AI is a process to convert solar energy to intelligence

 The observation that a child's relentless pursuit of novelty and stimulus mirrors a startup's radical growth strategy, while a mature adult's focus on health and preservation reflects a blue-chip company's caution, reveals a profound, recurring pattern in life and business. It speaks to a universal "life cycle of ambition," determined by the changing calculus of risk, resource, and time. The core tension lies between two opposing forces: Advancement (the Drive for Stimulus) and Preservation (the Strategy of Mitigation). 1. The Child and the Startup: The Sovereignty of Stimulus A child operates under a philosophy of pure acquisition. Their goal is not to preserve their current state, but to experience, acquire new skills, and constantly change their environment. They crave external stimulus, fun, and variation; they are inherently aggressive and advancing . The Child's Calculus: “What can I do next? How can I be bigger, faster, or see something new?” ...

 The human urge for certainty is perhaps our strongest driver, yet it is forever at odds with the nature of reality. This profound tension is beautifully illustrated by two seemingly disparate acts: an insurance underwriter reviewing a medical report, and an individual considering a life partner by discreetly assessing the health status of their parents. The core parallel is this: Commitment is contingent upon comprehensive, pre-vetting information. An insurance company must see the full medical history before pricing a policy, seeking to eliminate what is known as information asymmetry —the unfair advantage the client holds regarding their own health. Similarly, checking the family health history of a potential partner is a form of personal underwriting, a desire to price in the future risks of care and longevity. But this analogy immediately throws open a core philosophical challenge that applies universally, from a multi-billion dollar investment decision to a lifelong vow: Do w...

 For a long time, I assumed that daylight changes in a simple, linear way—that each day gains or loses roughly the same amount of sunlight. It turns out this intuition is wrong. The change is decidedly non-linear . Around the winter and summer solstice , sunrise and sunset times barely move. Day after day, the clock seems almost frozen. Yet around the spring and autumn equinox , the change accelerates dramatically. A few days can shift daylight by many minutes. This small astronomical fact offers a surprisingly powerful lens for understanding human nature, investing, and life itself. Our Linear Bias in a Non-Linear Reality Human beings are wired to think linearly. We expect steady progress, gradual decline, proportional cause and effect. Linear thinking feels safe because it is predictable. But the real world—biological, financial, and social—is anything but linear. Daylight does not change evenly. Neither does life. We do not age at a constant rate. There are cliffs rather t...

  We often think clarity comes from making quick judgments—deciding what is good, what is bad, what is success, what is failure. The mind craves labels because labels create the illusion of control. Yet that same impulse can become the biggest thief of inner peace and performance. There is a counterintuitive truth shared by athletes, philosophers, meditators, and investors alike: To stay in the zone, one must resist the instinct to judge. This is not passivity; it is mastery. 1. Non-Judgment: The Gateway to Presence Every moment presents an event: a missed shot, a lost trade, a colleague’s comment, a sudden setback. The event itself is neutral—simply what happens . But the mind immediately overlays meaning: “This is bad.” “I’m failing.” “Why does this always happen to me?” This psychological reflex is ancient. Humans evolved to make snap judgments to survive threats. But modern performance environments—tennis courts, financial markets, meeting rooms—are not tiger-infested ju...

If you’ve ever wondered why your sleep gets mysteriously better in winter, you’re not alone. As the days shorten and the temperature drops, many people notice they fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up feeling… well, almost bear-like. And that might not be a coincidence. 1. The Winter Sleep Upgrade: A Hint of Hibernation in Our DNA Our bodies are wired to respond to light and temperature. In winter, the darker evenings cue our circadian rhythm to wind down earlier, while the cooler air nudges our bodies toward deeper sleep. Add in an evolutionary whisper—some faint echo of the hibernation instincts we share with other mammals—and suddenly your desire to knock out at 9:30 p.m. feels perfectly legitimate. No, we don’t crawl into caves for three months (tempting), but our biology does nudge us toward more restorative rest in winter. And maybe, just maybe, that’s nature’s gentle reminder: “Slow down, human. Recharge.” 2. Winter: The Season of Sacred Boredom Winter can ...