As a Psychologist, I’m fascinated by your post. You share interesting questions and, in kind, I’ll add a few - because the answer to your quest is only yours.
First question: what’s behind your interest in deep knowledge? I do believe that knowledge is never fully achieved. Meaningful learning can be a more fulfilling journey, and I find it more practical. Sure, knowledge is a valuable foundation, yet when transformed into active learning it often takes us to unanticipated places.
To your question of what to focus on, I’d ask “where do you want to start?” Another belief of mine is that we start somewhere and see where it leads us. “What is your curiosity about?” Knowledge can also be like a big bookshelf with lots of different topics. And the broader the variety, the stronger the connections we make in our brains.
Third, you’re weighing DYI and academic pursuits. My question to you would be about purpose and who you’re aspiring to be. In my own experience, no learning I’ve gained has gone wasted, even if it took me years to see it bear fruit. Learning bears fruit when we engage in reflection and action, and that can happen no matter what learning vehicle we use.
Anyway, I loved this post and I keep getting inspired weekly by your deeply human writing.
Thank you so much for this comment Nora! I am really glad to hear that you're inspired by my writing :) And these are great questions.
I think you are right that learning is a fulfilling journey, and a more actionable target than knowledge, because learning would be the way to get to knowledge! I have actually been thinking in general about how focusing on present actions is often best. Also, interestingly, there seems to be a trend in discussions of AI value-alignment towards focusing on instilling virtues in AI systems (which I see as more present-focused), rather than instilling "goals" [1][2].
Likewise, I think your second question is also focusing on the present: "what do I want to learn right now" - this is a good question! I think I actually feel compelled to work on certain personal projects more than I feel compelled to directly learn. But then hopefully to back up my projects with learnings. For example, I intend to revisit some of my old personal systems (which I will be writing more about soon!) - and in the process might want to learn about things like ethics, behavioral science, knowledge systems, intelligence...
On your third question of "who I aspire to be" ... all I will say is that is of course a very important question! Not something I am currently prepared to answer in this format, but something to think about for sure. It is also a good note that no learning goes wasted :)
I am so glad that you took the time to write these down, and I continue to find your perspective wise and thought-provoking.
As a Psychologist, I’m fascinated by your post. You share interesting questions and, in kind, I’ll add a few - because the answer to your quest is only yours.
First question: what’s behind your interest in deep knowledge? I do believe that knowledge is never fully achieved. Meaningful learning can be a more fulfilling journey, and I find it more practical. Sure, knowledge is a valuable foundation, yet when transformed into active learning it often takes us to unanticipated places.
To your question of what to focus on, I’d ask “where do you want to start?” Another belief of mine is that we start somewhere and see where it leads us. “What is your curiosity about?” Knowledge can also be like a big bookshelf with lots of different topics. And the broader the variety, the stronger the connections we make in our brains.
Third, you’re weighing DYI and academic pursuits. My question to you would be about purpose and who you’re aspiring to be. In my own experience, no learning I’ve gained has gone wasted, even if it took me years to see it bear fruit. Learning bears fruit when we engage in reflection and action, and that can happen no matter what learning vehicle we use.
Anyway, I loved this post and I keep getting inspired weekly by your deeply human writing.
Thank you so much for this comment Nora! I am really glad to hear that you're inspired by my writing :) And these are great questions.
I think you are right that learning is a fulfilling journey, and a more actionable target than knowledge, because learning would be the way to get to knowledge! I have actually been thinking in general about how focusing on present actions is often best. Also, interestingly, there seems to be a trend in discussions of AI value-alignment towards focusing on instilling virtues in AI systems (which I see as more present-focused), rather than instilling "goals" [1][2].
Likewise, I think your second question is also focusing on the present: "what do I want to learn right now" - this is a good question! I think I actually feel compelled to work on certain personal projects more than I feel compelled to directly learn. But then hopefully to back up my projects with learnings. For example, I intend to revisit some of my old personal systems (which I will be writing more about soon!) - and in the process might want to learn about things like ethics, behavioral science, knowledge systems, intelligence...
On your third question of "who I aspire to be" ... all I will say is that is of course a very important question! Not something I am currently prepared to answer in this format, but something to think about for sure. It is also a good note that no learning goes wasted :)
I am so glad that you took the time to write these down, and I continue to find your perspective wise and thought-provoking.
[1] Zvi on Claude's constitution's virtue-ethical framework: https://thezvi.substack.com/p/the-claude-constitutions-ethical
[2] Richard Ngo on virtue ethics as a target for AI systems https://www.mindthefuture.info/p/aligning-to-virtues