ftlsid

for every negative emotion there is a positive, non-attached counterpart. eg: I'm afraid of AI -> I am grateful for the life I have lived so far, I am honored to be human, I would not feel comfortable betting against a lineage that has survived continuously for two billion years

there are four main kinds of psychological transformation that I've experienced: 1. safety: I feel afraid -> some greater power has my back 2. vitality: I am weakened or overwhelmed -> there is more energy available to me than I thought there was 3. identity: I want to be seen for some characteristic -> noticing the beauty of something with that characteristic 4. grief: it is terrible that something has been lost forever -> I will honor its memory

one of the fundamental consequences of social conditioning is that most people evaluate emotions as if they must be fair to other people, and often repress them if they are not

people often talk about "stuck" emotions, but I think of it more like a feedback loop in a control system. if you suppress anger habitually, then the system figures that it needs to turn the anger up for anything to happen, until eventually you have uncontrollable outbursts

I finally watched the AlphaGo documentary. more than anything else I came away with a deep respect for Lee Sedol