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Saturday, February 14, 2026

14: Elon Musk

Taste by Paul Graham When they like something, they have no idea why. .......... It could be because it's beautiful, or because their mother had one, or because they saw a movie star with one in a magazine, or because they know it's expensive. Their thoughts are a tangle of unexamined impulses. ...................... Saying that taste is just personal preference is a good way to prevent disputes. The trouble is, it's not true. You feel this when you start to design things. ................ Good design is simple. You hear this from math to painting. In math it means that a shorter proof tends to be a better one. Where axioms are concerned, especially, less is more. It means much the same thing in programming. For architects and designers it means that beauty should depend on a few carefully chosen structural elements rather than a profusion of superficial ornament. ........ In writing it means: say what you mean and say it briefly. .......... When you're forced to be simple, you're forced to face the real problem. When you can't deliver ornament, you have to deliver substance. .............. Good design is timeless. In math, every proof is timeless unless it contains a mistake. So what does Hardy mean when he says there is no permanent place for ugly mathematics? He means the same thing Kelly Johnson did: if something is ugly, it can't be the best solution. There must be a better one, and eventually someone will discover it. ................... if you can make something that appeals to people today and would also have appealed to people in 1500, there is a good chance it will appeal to people in 2500. ........... Good design is suggestive. Jane Austen's novels contain almost no description; instead of telling you how everything looks, she tells her story so well that you envision the scene for yourself. .................... Everyone makes up their own story about the Mona Lisa. ......... a good building, for example, will serve as a backdrop for whatever life people want to lead in it, instead of making them live as if they were executing a program written by the architect. ...................

Sat-Chit-Ananda A first-principles discussion of the key Vedantic idea of sat-chit-ananda.

The Race to Measure Aging—And Why It Matters

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