The most obvious secret to success, thinking like an AI, and the rise and fall of 'disemvoweling'
Weekly Reads #5
Greetings, friends.
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The Most Obvious Secret to Success
| Serviceable Insights | 9 minute readFor a prolonged period of time, the sub-four minute mile was considered humanly impossible. But once it was achieved, another runner pulled it off six weeks later, and three more runners within the ensuing year. In retrospect, all it took was the notion that it could be done to remove the greater psychological barrier preventing others from following suit. In this article, Ben Saltiel likens this “iron sharpens iron” phenomenon to the mathematical concept of local/global maxima/minima.
Ben has an uncanny ability to intricately weave both mathematical concepts and popular culture (including sports) into his narrative. As a 90’s baby who was raised by a math teacher in a household where participation in sports was strongly encouraged, I resonate with his writing. This is a fun and inspiring read!
Read the full post, here.
Thinking Like an AI
| One Useful Thing | 13 minute readThese days, Large Language Models (LLMs) are rapidly and broadly being implemented—whether you’re a business seeking to unlock efficiencies or an individual looking for facts-based answers, there’s an AI solution at your fingertips. If you’re like me (a curious cat), you wonder how everything works—no matter if it’s the garbage disposal, a lava lamp, or in this case, an LLM such as ChatGPT.
As it turns out, LLMs—though highly sophisticated systems—aren’t so difficult to understand at a cursory level. At least that’s how I feel after reading Ethan’s post on the subject. In this post, Ethan runs through the nuts and bolts of LLMs and explains how it all works in a manner understandable to those (like me) who don’t necessarily have a background in computer science. If you’re curious as to the basics of what’s going on under the hood of your AI tool, this is a worthy read.
Read the full post, here.
The Rise and Fall of ‘Disemvoweling’
| Trend Mill | 7 minute readYou may recognize Stephen Moore from a previous edition of Weekly Reads. You know, the sassy, cynical, borderline nihilistic purveyor of fun cultural trends! Well, he’s back with another bit of analysis on an internet era business trend I’m sure we’ve all noticed but failed to actually take note of: companies (particularly start-ups) dropping vowels from their names. Think Grindr, Tumblr, and Flickr (among many others).
Stephen is a talented writer, and this is an incredibly insightful piece detailing precisely why the movement started, when and why it peaked, and ultimately how it’s reversed over the past few years. Though somewhat offensive in his writing demeanor at times, this is a rather benign article from a foul language standpoint. Nonetheless, it’s packed with substance and one of the more interesting reads I’ve come across on Substack recently.
Read the full post, here.
As always, thank you for reading. I look forward to sharing more of my favorite Substack reads with you—same time next Sunday.
Authentically,
Will