Aashay Mody (Page 3)

On low-rung politics (aka Political Disney World)

This post is part of a series on Tim Urban’s book, What’s Our Problem? a self-help book for societies. -- Last week we discussed high-rung politics, based on a culture of intellectual humility and open, nuanced debate. Today, we'll explore low-rung politics, or what Tim Urban

Personal Development

On the nomad life

To say that COVID was life-changing would be an understatement. After the initial fear and uncertainty subsided, it became an exercise in personal growth and transformation for me and my wife. The catalyst for change was our decision to live nomadically. It began innocently enough. Four months into the pandemic,

Political Psychology

On high-rung politics

This post is part of a series on Tim Urban’s book, What’s Our Problem? a self-help book for societies. -- In previous posts in this series (see here and here), we distinguished between high-rung intellectual cultures, or Idea Labs, and low-rung intellectual cultures, or Echo Chambers. Now let’

Personal Development

On daily writing

A month ago, I challenged myself to write and publish every day for 30 days. I’ve been interested in writing for a while and had previously started a newsletter, but got overwhelmed and stopped after just two issues. I’ve heard from many people that consistency is key, so

Cognitive Science

On ways of knowing

To grow and develop in life and at work, we learn new things and improve our knowledge. But what does it mean to truly know something? When we think about it, the people we see as traditionally knowledgeable aren’t always the ones who seem most successful. Similarly, gaining knowledge

Linguistics

On ro

Ro is a Swedish word that roughly translates to tranquility, peace, quiet, or calm. It also means row, as in rowing a boat. In linguistics, that’s an example of a homonym—words with the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings. Perhaps someday I’ll want to learn how

Social Psychology

On Echo Chambers and Idea Labs

This post is inspired by Tim Urban’s book, What’s Our Problem? a self-help book for societies -- In a previous post, “on how we think,” I highlighted the idea of high-rung and low-rung thinking as a new way to examine our thinking patterns, beyond just “what we think.

Personal Development

On speed

In modern life, we seem to rush through everything. Everyone is busy and has someplace to be. Startup culture emphasizes speed above all else, probably for good reason. The survival of a startup depends on how quickly it can achieve success relative to its competitors. But when we become too

Thought Experiment

On Mary the super-scientist

Consider the following scenario: Mary is a neuroscientist who lives in a black and white room and has only ever experienced the world in black and white. As an expert in color vision and perception, she knows everything about its physics and biology, including how light of different wavelengths stimulate

Logical Fallacy

On appealing to authority

“Because I said so.” Many of us have heard this phrase at least once in our childhood. Although it's perfectly understandable that a parent may have been annoyed or caught off guard in the moment, this kind of response is an excellent example of the appeal to authority

Social Psychology

On how we think

This post is inspired by Tim Urban’s book, What’s Our Problem? a self-help book for societies. -- Our behavior is influenced by a combination of our primitive mind (limbic system) and our higher mind (prefrontal cortex). The primitive mind is concerned only with survival, while the higher mind

Philosophy

On ikigai

The Japanese concept of ikigai (pronounced ee-kee-guy) has recently gained popularity in Western culture. Although there is no direct English translation, ikigai refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose or a "reason for being." You may recognize it as a Venn diagram that looks

Cognitive Bias

On the Dunning-Kruger effect

Do you believe you’re an above-average driver? If so, you’re in the company of 93% of American drivers who also think they are above average. And if you spotted that the math doesn't add up, you’d be correct. Either you're truly above average

History

On the Human Era

One of my favorite long-form blogs is Wait But Why, written by Tim Urban. He writes about topics ranging from procrastination to artificial intelligence and cryonics (all worth checking out). I've long admired his ability to simplify complex topics with clear language and quirky yet awesome illustrations. Yesterday,

Psychology

On quitting

Modern culture glorifies perseverance and grit. While these qualities have obvious value, too much of anything can be detrimental. We also tend to stigmatize quitting and see it as a failure. However, quitting can sometimes be a wise choice. As a startup founder, one of the most important skills you

Personal Development

On solitude

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. - French philosopher Blaise Pascal In today's world, we’re surrounded by constant stimulation. Even when we’re by ourselves, we're usually staring at our phones. We’

Mental Model

On second-order thinking

Most of us think in the “first order” most of the time. We think about the immediate consequences of a decision and make the decision based on whether we consider that outcome positive or negative, good or bad. It makes sense to think this way for recurring or daily decisions

Philosophy

On lagom

Not too much, not too little, just enough. For the past two years, I’ve been working on an edtech startup with my co-founders and a small team. While it’s been deeply satisfying in many ways, it recently became clear to me that I was ignoring the stress that

Personal Development

On success

Think of a successful person. Who is the first person that you thought of? Considering how much our lives are influenced by social media, there’s a pretty good chance you thought of someone rich or famous, or both. As a society, we tend to have a rather narrow definition

Thought Experiment

On the Fermi paradox (pt 2)

This is the second post on the Fermi paradox. Check out the first one here. Quick recap: the Fermi paradox is a contradiction between the high probability of advanced extraterrestrial life existing and the lack of any definitive proof of its existence. There have been many attempts to explain the

Thought Experiment

On the Fermi paradox

Humans have been fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life for millennia. Our discussions about aliens range from outlandish conspiracy theories to genuinely thought-provoking puzzles like the Fermi Paradox. The Fermi paradox is a contradiction between the high probability of advanced extraterrestrial life existing and the lack of any definitive

Career

On pivoting

Startup folks are fond of jargon. We can hardly go a sentence without mentioning terms like MVP, product-market fit, and burn rate. But one particular startup term, the pivot, has surprisingly useful insights for how we should think about our work and careers. Pivoting means changing direction or focus. The

Mental Model

On regret minimization

The quest to reach our full potential is both fascinating and challenging. Our fallibilities, such as fear of failure, can be a major obstacle. They can lead to regrettable decisions and unrealized potential. We make countless decisions in our lives, so some regret is inevitable. However, attempting to minimize regret

Linguistics

On tsundoku

I recently discovered tsundoku, a Japanese term for the practice of buying books with the intention of reading them, but then letting them pile up. Tsundoku: a Japanese term for the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them. So

Psychology

On the psychologically rich life

What does it mean to live a good life? Philosophers have been attempting to answer this question for millennia and the debate persists today. Along with life’s other big questions, it’s something I’ve occasionally thought about as well, though not in any great detail. Until recently, psychological