Meditations and Learnings

Meditations and Learnings

Writing Essays

Importance

  • Use the Robert Morris trick: not to say anything unless you are sure it’s worth hearing.
  • Write something that you would want to read.
  • Consider the number of people to whom something matters multiplied by how much it matters to them.

Novelty

  • Say something that surprises at least some people.
  • Write about something about which you have thought deeply.
  • Remember that novelty necessitates past ignorance and be appropriately humble.

Correctness

  • The trick is to be as strong as possible without being wrong.
  • Precision and correctness are opposing forces.
  • Be prepared to throw out many strong claims that are false and weak claims that are true.

Strength

  • Think well and make use of qualifiers.
  • Qualification is not just a tax paid to avoid falsities but a skill in its own right.
  • Strength has the downside of being prone to misinterpretation. By being as strong as possible without being wrong, a slight exaggeration can make it appear mistaken.