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Mark Manson's Blog, page 18
June 30, 2016
9 Steps to Hating Yourself a Little Less
I know what you’re thinking. You saw the title and said to yourself, “Who does this guy think he is? Hate myself? Does he know how good-looking I am? Has he even seen my bitching new haircut? Does he know I once trained for a half marathon and actually ran part of it? I’m totally in love with myself. What the fuck does he know?”
Look, I admit, your hair is pretty awesome. But let’s get real here. If we’re really honest with ourselves, we all have a little self-loathing going on from time to t...
June 16, 2016
I, For One, Welcome Our AI Overlords
A few weeks ago, for the first time ever, a computer beat the world champion of Go, one of the most complex games known to man. This was another watershed moment in the progress of artificial intelligence.
To give you an idea how complex Go is, there are 2.082 10^170 possible board configurations. That is 2 with 170 zeroes after it. Chances are your brain cannot even conceive of a number that large (but a computer can). Or to give you an idea of how big of a number that is, there are only 1...
I, For One, Welcome Our AI Overlords
A few weeks ago, for the first time ever, a computer beat the world champion of Go, one of the most complex games known to man. This was another watershed moment in the progress of artificial intelligence.
To give you an idea how complex Go is, there are 2.082 10^170 possible board configurations. That is 2 with 170 zeroes after it. Chances are your brain cannot even conceive of a number that large (but a computer can). Or to give you an idea of how big of a number that is, there are only 10...
June 9, 2016
The Future of Self
Imagine this: there’s a machine that can download your brain onto a computer and save it as a file. All of your hopes, dreams, aspirations, memories, dirty secrets, and kinky fantasies are right there in that file and can be loaded up into a program that would turn the computer into a perfect, if temporary, synthetic replication of “you.”
The computer could then do basic tasks that you find boring with the exact same tastes and preferences as yourself. It could find and order a new rug for th...
June 2, 2016
Living In The Age of Outrage
It was the winter of 2015. The streets were full of their usual festive cheer. The stores were lit with tinsel and lights and those maddeningly familiar Christmas tunes, bringing familiarity and joy to all those who strolled by. Yet, few knew of the disaster that was about to strike.
On one of these mornings, Joshua Feuerstein stopped by his local Starbucks to buy coffee. He said hello to the barista and made his usual order with a smile. But upon receiving his coffee, he noticed something wa...
May 19, 2016
The Virtue of Doubt
James Warren Jones was a charismatic minister of a church where he built up a congregation by specifically appealing to minorities, the unemployed, and homeless people. He sometimes called his congregation his “Rainbow Family” due to its racial and class diversity — something highly novel in the US in the 50s and 60s. He also had strong socialist political leanings, calling for extremely progressive governmental policies to try and bring more help to the needy and oppressed.
By all appearances...
May 5, 2016
Why You Can’t Trust Yourself
Bertrand Russell famously said, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.”
Over the years, I’ve hammered on the importance of becoming comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, in questioning all of your most cherished beliefs and dreams, on practicing skepticism, and doubting everything, most importantly yourself. Throughout these posts, I’ve hinted at the fact that our brains are fundamentally unreliable,...
March 31, 2016
How Your Insecurity Is Bought and Sold
In the 1920s, women didn’t smoke. Or if they did, they were severely judged for it. It was taboo. Like graduating from college or getting elected to Congress, people believed women should leave the smoking to men. Honey, you might hurt yourself. Or burn your beautiful hair.
This posed a problem for the tobacco industry. Here you had 50% of the population not smoking their cigarettes for no other reason than it was unfashionable or seen as impolite. This wouldn’t do. As George Washington Hill,...
March 17, 2016
Maybe You Don’t Know What Love Is
We sit silently. My friend stares deeply into her empty glass, occasionally shuffling the ice around with her straw. “Wow,” she says. I sit and wait for her to say something else. What started out as a festive night somehow became a long, deep discussion about love, what it consists of, and how rare it actually is.
Finally, I say, “Wow, what?”
“I’m just thinking that I’ve never experienced that.”
“Well, maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet,” I say — the totally cliche thing that ever...
February 11, 2016
Uma Carta Aberta ao Brasil
(Click here for English version)
Querido Brasil,
O Carnaval acabou. O “ano novo” finalmente vai começar e eu estou te deixando para voltar para o meu país.
Assim como vários outros gringos, eu também vim para cá pela primeira vez em busca de festas, lindas praias e garotas. O que eu não poderia imaginar é que eu passaria a maior parte dos 4 últimos anos dentro das suas fronteiras. Aprenderia muito sobre a sua cultura, sua língua, seus costumes e que, no final deste ano, eu me casaria com uma de...
