Archive - Locally Optimal

October 2024

Blog posts can be living creatures + reflections on writing

I don’t make this obvious, but most of my blog posts are actually living creatures. They get improved constantly:

Oct 26 •

What is autonomy? Why boundaries are necessary.

Here I define autonomy as not having your insides controlled by your outsides.

Oct 21 •

Learning to do *real* empathy

I lay there, eyes closed, trying to recall a time when I really felt. The question that had been nagging at me for months hung in the air: “What bad…

Oct 16 •

Why I focus on helping key figures in AI

1/ I am concerned about how the next few years could decide the future of AI. 2/ Mental health improves decision-making and social coordination. 3/ I…

Oct 15 •

Feeling part of a greater whole

Have you ever felt deeply connected to the world around you? Like your effortless existence makes a positive difference?

Oct 9 •

What is it like to be psychologically healthy? Podcast ft. Damon Sasi

Damon Sasi is a mentor of mine, and he is also a therapist who claims to be very psychologically healthy.

Oct 5 •

and

1:16:43

September 2024

Eye contact is effortless without emotional blocks

So I wanted to run a fun party, “Make 100% eye contact or get sent to jail.” But I didn’t want eye contact to be forced, I wanted it to be genuinely…

Sep 27 •

Pay-on-results personal growth: first success

A few months ago I made the claim “Radically effective and rapid growth [motivationally / emotionally / socially] is possible with the right combination…

Sep 11 •

Outgrow Lifelong Insecurities! Pay for Results

Man I met at a prediction market conference with lifelong social anxiety (unresolved by 8 years of therapy) became “excited about entering social…

Sep 11 •

August 2024

what becoming more secure does to a mfer

After I quit my first job two years ago, I was conflict-avoidant to the point of depression. I did ~nothing for five months and moved in with my parents…

Aug 22 •

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