thoughts on tubes

Colonoscopies are the first-line method for preventing colorectal cancer in America —and almost nowhere else. But do they work? We finally have a comprehensive trial, but it’s left gastroenterologists with more questions than answers.

Less automation and less agony

Reading a book one night, you decide to turn on the lights. And suddenly it’s obvious. Hauling your body across the room just to flip a switch is absurd. So you decide to get smart lights. Two hours later, your...

On game trees and reasonableness

I don’t sense that I’m viewed as particularly skilled at human interaction. Still, some poor fools sometimes ask me for advice, and I find myself repeating the same little speech. For context, in life as a human you will often...

There's a little accountant named Jim that lives in my head

Nobody gets everything they want in life. That's OK. If everyone was a sportscaster-rockstar-scientist-model-author-influencer-billionaire, we still wouldn't be happy because everyone else would be too busy to be impressed. But still, it's a little sad when you don't at least...

Sometimes weirdness does pay

I’ve always wanted to believe that you could get enormous advantage in life just by willing to be weirder than other people. And when I read about people like Amos Tversky (leave movies early! go jogging in your underwear! throw...

Some obvious-in-retrospect thoughts

When you shift from being managed to also sometimes managing others, you have a predictable shift in perspective and a lot of obvious-in-retrospect insights. In the spirit of “saying obvious things is good” here are a few. Be honest Since...

After decades of research, we now have a huge body of studies and meta-reviews to summarize it. What do they say?

I was wrong about gratitude. I thought it was a guaranteed way to become happier and went around proclaiming we should be thankful because: "Hokey, unfashionable techniques like practicing gratitude turn out to have strong scientific evidence behind them." Sorry...

Tracking my cognitive performance for a year

A year ago, I started playing puzzle storm. This is a short game where you try to rapidly solve as many chess puzzles as you can in a few minutes.

People don't seem to try very hard to make themselves happier. Why not?

Everyone I know is scheming for the future. They've got big goals and get up every day and work like mad to try to achieve them. I've always found something odd about that: Despite all this effort, people don't seem...

Nine observations about what happens when you eat only potatoes

You've probably heard about the potato diet. If not, here it is: 1. Eat potatoes. 2. As many as you want. 3. Oil and salt are OK. 4. Don't eat other stuff. I thought this sounded delightfully absurd so I...

An analogy between coat racks, desire paths, arguing, vacuuming, reading, social media, drinking, vacations, and colonoscopies.

You learn a lot about people from their bedrooms. Some have TVs or books or laptops. Some have blackout curtains or stuffed animals or bottles of pills. But, vast as human experience is, one thing is consistent: Everyone has once-worn...

How much do statins extend lifespan? An analysis based on a meta-analysis of six peer-reviewed papers.

It’s hard to say how much running increases lifespan. To test it, you should take thousands of people, tell half to run, and then follow everyone for years while making sure they follow their instructions. That’s not easy, and even...

We could be a lot better at taking care of ourselves.

Here are some things I'd like to know about how to live my life: 1. If I eat Brussels sprouts for dinner tonight instead of pizza, how much longer do I live (in expectation, in minutes)? 2. What should I...

Why you shouldn't torture yourself when training to run.

I used to think the people I saw running were insane. They were confused about life. Whatever the benefits of running, nothing could justify that much suffering. Runners were cut from a different cloth. They had a strength of will...