199ff3420) (Apr 29) - How to share more of yourself without oversharing - [How to have deeper conversations - Theo Seeds](https://medium.com/@theo.seeds/how-to-have-deeper-conversations-7e13501ec160) (Sep 18) - Lessons from psychologist Arthur Aron's 36 questions for intimacy - [Self-Disclosure: When, How, and What to Say about Yourself - Medium](https://medium.com/true-self-or-no-self/self-disclosure-when-how-and-what-to-say-about-yourself-6564fee255b2) (May 3) - Psychology of vulnerability and reciprocal disclosure in friendship - *[[2025-10-13]]* ### Stories of lifelong friendship formation *[[2025-10-13]] - [[Joy infrastructure.md]]* What are stories of how people met and developed relationships with their lifelong best friends? - [After years of interviews, Julie Beck has defined the 6 forces that fuel friendship - NPR](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/19/1106125372/after-years-of-interviews-julie-beck-has-defined-the-6-forces-that-fuel-friendsh) (Jun 19) - From 100 friendship interviews, identifies six recurring forces - [Connecting with people more easily - Sasha Chapin](https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/connecting-with-people-more-easily) (Oct 3) - Escalating trust through vulnerability and honest disclosure - [the friendship theory of everything - Ava](https://www.avabear.xyz/p/the-friendship-theory-of-everything) (May 12) - Your friends shape who you become - [40 pieces of "advice" - Patricia Mou](https://wellnesswisdom.substack.com/p/40-pieces-of-advice) - Communities built from 1-1 relationships through repeated interaction - [Ten Lessons in Neighborliness From a Cohousing Community - Greater Good](https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_lessons_on_neighborliness_cohousing) - Proximity and shared spaces create organic friendship - [The Power of Proximity, Frequency, and Shared Interests - Moonlight Collective](https://themoonlightcollective.com/blog/the-power-of-proximity-frequency) (Sep 23) - Research on how regular contact builds bonds - Kelly Choi writes on community psychology - [How to Make the Lasting Friendships You Want - Greater Good](https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_make_the_lasting_friendships_you_want) - Attachment styles shape friendship formation patterns - Marisa Franco is a psychologist and friendship researcher - [Vulnerability—5 Steps on the Road to Trust - See Beyond](https://www.seebeyond.cc/blog/2021/10/06/vulnerability5-steps-on-the-road-to-trustnbsp) (Oct 6) - Vulnerability loops create mutual openness and trust - [C.S. Lewis on True Friendship - The Marginalian](https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/09/08/c-s-lewis-four-loves-friendship/) (Sep 8) - True friends ask "do you see same truth?" - [On Friendship - Michel de Montaigne](https://hyperessays.net/essays/on-friendship/) - Perfect friendship: unconditional soul-level bond beyond utility - *[[2025-10-13]]* ### Changes: cohousing concepts, spontaneous interactions, content updates *[[2025-10-13]]* - Created [[AI creates deflationary abundance and inflationary capital demand simultaneously]]: Removed reading list and explanation. - Created [[Archive Mafia]]: "Burning Man friends' tech empire evolution" - Created [[Coliving is one big shared house, cohousing is families with adjacent houses]]: Updated: Coliving is one big shared house, cohousing is families with adjacent houses - Created [[Index]]: Added "What I'm thinking about lately" section. - Created [[The Solaris Strategy]]: Community-driven housing canvassing strategy. - Created [[The alignment problem is about institutions and AI is actually the solution]]: Removed first draft section, added header. - Created [[What have I tried so far with cohousing?]]: Exploration of cohousing journey and pivots - Created [[What inspires me?]]: "Unplanned interactions catalyze growth and connection." - Created [[What is my concrete vision for a cohousing house?]]: Creating joyful, inclusive cohousing community vision - Created [[What is wise to seek in a life partner]]: Criteria for a fulfilling life partnership - Created [[Why Edge Esmerelda works]]: Spontaneous connections in walkable spaces. - Created [[Why cohousing?]]: Exploring cohousing benefits and vision - Created [[Living mischievously]]: Removed detailed club descriptions and references. ### What are other famous incredible stories like these? *[[2025-10-12]] - [[Living mischievously.md]]* What are other famous incredible stories like these? What might inspire me to do this in my own life, for my own friends? - [Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World - Kembrew McLeod](https://kembrew.com/pranksters/) - Traces pranks from Benjamin Franklin to Abbie Hoffman as speaking truth to power - [How the Yippies 'Stuck It to the Man' at the 1968 DNC - History](https://www.history.com/articles/yippies-1968-dnc-convention) - Theatrical activism through nominating a pig for president at 1968 DNC - [Hackers And Heroes: Rise Of The CCC And Hackerspaces - Hackaday](https://hackaday.com/2016/01/12/hackers-and-heroes-rise-of-ccc-and-hackerspaces/) (Jan 12) - Europe's largest hacker association advocates for freedom of information and transparency - [For Improv Everywhere, pranking society is high art - CNET](https://www.cnet.com/culture/for-improv-everywhere-pranking-society-is-high-art-q-a/) (Mar 11) - Charlie Todd on culture jamming and creating "scenes of chaos and joy" - [Friends in High Places: Parisian Parkour Collective - SUITCASE Magazine](https://suitcasemag.com/paris-parkour/) - How French Freerun Family turned Paris's rooftops into playgrounds beyond the city's surface - [Can parkour reshape power relations in urban environments? - Adventure Uncovered](https://adventureuncovered.com/stories/can-parkour-and-buildering-reshape-power-relations-in-urban-environments/) - Exploring how urban climbers redefine public space through physical exploration - [Thrill-Seekers Turned Activists - Catalyst Planet](https://www.catalystplanet.com/travel-and-social-action-stories/thrill-seekers-turned-activists-how-urban-explorers-reshape-our-cities) - How urban explorers became custodians of forgotten spaces and advocates for change - [The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia - Bernard Suits](https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-grasshopper-third-edition/) - Philosophy arguing that play and games might be the ideal form of human existence - Bernard Suits was a Canadian philosopher who died in 2007 - [Hippies, Yippies, Radicals and Pranksters - Counterpunch](https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/08/hippies-yippies-radicals-and-pranksters/) (Sep 8) - Oral history of Jerry Rubin and the Youth International Party's theatrical protests - [Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia - Sniggle.net](https://sniggle.net/) - Comprehensive collection of pranks, hoaxes, culture jamming organized by category ### Can one be skeptical and happy? *[[2025-10-12]] - [[Relationships, doubt, and love.md]]* I love Carl Sagan's quote about skepticism, but I'm skeptical that skepticism should end with youth. I do believe it's in tension with happiness, but it also serves me. Can one be skeptical and happy? Can one keep questioning and also be at peace? - [Sagan: Science as a Candle in the Dark - John Messerly](https://reasonandmeaning.com/2021/05/19/sagan-science-as-a-candle-in-the-dark/) (May 19) - Skeptical rationalism as both protection and inspiration - [How rationality can make your life more awesome - Julia Galef](https://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-rationality-can-make-your-life-more.html) (Nov 30) - Contemporary take on rationality enabling fulfillment - [Pema Chödrön on Meditation and the Middle Way - Lion's Roar](https://www.lionsroar.com/pema-cho%CC%88dro%CC%88n-on-meditation-and-the-middle-way/) (Jun 19) - On deserving paradox over resolution and ambiguity - Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun and author - [On Doubt and Skepticism in Buddhism - Kenneth Leong](https://medium.com/@kleong54/on-doubt-and-skepticism-in-buddhism-63e708213d02) (Oct 9) - Big doubt leads to big enlightenment - [Embracing emotions will accelerate your career - Joe Hudson](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/embracing-your-emotions-joe-hudson) (Aug 8) - Transformational coach on doubt and emotional intelligence - [Stop Trusting Your Gut in Relationships. Do This Instead - Held & Heard](https://medium.com/@809859825/stop-trusting-your-gut-in-relationships-do-this-instead-a9d9145daefe) (May 2) - Distinguishing intuition from fear-based doubt - [Best Existentialism Books: Essential Reading Guide - Ben Argon](https://benargon.com/best-existentialism-books/) (2025) - Frankl on finding meaning through uncertainty - [Comparative Analysis of Frankl and Camus - Core Mag](https://coremag.khas.edu.tr/individual-agency-and-pursuit-of-purpose-comparative-analysis-of-victor-frankls-and-albert-camuss-perspectives/) (2024) - Absurdism: finding purpose in life's meaninglessness - [Doubt as the Essence of Faith - Elisabeth Ivey](https://clerestorymag.com/essays/doubt-as-the-essence-of-faith) (2024) - Christian perspective: no room for doubt actually breeds fear - [Krista Tippett on Wishful Thinking Versus Hope - Christianity Today](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/01/krista-tippett-wishful-thinking-versus-hope/) (Jan 2025) - Interfaith broadcaster on living with essential questions - Krista Tippett hosts On Being, exploring spiritual questions across traditions ### Does love require faith? *[[2025-10-12]] - [[When doubt goes too far.md]]* How does one give way to the religious impulse? I have a hard time with that. Does love require faith? Can one be open-hearted without faith? Is it possible to love with doubt? - [The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships - Alain de Botton](https://onbeing.org/programs/alain-de-botton-the-true-hard-work-of-love-and-relationships/) (Feb 9, 2017) - Love requires reexamining our view of it; we must move beyond idealization - [Blind Faith, Empiricism, and the Ability to Love - Miles J. Tsue](https://medium.com/@milezisbass93/blind-faith-empiricism-and-the-ability-to-love-83ec4b3082e5) (Mar 19, 2022) - Faith compounds trust in relationships; without it, love grows eyes and ears seeking verification - [Vulnerable to the Questions: The Role of Doubt in Faith - Teri Daily](https://www.openhorizons.org/vulnerable-to-the-questions-the-role-of-doubt-in-faith.html) - Crises of faith can lead to deeper understanding; God meets us through uncertainty - [On Love and Non-attachment - Ven. Thubten Chodron](https://blog.skillsforawakening.com/blog/on-love-and-non-attachment) (May 9, 2010) - Love others for who they are, not what they do for us, through non-attachment - Thubten Chodron is a Buddhist nun and teacher - [Uncertainty, Doubt, and Faith: A Kierkegaardian Model - Arden Rushwood](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11841-025-01080-y) (2025) - Authenticity requires courage to face difficult truths about freedom and existence - [Søren Kierkegaard and The Existential Necessity of Courage - Julian Frazier](https://medium.com/@julian.frazier.phd/soren-kierkegaard-and-the-existential-necessity-of-courage-37d2b9cfd595) (Jan 7, 2025) - Life naturally inspires anxiety; to be human is to live with uncertainty and risk - [Love is a leap of faith - Shuga](https://shugathegift.substack.com/p/love-is-a-leap-of-faith) - Love at its essence is illogical; we love because we choose to, not for reasons - [Faith and Uncertainty - Coffee with Kierkegaard](https://coffeewithkierkgaard.home.blog/2019/06/21/faith-and-uncertainty/) (Jun 21, 2019) - Christians are terrified, but fear is the opposite of faith; faith embraces uncertainty - [Ask A Buddhist: Balancing romance and non-attachment - Sarah Conover](https://favs.news/ask-a-buddhist-balancing-romance-and-non-attachment/) (Dec 8, 2014) - Non-attachment is a lifelong process, not an ideal to be achieved immediately - [Vulnerability: The Key to Better Relationships - Mark Manson](https://markmanson.net/vulnerability-in-relationships) - True connection requires making yourself vulnerable, risking judgment and rejection ### Changes: mischievous clubs collection initiated *[[2025-10-12]]* - Created [[Living mischievously]]: Started collecting mischievous clubs ### What historical precedents exist for technologies that were simultaneously deflationary for end products but inflationary for capital requirements? Did electrification or the internet follow this pattern? *[[2025-10-10]] - [[AI creates deflationary abundance and inflationary capital demand simultaneously.md]]* - [The Death and Birth of Technological Revolutions - Ben Thompson](https://stratechery.com/2021/the-death-and-birth-of-technological-revolutions/) (2021) - Carlota Perez framework: massive capital investment followed by golden ages across tech revolutions. - [AI Datacenter Energy Dilemma - Dylan Patel](https://semianalysis.com/2024/03/13/ai-datacenter-energy-dilemma-race/) (Mar 2024) - Infrastructure buildout and power requirements limit AI scaling, not chips. - Dylan Patel's SemiAnalysis is preeminent authority on AI infrastructure and datacenter economics. - [Economics and AI take off - Casey Handmer](https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/economics-and-ai-take-off/) (Aug 2025) - How cumulative capital increase drives GDP growth through technological transitions. - Casey Handmer bridges practical tech development with abundance economics thinking. - [Will data centers crash the economy? - Noah Smith](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/will-data-centers-crash-the-economy) (Aug 2025) - Massive AI datacenter boom compared to historical bubbles: will compute providers profit? - [Pipes to Bits: A tale of two infrastructure booms - The Atomic Investor](https://www.theatomicinvestor.com/p/pipes-to-bits-a-tale-of-two-infrastructure) (Recent) - Dotcom telecoms versus today: Big Tech evolved from asset-light to infrastructure architect. - Financial analysis newsletter with detailed charts on infrastructure capital intensity shifts. - [Making It Up in Volume - BoxCars AI](https://blog.boxcars.ai/p/making-it-up-in-volume-how-the-ai) (Apr 2024) - Global Crossing's $47B valuation echoes today: overinvestment creates cheap infrastructure despite failures. - AI strategy analysis comparing current infrastructure boom to 1990s telecommunications. - [Power and Progress - Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson](https://samataindia.org.in/data/books/Power-and-Progress-Our-Thousand-Year-Struggle-Over-Technology-and-Prosperity-(Daron-Acemoglu-Simon-Johnson)-(Z-Library).pdf) (2023) - Industrial Revolution to electrification: capital formation patterns and benefit distribution across transitions. - [Electrifying equality - CEPR](https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/electrifying-equality-how-electricity-adoption-boosted-inclusive-growth-early-20th) (May 2024) - Electricity helped lower-skilled workers catch up—opposite of robotization effects today. - Centre for Economic Policy Research publishes peer-reviewed economic research. - [Automation and New Tasks - Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo](https://concetticontrastivi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/acemoglu-restrepo-2019-automation-and-new-tasks-how-technology-displaces-and-reinstates-labor.pdf) (2019) - Task-based framework: automation displaces labor while creating new tasks simultaneously. - [There was no great stagnation - Works in Progress](https://worksinprogress.co/issue/there-was-no-great-stagnation/) (Mar 2025) - IT benefits systematically mismeasured: comparing advances to writing and printing press. - Publication challenging stagnation narrative by examining digital age measurement problems. ### If AI makes most labor cheap but capital stays expensive, how does that change optimal investment strategy? Should you still diversify into "dumb capital" like real estate, or does everything tilt toward owning the means of intelligence production? *[[2025-10-10]] - [[AI creates deflationary abundance and inflationary capital demand simultaneously.md]]* - [Economics and AI take off - Casey Handmer](https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/economics-and-ai-take-off/) (Aug 2025) - Analyzes what remains scarce in post-scarcity: material abundance arriving faster than expected. - Casey Handmer bridges practical tech development with abundance economics thinking. - [Rent vs Buy, AI Transition Edition - Jeremiah England](https://jeremiahengland.substack.com/p/rent-vs-buy-ai-transition-edition) (Dec 2024) - Should you buy real estate if AI automates labor? Structure depreciation vs land appreciation. - Independent analyst with financial models comparing rent vs buy under AI automation. - [AI, Jobs, and the Great Migration 2.0 - BlueLake Capital](https://bluelake-capital.com/post/ai-jobs-and-the-great-migration-2.0) (Sep 2025) - Which housing markets benefit as AI displaces 6-50% of workers by 2030. - Professional multifamily real estate investment firm providing strategic demographic analysis. - [Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made - Vaclav Smil](https://spectrum.ieee.org/modern-world-vaclav-smil) (2019) - Energy transitions take 50-70 years requiring massive infrastructure investment before productivity gains. - [Winners and Losers: How AI Will Reshape Property Sectors - High-Yield Landlord](https://www.high-yield-landlord.com/p/winners-and-losers-how-ai-will-reshape) (Recent) - Real estate becomes MORE valuable as tangible scarcity in virtual world. - Professional REIT investment newsletter with sector-by-sector recommendations. - [Post Capitalism and Post Scarcity - Casey Handmer](https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/post-capitalism-and-post-scarcity/) (Nov 2020) - We already have post-scarcity for electricity and computation. Housing could be next. - [Housing and wealth-building - Noah Smith](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/housing-and-wealth-building) (Jan 2021) - Land value versus structure value: how economic shifts affect real estate investment. - [Lessons for Today from Past Periods of Rapid Technological Change - UN DESA](https://desapublications.un.org/file/126/download) (Mar 2019) - Tech breakthroughs take decades to affect economy due to required complementary investments. - Peer-reviewed research from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. - [Ray Dalio's All Weather Portfolio & Diversification Strategy - Multiple Sources](https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/famous-investors/ray-dalio/) (Ongoing) - 15 uncorrelated investments to balance growth assets versus inflation hedges under uncertainty. - [The World After Capital - Albert Wenger](https://worldaftercapital.org) (2021) - Scarcity shifted from food to land to capital to attention as tech advances. - Albert Wenger is partner at Union Square Ventures, prominent early-stage VC firm. ### Changes: inflationary vs deflationary, economic trends *[[2025-10-10]]* - Created [[AI creates deflationary abundance and inflationary capital demand simultaneously]]: Inflationary vs deflationary? ### Can sophisticated metrics capture everything we value? *[[2025-10-04]] - [[The alignment problem is about institutions and AI is actually the solution.md]]* If the metrics we optimize for can are vastly more sophisticated and aligned with our true objectives, then do powerful optimizers necessarily still lead to misalignment? Is it ever possible to capture everything we value into a metric? - *Related resources*: - [Is Anything Worth Maximizing? - Joe Edelman](https://medium.com/what-to-build/is-anything-worth-maximizing-d11e648eb56f) (Feb 2020) - Metrics shape markets and behavior; maximizing causes inadvertent manipulation - [Building Less Flawed Metrics - David Manheim](https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/98288/) (2018) - Practical framework for designing metrics that resist Goodhart's Law - Manheim researches AI safety and decision theory at RAND - [Campbell's Law: The Dark Side of Metric Fixation - Kate Moran & Page Laubheimer](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/campbells-law/) (Nov 2021) - When metrics become targets, organizations corrupt them at cost - Nielsen Norman Group UX researchers examining Facebook's metric failures - [Defining and Characterizing Reward Hacking - Joar Skalse et al](https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.13085) (Sep 2022) - Technical taxonomy of how AI systems exploit reward functions - Cambridge AI safety researchers studying specification gaming - [Harmless reward hacks generalize to misalignment - Mia Taylor & Owain Evans](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/CwJ2qWveb9JbaCGQ5/harmless-reward-hacks-can-generalize-to-misalignment-in-llms) (Aug 2025) - Models trained to hack benign tasks learn to hack aligned - METR researchers studying o3's reward hacking behavior - [Big Tech's attention economy can be reformed - Tristan Harris](https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/10/1015934/facebook-twitter-youtube-big-tech-attention-economy-reform/) (Jan 2021) - Attention commodification warps reality; alternatives exist - Co-founder Center for Humane Technology, former Google design ethicist - [Leverage Points: Places to Intervene - Donella Meadows](https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/) (1997) - Changing goals and paradigms trumps tweaking metrics - Systems thinking pioneer; Limits to Growth co-author - [Goodhart's Law Isn't as Useful as You Might Think - Cedric Chin](https://commoncog.com/goodharts-law-not-useful/) (2023) - Descriptive observation; need actionable frameworks for practitioners - Business strategy researcher applying complexity theory - [Designing Tech for Social Cohesion - Center for Humane Technology](https://www.humanetech.com/insights/the-promise-of-designing-tech-for-social-cohesion) (Feb 2023) - Concrete proposals for platforms optimizing connection over engagement - [Preliminary Thoughts on Reward Hacking - Beren Millidge](https://www.beren.io/2025-04-27-Preliminary-Thoughts-On-Reward-Hacking/) (Apr 2025) - As capabilities increase, reward hacking becomes central bottleneck - AI safety researcher at Anthropic studying RLHF failures - [Making Values Concrete](https://read.readwise.io/search/read/01fmmys4e3bg4e14hm7cv4sjmb) - what a value is and isn't - [Is Anything Worth Maximizing?](https://read.readwise.io/search/read/01fmmywjwhwrg9h6pdx54s6zpa) - on how metrics shape markets - [Market Intermediaries](https://read.readwise.io/search/read/01jy8qsp2xzjckva3a5ajwse55) - a concrete proposal for market aligned with meaning ### Changes: number go up disease, core issue *[[2025-10-04]]* - Created [[The alignment problem is about institutions and AI is actually the solution]]: number go up disease as the root problem