"Twitter makes me dislike people I like, and podcasts make me like people I dislike." - Ezra Klein

I'm noticing the same thing. Maybe a 2025 New Years resolution to spend more time engaging with people's thoughts expressed in a longer, more complete format.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/o...

Gary Gulman's 2019 standup special is called "The Great Depresh." That felt to me like a new type of slang - drop the last syllable. Does it feel new and vaguely fresh to you?

Turns out it's not new, like, at all.

Found a PG Wodehouse book from 1949 (!!) where Bertie uses "posish" for "position."

New post today.

sensationalism.substack.com/p/how-much-o...

There are two authors that can shape the mind of a young man: the apostle Paul and Eliezer Yudkowsky. One preaches a simplistic moral ideal while describing an infinitely superior entity who will bring each of us to either heaven or hell. The other can't stop talking about Jesus.

beddhism.substack.com/p/tangled-ch...

beddhism.substack.com/p/insomnia-i...

Humans are unhappy BECAUSE we spend our lives refusing to feel our unhappy sensations.

We think we're unhappy DESPITE that refusal.

"Every time I start to feel bad, I make sure to cut off the bad feelings before they overwhelm me."

Yes, you do. And that's the problem!

The deepest truth about being an animal is:

Your feelings want to be felt.

Especially the ones that are hardest to feel.

Take the time to feel your feelings. Pay attention to your sensations.

Wanting things requires (and is) a set of sensations.

AI does not have sensations.

Thus, AI cannot want things.

Thus, AI doomerism is false.

beddhism = Buddhism, but for mental illness

(especially anxiety)

I'm as sure as I can be that AI Doomerism is false. Doomerism is in a tie for the single wrongest idea in history. The Eliezers of the world are frightened of a thing that can never exist. The universe just doesn't work like that.

I have an argument for this!

The book is also about sensationalism. Sensationalism is another thing I made up.

Sensationalism is a philosophical doctrine.

Sensationalism holds that your sensations are important.

The book is about beddhism.

What is beddhism? Beddhism is a thing that I made up. It's like Buddhism but it's also not like Buddhism.

Beddhism is all about lying in bed. A lot. And doing nothing at all while you're there. Except feeling your feelings. Paying attention to your sensations.

I'm running into trouble with my book! Everything I want to write, I want to have that thing be the first thing in the book. I want to be constantly starting the process of writing it, and for you to be constantly starting the process of reading it.

One of the titles for the book I'm not actually writing is

You Are All Fucking Idiots

Another one is

We Are All Fucking Idiots

I'm going to be very bad at this for a while. Apologies in advance.

Hello world! My name is Kent. I'm new here on Bluesky.

The first thing I'm doing is posting something! If you knew me you would know how weird this is.

Check out my substack at beddhism.substack.com

(is a sentence I've never said in public before)