Giles

I'm also doing a course on self-determination theory which is just excellent 👌🏼

It's really changing how I look at some of my work in peace and conflict economics.

For some reason I decided to enroll in an introduction to Philosophy course:

#AI

I was looking at setting up OpenClaw #AI on the weekend, but then I realized I don't have any use cases that can't be solved with Claude code already.

Does anyone have examples of how they've been able to use it effectively?

Same.

It's lovely they're adding new features, but I'm not sure about the use case here. Presumably, it's frequently requested as why would they bother if it wasn't(?).

I'd like an edit window. I found that to be a really handy feature on threads.

Oh! And there's a forward from H.G. Wells which is superb, but I think it's better to read it at the end. (More of a postface 🧐)

👌🏼

...
there's something special about being able to observe a person's evolving sense of self from youthful ambition to brooding cynic.

He knew he was dying too, so there's quite a bit of personal reflection as his end draws near.

*(I skimmed a couple of sections in the middle).

I just finished reading* The Journal of a Disappointed Man by W. N. P. Barbellion.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Out of five)

This is an unusual book. It's essentially the author's journal from the age of 12 until his untimely death.

This is a sad story, but
...

...
there's something special about being able to observe a person's evolving sense of self from youthful ambition to brooding cynic.

He knew he was dying too, so there's quite a bit of personal reflection as his end draws near.

*(I skimmed a couple of sections in the middle).

That one was Mona Vale

Ha!

Glad you picked up the obscure reference.

😄

Yeah, I don't understand how they've messed up the #AI integration this badly.

I've used Claude to draft word documents, but have Copilot turned off.

It's that bad.

🤨

It's not like there aren't good use cases either. Drafting up PowerPoint slides from notes would be really handy.

It's a good book.

Re: its replicability, I wrote a blog on this a couple of years ago:
www.gilesd-j.com/2023/03/30/r...

Photo of theatre

Cultured AF.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

My wife and I have a joke when reading books like this:
"Could have been a briefing".

This feels like one of those.

...

Interestingly, he published this before 'Thinking Fast and Slow', but covers a lot of similar ideas.

I almost feel like he could have split the book into two: one that talks about biases and the other which talks about black swans.

I liked 'Fooled by randomness' as it articulated a lot of ideas that I'd been juggling.

I also don't think he's a bad writer.

I just think Black Swan is just too stream of consciousness and verbose to keep me interested.

...

I'm still reading 'Black Swan's but I think I'm going to drop it.

He makes some interesting points, but it needs a solid edit to weed out the superfluous detail that doesn't contribute to the core thesis:

Extreme events are more likely and important than we think / our systems don't reflect his.

I'm currently doing a course on self-determination theory.

It feels like something first year economics students would benefit from being exposed to as there is a lot of interesting experimental research around incentives and motivation.

With the federal budget approaching and speculation again mounting over capital gains tax reform, there's been some discussion about returning to the pre-99 'inflation indexation' approach to taxing capital gains. Here's a quick explainer on how that would work.

Who would have guessed that I'm at a beach again?!

Ha!

Someone from marketing has seen my post.

There are now *two* brands of eggs with the farmer looking lovingly at the chicken.

Check and mate.

🧐

I'm take naive optimism over realistic pessimism any day.

A photo of perfectly real and legitimate political advisors and the president from the West Wing

I miss when the world was run by these guys:

Mio.

It worked out well as Zoe matches my wife's bubbly and optimistic personality.

I spent the game rolling my eyes at Zoe's dialogue (as I imagine Mio would have).

😂

I also agree re: being more memorable. It was such a brilliant and original game (minus the story).

Yeah, I agree.

I don't find him hard to read, but he could definitely be more concise.

I liked 'Fooled but Randomness'.