Quite touching reading about all the emails got during his hiatus. astralcodexten.substack.com/p/still-alive
I forget this too often, so a catechism: praise is positive sum, and most people are not nearly as close to the point of diminishing returns as I might imagine!
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When I email someone who’s written a popular book/essay/paper, I always subconsciously imagine that email’s going into a black hole, a drop in a bucket full of fan mail. But most of the time I get a reply which makes it obvious that’s not the case!
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It’s a weird asymmetry in my theory of mind. For whatever reason, the amount of happiness I imagine a nice note would bring to someone else is less than what I usually feel myself in the same situation!
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(Speaking of praise, Scott’s precise-but-conversational prose styling is just astoundingly good and I’m jealous!!)
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1. I wonder if barriers to writing a note that is both kind and thoughtful are secretly higher than we'd expect - putting yourself out there, thinking hard and having something to say, etc.
2. I bet the sort of people you would send notes to are the sort that appreciate them!
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These barriers are based upon assumptions that could be resolved by not overthinking it. It could also be wanting to make a great first impression
Giving someone their flowers is easier if you have established a mutual connection already. A survey on this would be interesting
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That suggestion to schedule a "gratitude hour" in each work week is really good.
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I should probably thank you for bringing this to my awareness.
(Also the quantum computing stuff was really good and probably the best stuff I've read on the topic)
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