At the end of last year, I posted my favorite narrative and non-fiction books of the year. I thought this was a fun exercise, so I am back with the second installment! First, before I get to the books, I wanted to call out that this year was special. I
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A little over a month ago, I was able to spend a couple of days out of town as a reset between jobs. I thought it would be nice to be outside a lot, but also didn't want to be too far away, so I landed in Fort
Hello! It has been quite a while, over six months! I'm sending out a few updates as to what to expect from Daniel Thoughts going forward. Content First, I will be changing the content somewhat. Historically, I have primarily written essay-style posts that were philosophical in nature, connecting
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Two weeks ago, in Hidden Complexity, I mentioned how authors sometimes have simple ideas and then fill your mind with examples to help you apply them in the real world. Depending on who you are, these examples may impact you differently and connect more strongly or weakly to a different
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I first heard this on an Infinite Loops podcast with Derek Sivers (I can't remember if it was Part 1 or Part 2). I tend strongly to absolutes and forget that everything exists in an ebb and flow. The parable below was first documented in China over two
We tend to oversimplify. We want a straightforward story, cause, and effect with a few ingredients that align with our worldview. These stories can be helpful but may not have the full context or truth. Importantly, without these simplifications, we wouldn't survive. Getting out of the house in
I tend to try to optimize everything. I love being efficient and getting things done quickly. But while every system can be optimized quantitatively, that doesn't mean it should be. Sometimes, some form of je ne sais quoi can't be entirely captured in the numbers (or
Last year, I set some limitations for myself and wanted to reflect on how it turned out. I am writing this to determine what worked and what didn't, so there is a reasonable chance you do not care. Feel free to skip this Thought. The goal was to
I wanted to finish off the year by making a list of my favorite books from 2024. It started as a top five, but six really stuck out, so I split it into three non-fiction and three narratives. Narrative (Kinda Fiction) 1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020)—This is a
Language is fascinating. We are constantly immersed in thoughts defined by our current language and part of a culture that has grown up in our language. Despite this immersion, we don’t give much thought to the impact of language. The language we speak, in some cases, can be limiting.
Recently, preparing for an event, I started pulling together some of my thoughts on the current state of AI. Considering I haven't posted in a while, I figured sharing them could make for a good post. I would love to hear any thoughts this post prompts. Short-Term Generative