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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Their wordsthe safest way to try and get what you want is to try and deserve what you want.
Our reading
Acquiring wisdom is a moral duty and not only something done to advance in life
Mental modelLearning machine
Their wordswisdom acquisition is a moral duty. It’s not something you do just to advance in life. Wisdom acquisition is a moral duty.
Our reading
Advancing in life depends more on what one learns later than on what one already knows
Mental modelLearning machine
Their wordsYou are not going to get very far in life based on what you already know. You’re going to advance in life by what you’re going to learn after you leave here.
Our reading
Mental modelLearning machine
Their wordsI constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they got up and boy does that help—particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.
Our reading
Mental modelMany models, not one
Their wordsAnd it doesn’t help you just to know them enough just so you can prattle them back on an exam and get an A. You have to learn these things in such a way that they’re in a mental latticework in your head and you automatically use them for the rest of your life.
Their wordsThose of you who have mastered algebra know that inversion frequently will solve problems which nothing else will solve. And in life, unless you’re more gifted than Einstein, inversion will help you solve problems that you can’t solve in other ways.
Our reading
Sloth and unreliability are what to avoid: an unreliable person craters whatever their virtues
Their wordsSuch an easy answer: sloth and unreliability.
Our reading
Mental modelYour own biases
Their wordsI’m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it.” I think only when I reach that stage am I qualified to speak.
Their wordsGenerally speaking, envy, resentment, revenge, and self-pity are disastrous modes of thought. Self-pity gets pretty close to paranoia and paranoia is one of the very hardest things to reverse. You do not want to drift into self-pity.
Our reading
One has to allow for the self-serving bias of everybody else, and failing to do so is foolish
Mental modelIncentives
Their wordsYou also have to allow for the self-serving bias of everybody else, because most people are not gonna remove it all that successfully, the only condition being what it is. If you don’t allow for self-serving bias in your conduct, again, you’re a fool.
Our reading
Objectivity maintenance routines are totally required for correct thinking
Mental modelYour own biases
Their wordsobjectivity maintenance routines are totally required in life if you’re going to be a correct thinker.
Our reading
Mental modelYour own biases
Their wordsChecklist routines avoid a lot of errors. You should have all this elementary wisdom and then you should go through and have a checklist in order to use it. There is no other procedure that will work as well.
Our reading
Mental modelCircle of competence
Their wordsIn this world, we have two kinds of knowledge. One is Planck knowledge—the people who really know. They’ve paid the dues, they have the aptitude. Then, we’ve got chauffeur knowledge—they have learned to prattle the talk and they have a big head of hair. They may have fine timbre in the voice. They really make a hell of an impression. But in the end, they’ve got chauffeur knowledge.
Their wordsThe highest form that civilization can reach is a seamless web of deserved trust. Not much procedure, just totally reliable people correctly trusting one another.
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