1. Psychological: a fresh beginning 2. Scientific: humans record one more orbit around the sun 3. Ritualistic: an opportunity to reflect on how 365 days have gone and what you want to be different for the next 365 4. Traditional: a time for fireworks and celebration 5. Ancient: a dedication to Janus, god of gateways 6. Christian: Jesus’ circumcision (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki...

There's an important type of belief most of us have, which we call "Anchor Beliefs." These beliefs are, by definition, those beliefs we hold that are almost impossible to change. To the believer, an Anchor Belief doesn't feel like a mere belief - it feels like an undeniable truth. These beliefs are often too deeply rooted to change, and the cost of giving them up may be extremely high (e.g.,...

I often hear people claim that everything we do is "selfish" or ultimately aimed at our own pleasure (and avoidance of pain). The way the argument usually goes is that we wouldn't do something unless we "wanted" to do it - and that even for altruistic actions, we do them because they feel good. This view is sometimes called "psychological egoism:" the claim that every human action is motivated by...

Replica Theory is a tiny model I use that makes a lot of accurate predictions about society: When people are in a situation where they're as rewarded for doing an easier, fake version of something as they are for doing the real, valuable version, you'll usually find that most of the activity is fake. There are two types of "fake" activity in the way I'm using the word: (1) Activity t...

Self-compassion is an essential skill - it helps us overcome personal hardship, recognize what we want, and learn how to better support others who are struggling. Inspired by Dr. Kristen Neff’s work on this subject, we’ve put together a list of ten components that we think make up a truly self-compassionate mindset. Regardless of whether or not you try to practice self-compassion in you...

Below, I outline 13 approaches to predicting high levels of success with differing levels of complexity, including my own mega model at the bottom. Note: here, I use the term "success" merely in terms of achievement, career success, or high levels of expertise, NOT in terms of happiness, living a good life, morality, having strong social bonds, etc. There is nothing wrong with not wa...

Many people think that academic philosophy is irrelevant to the real world. But it has increasingly important applications. Here's my list of some of the really interesting ones. Here's hoping philosophers will make further progress on some of these! 1. The Trolley Problem: self-driving cars will be put in situations where there is a choice between sacrificing the passenger to save two pede...

Below is my attempt to list all human needs ranked according to their typical importance (from most important to least). Thanks for the idea, Maslow! I'm defining a "need" here as something non-replaceable (i.e., you can't just substitute it for something else), which, if substantially unsatisfied, would inhibit well-being for the vast majority of people. You might say that you...

As I see it, there are three main causes for our struggles to see the truth on any particular topic: 1. Mimicry: when our in-group promotes falsity that we copy 2. Incentives: when we predict that knowing the truth would feel bad or harm our objectives 3. Complexity: when the truth is hard to figure out Examples: 1. Mimicry • Some are Christians because all their friends...

From a scientific or statistical standpoint, it seems ridiculous to think one data point can teach us much. Even a study with ten data points is laughably small. It's also really common to see people over-react to a single experience they've had (e.g., "I know I don't like Taiwanese food because I tried it once") or to an anecdote (e.g., "I'm convinced this supplement will work because my frie...