Announcing not not Talmud – and my move to Substack
From now on, I ll be posting new blogs on my new Substack: not not Talmud (https://notnottalmud.substack.com/)
Daniel Frank
Frankly Speaking
Latest posts
Notes on Taiwan
Before I start telling you about my recent trip to Taiwan, I’ll share a few anecdotes,
underrated regions vs overrated countries: how being a ‘country’ impacts travel desirability
For people who travel a lot, there is always the question of: where is the next
musings on adversarial capitalism
I ve lately been writing a series on modern capitalism. You can read these other blog posts
what road bikes reveal about progress
There s a common story we tell about innovation — that it s a relentless march across the
Artisanal Slop Bowls as the next abstraction of capitalism
[Note: I m not happy with how this essay turned out, but this space is meant to
do we really want to be 10x better or 95th percentile?
There s a phenomenon in the corners of the internet I frequent. Every few months, someone writes
how an efficient market feels from the inside
“I often think of the time I met Scott Sumner and he said he pretty much
why I’m worried about an Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia and think you should be too
I’ve become increasingly concerned about the prospect of an Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia and here’s why
the deep feelings of politics and society
We all feel different things. There’s an anecdote about Derek Parfit watching a video of Hitler
On the importance of preserving and curating content
Great content is an incredible gift to the world. The people who create it—the writers, musicians,
On America
The first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency have been the most consequential period of
deconstructing arguments against AI art
Something I ve been surprised by is just how fierce opposition to AI art has been. To
in defence of “souls”
Up until fairly recently, I used to pray for the things I really wanted in life.
musings on death I find persuasive but unhelpful
I’ve been thinking lately about a line from one of my favourite movies, When Harry Met
On Miles Davis, talent, and innovation
I ve been thinking a lot lately about Miles Davis, innovation, and genius specifically about how
the loss of magic: why Bob Dylan can’t write great songs anymore
The hipsters aren’t wrong: most musicians really were better when they were younger, especially on their
Every niche event should also be a meetup
I was just at a Tyler Cowen lecture in NYC — one of my heroes and
a taxonomy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Imagine you re the CEO of a major ride-share company. Someone accuses your organization of sexism, pointing
there is no progress in art: why jazz musicians are like gold miners
Since I moved to NYC last month, I ve been seeing a lot of concerts. Some of
most businesses don’t work that way
If you re not paying for the product, you re the product has become a popular line people
Why are intellectual podcasts so bad?
There seems to be an endless supply of intellectual podcasts available now, and on paper, this
a short rant on culture
One comment that frustrates me, which I’ve been hearing a lot lately since I moved from
Personal reflections on moving from Canada to NYC
I m moving from Canada to New York City this week, and I m having a mini-existential crisis.
Why good things often don’t lead to better outcomes
Many people believe that when something good happens, positive outcomes naturally follow — but I m here
Extreme Jewish Brain: A Reflection on Why Judaism Means So Much to Me
I. A lot of people are very surprised to learn that Judaism is such an important
How to get the benefit of a high-end fitness tracker without actually buying one
To borrow a classic rationalist idea: if you know you re going to change your mind about
things that confuse me about the current AI market
Since the release of ChatGPT, at least 17 companies, according to the Chatbot Arena Leaderboard, have
maybe knowing too much about others isn’t so great
A few years ago, I saw this Wait But Why Cartoon that perfectly encapsulated a phenomenon
Twitter as the embodiment of the American ethos
In the nerdy corners of the internet where I spend time, Twitter has become the dominant
The Challenge of Building New Cities: Inside The Satmar Hassidic Takeover of Bloomingburg
[This is the story of how a community of Hassidic Jews, through subterfuge and electoral fraud,
Why I talk about utopia, not politics
When hanging out with my nerdier internet friends, conversations about politics, policy, or the overall direction
Cocaine, Kim Jong-un, and BlackRock: why It’s good to reflect on boycotts
One of the recurring themes on this blog is the exploration of small, often overlooked actions
winning isn’t everything: the case for infinite games and functional decision theory
[As an adult, I ve come to believe that being consistently kind, compassionate, and selfless—as we re taught
musings on feedback — and Tyler Cowen’s Straussian rating system
I find the idea of rating systems and evaluation to be interesting. On the surface, they
Why (most) people don’t learn about the world on Twitter: the case for intellectual dark matter
[(After smugly criticizing Jane Austen) What Jane Austen novels have you read? None. I don t read
A meditation on meaning: what Tea Leaf Green had but JRAD doesn’t
Live music is a very, very important part of my life. I m going to tell a
Music that helps me feel a sense of beauty in the world
Experiencing beauty is a very important part of how I derive meaning in my life. I
The wisdom of Scott Sumner: my favourite (non-econ) Scott Sumner blog posts
Scott Sumner is best known as an economist who was praised for positively influencing economic policy
Yes, you too, reader, should believe you may be world-class
[Something I’ve struggled with in my adult life is truly internalizing that I’m exceptionally great at