Word vomits!

hello I am starting “word vomits”. I just want to focus on writing, to take part in intellectual discourse, and find a way to post my things lightly. Like learning and writing seem to me like the most meaningful things I can do with time. I know that if I publish often, if I find a way to write more finished pieces, it will be more fun and I will think better and maybe most importantly… I will find more friends who are interested in similar stuff. Expect the range of topics similar to regular programming so: anything from cognitive biases, mental models, coordination—to ai, love, wellbeing, untangling self—to more personal stuff!

I aspire to be a little unhinged (oops… scary). I admire people who express themselves courageously in life. That said, I also want to do so with respect to others and love for creation. Saying truth regardless seems to me like one of the most important qualities in the idea space.

The truth doesn’t lie in the middle, truth lies where it lies.
(from Polish: Prawda nie leży pośrodku, prawda leży tam, gdzie leży.)
—Władysław Bartoszewski

I think we have an elephant in the brain. There is a lot of stuck knowledge, or a lot of people with beliefs that are stuck (me included, hello!)—fundamentally stuck around our identities and around what we perceive will bring us love and resources (these are often not conscious processes, again read this fantastic book Elephant in the Brain). I believe burning witches for the wrong beliefs is not a thing of the past but a design of our minds, and feature of our discourse all around the political spectrum. And this is also an emergent force: our networks, peer groups exert pressure to think in a certain way. What I will say here may sound weird to some. I want to be inclusive in the way I write, inviting to people who think differently or come from different contexts, but I am also okay if what I think will auto-select off some people (oops… scary)

I intend not to use LLMs aside from spell/grammar check. See my Sophie txt prompt that I use often.

The main unburdening that I want from this, alongside a couple of others, is to be able to post something quite complex, and if I have uncertainty around it, if I don’t know fully how to phrase it, describe it, if things don’t fully glue together, I will just work around it by describing my IFs. And maybe I will just say, Oh, yep, something doesn’t fully square here, but it seems important, my mind somehow comes back to this, please let me know how to think better around it? So treat all of my word vomits as drafts. I also may improve some posts after publishing or repost them later.

Word vomits is a sub-section of “Pawel world” Substack and at least for now I am not subscribing anybody to it. Hello zero readers :) :) :) Also, people who subscribe to my Substack won’t be automatically added to it. That said, feel free to subscribe to it, but lowest-of-low-quality warning! hihi

Also, another intention is to write as freely as I write to a few close friends on iMessage. Like stylistically there is a fire there. I know that when I don’t think this is going to be a big write-up, my style is better, lighter, fresher, quicker, clearer.

Lately, my writing has been influenced by Kaj Sotala’s piece proposing to write the way people do Ultraspeaking. Let’s see where it takes me.

Oh and the name “word vomits” is from Visa. I am inspired by his creative process, by the way he partakes in the idea exchange: lightly but with high commitment and high volume. Read more here Compelling projects or in his fantastic spell FRIENDLY AMBITIOUS NERD v1.0. I want more of Visa energy in my creative lajf.

I am creating this to connect to people interested in similar things, so disagree, ask questions, say hallo, or post links!