Know when to stop searching
How do you choose your favourite colour?
A little time ago, I listened to this interview of Venkatesh Rao on the Infinite Loops podcast. I was captivated. I learnt a few things:
Prophecies need to be immaginative and courageous. Courage leads to more courage.
Over-optimising over a global solution space brings nihilism. When every thin detail is known, nothing matters anymore.
Optionality is good, until it isn't. You always want a (possibly minimal?) set of arbitrary constraints to optimise around. Choose them well, but fiercely at random. Use your best erratic judgment.
It was that day that Alice decided that Blue was her favourite colour. She denies there ever was any particular reason attached to the decision.
Bonus questions discussed in the podcast:
Risk-taking: is it product of upbringing?
Meaning-making: is it a practical matter?
Tragic luck: is ignorance of struggle blissful?
What do you think?
David