Writing Clarifies Thinking

i've narrated the post below here:

I've been writing a lot since July when I began officially moving on from Shuffle. I've written in journals and notepads that nobody ever sees, here on this new blog, back on my old blog, as well as twitter, linkedin, etc.

I use LLMs very little to none in the above writing. It feels like that would defeat the purpose. For emails and utility-based communications, maybe the AI helps—but for my published comms, from my brain to the world, absolutely not.

All these scribbles have been a means of exploring for me. Sharing my thoughts out loud and in public creates a certain special pressure by itself, regardless of audience and independent of likes, subscribes, outcomes... My written thoughts march forward.

This advancement and refinement process has mostly been intuitive up until now. But if a thought doesn't get crystallized and explored in writing, I'm beginning to see how it doesn't really count. It remains half-baked and therefore not consumable.

I guess one way of explaining this is something like the following: principles are thoughts, ideas turned into tools. You can't use a screwdriver well if it's missing a handle or broken.

It would be impossible to speak all my thoughts, all at once, to someone. I've been trying for the past few months to have a lot of conversations because I didn't understand all the ideas floating around, all the tools available to me and how they related to each other, in this abstract new space I've been exploring.

If you want to get a glimpse, try my essays on Alignment, The Future of Loving Grace, Altruism and its Alternative, Religion as Hardship Tolerance versus Ambition, and most recently the deep dive on my LLC's business strategy and upcoming product focus, the "zScore".

Unlike studying real estate, for example, or the pharmaceutical industry—my market of interest has become something like "human lifespans". There are no good individual words to learn in this field because the definitions have not yet been written down.

In 1966, Asmiov's Foundation won a special Hugo Award for Best All-Time Book Series. Period. He predicted this field of study that I'm engaging in and explored many aspects of it in his imagined sci-fi future.

Some of my essays have turned into key mental building blocks like papers published on the way to a PhD. My thesis on psychohistory is yet to be written, and its defense will look more Buffett's Berkshire—a lifelong business with a unique evolving structure, rather than a single lecture.

I'm certain that I've re-read and cited my writing much more than anybody else. Although the ideas I've grappled with are very complex and at times imprecise, I find my thinking has become pretty clear. Things are slowly taking shape, and it's the correct shape. The most useful shape.

Because I can now write things down concisely, as in the &U landing page, my new revenue donation page, this blog's tagline as "a PhD in life", etc—I'm slowly proving myself correct. That these foundational blocks are special and unique.

What is a brand? Hamilton Helmers has something important to say, but as we are discussing, I like putting things in my own words.

My brand is exotic and quirky. It's slightly different, even quixotic. It exists not as a product, not a design, nor a logo. It's a toolkit of ideas that I actively develop and use. I share them, and I will demonstrate how they help others to do the same—advancing in their own lives—all the while, having fun and living in harmony and cultivating prosperity, and all that good stuff.

The only way to beat my brand is to be more me, than me. You'd have to have clearer thinking which is strategic such that I could not replicate it while you'd still be advancing towards the same endpoint goal. This is probably impossible.

I am mission-focused and have set aside money or any other simplified proxy endpoint. I do not care about subscriber counts. I do not care about investors nor customers. I believe my brand and ideas are true and right to a high degree of quality. I reflect on what others say and sometimes prove myself wrong. Writing has enabled all of this.

Of course, I do care about all the above things, to varying extents...but they are all subordinate to my mission in specific and unique proportions. This is available for you and everyone in the world to see, as best as I can explain it.

Writing has evolved my brain to see reality sideways. I'm swimming through a wormhole, teleporting using shortcuts, flying. It's discombobulating.

And, it has set me free.