New reader to this blog? Check out the Best of Ben page for some of my favorite posts from the past few years. You can also browse this blog by category:
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A handful of oldies but goodies from the archives:
- What Does Society Overcomplicate? Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s complicated.
- Do Only Negative Emotions Count for Depth? Does going through a grieving process contribute more to your emotional depth than going through a period of intense joy? Does sadness stretch you more than happiness?
- How Friendships Evolve Over Time and the Quest for Platonic Intimacy. Your friendships and philosophy of friendships change as you get older. My theory on how.
- Is original thinking orthogonal to cognitive speed? – Would you rather be a swift but derivative thinker or a slow but original thinker?
- Thanks Mom and Dad – A thank-you to my parents.
- The stability/stimulation tradeoff – The most stimulating jobs are also the least stable
- Can a best friend be a composite? – Can a best friend be pieces of several different people?
- Reflections on 3 months of international travel – A roundup of my international travel from a couple years ago.
- Three Things to Unlearn From School – The importance of opinion, the importance of solving given problems, the importance of earning the approval of others.
- Organizing the Rhetoric Around Why to Go to College – The reasons for college are always scattered. They fit in three main categories: knowledge, connections, and credential.
- Can Companies Accelerate the Adoption Curve? – It’s harder to do this than to execute well.
- What separates a talker and doer? – I outline what doers do that talkers don’t.
- Remembering David Foster Wallace – My personal reflection on DFW’s death.
- 18th birthday responses – Dozens of friends tell me what they regret not doing when they were 18
- Are We More Self-Absorbed These Days? Are people – especially young people – more narcissistic and self-obsessed than before? If so, why?
- To Find Good, Underrated People De-Emphasize Popular Filters. Women seek out short men, men seek out women with small breasts, everyone seek out those who lack charisma.
- Getting to the Point of “I Can Do This!”. Before you can embark on a new project, you need to believe you can do it. In order to believe you can do it, you need have to some self-confidence. In order to have self-confidence, I think you need to do one or both of the following.
- Who’s Benefiting from National Service? My commentary for Marketplace on the dangers of national service programs.
- Six Habits of Highly Effective Mentees. Everyone talks about the importance of mentors. But how do you be a good mentee?
- Does a Guilty Sense of Privilege Inspire Positive Action? Or does action out of action out of guilt contain hidden costs?
- H1-B Visa Issue in America. A brief analysis.
- What Does “Mature” Mean? Taking a pass at defining emotional and intellectual maturity.
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And thanks. Thanks for reading and commenting and emailing and helping me grow these past five years, and growing with me. I appreciate it more than you know. It’s a privilege, as Seth Godin has put it.