Thinking clearly with AI

AI amplifies the thinking you bring to it. These essays are about the habits underneath: what to unlearn, what to ignore, and why effort and information are poor proxies for progress.

Essays

  • The Skill of Unlearning — AI doesn't make you better — it amplifies who you already are. The skill that determines which side you land on isn't learning. It's letting go.
  • Stop Worshipping Effort — The effort heuristic makes you overvalue suffering and distrust efficiency. Output = Skill × Leverage / Time — and you're maximizing the wrong variable.
  • Strategic Ignorance: The Skill Nobody Teaches You — The most informed people aren't consuming the most — they're ignoring the most, deliberately. Here's how to build the system.
  • Unteachable Lessons: Why Knowing Is Not Enough — Some lessons resist transfer by telling. The smartest humans across 2,500 years all noticed this — none solved it by explaining better.
  • You Already Failed at AI. That's the Point. — Staying current with AI is a game designed to make you lose. Here's why accepting that unlocks a better question — and a system that actually works.

Questions

Does AI make you think better?

Not by itself. AI amplifies the habits and judgment you already have, which is why unlearning outdated mental models matters as much as learning new tools.

What is the effort heuristic?

The effort heuristic is the bias of judging the value of work by how hard it was to produce, which makes people overvalue suffering and distrust efficient results.

How do you avoid information overload with AI news?

Accept that you cannot keep up with everything, decide deliberately what to ignore, and go deep on the few areas that change your outcomes.