50th ea lifestyles post!!!!!!!
top posts roundup :)
It’s a little bit shocking, but this week I am publishing my 50th substack post! Genuinely can’t believe I’ve posted this many articles in under a year.
To celebrate, here’s a list of the 6 most liked posts in EA Lifestyles history:
(tied for 3rd) my EA origin story
wanted: generous friends
I smiled gratefully at the gold-painted woman who offered me a platter of grapes. I grabbed a bunch, tucked my feet underneath me on the couch, and frowned as I watched the costumed dancers and munched on my snack. As great as this party was - two DJs, elaborate decorations and a hot tub, all on a boat on the Thames - something just didn’t feel right.
(tied for 3rd) I am Canadian and kind of British and Christian and EA and …
keep your identity massive
There’s this Paul Graham essay that way too many of my friends are obsessed with called “Keep Your Identity Small”. He concludes, “The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.” Let’s get something out of the way first: I think a lot of people in my circles misinterpret this essay. I don’t think Paul is saying you should just ditch the…
(tied for 3rd) there are too many movies about Sam Bankman-Fried!
here's what we know about the planned ftx movies
In early 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried was a mood. A new EA billionaire driving his Corolla around the Bahamas? What’s not to like?! And then in November we found at that he’s (allegedly) been stealing customer deposits. After an interview with Kelsey Piper, it’s not even obvious if he ever believed in the values he talked about.
(tied for 3rd) I just really like parties
seven shockingly specific ea party themes
Traffic Light Party - wear red if your p(doom) is >20%, green if it's
Dank EA Memes - will you dress as Qualy, Julian wearing a shrimp costume with three women listening attentively, or Eliezer Yudkowsky’s hat collection?
Rieslings and Persons - serve a derek parfait mid-evening
2. I read this whole book in 4 days just for you
every mention of ea in "going infinite"
He devotes several pages to talking about Peter Singer, Toby Ord and Will MacAskill, and the early version of 80,000 Hours Will was promoting on his visit to Harvard. As far as I can tell, Lewis basically gets those things right. And then he included a quote from Will that completely blew my mind:
“The demographics of who this appeals to are the demographics of a physics PhD program,” he said. “The levels of autism ten times the average. Lots of people on the spectrum.”
1. stop talking about p(doom) at parties!!
I don't want to talk about ai
like any good ea, I try to have a scout mindset. I don’t like to lie to myself or to other people. I try to be open to changing my mind. but that kind of intellectual honesty only works if you don’t get punished for being honest. in order to think clearly about a topic, all of the potential outcomes have to be okay - otherwise you just end up with mental gymnastics trying to come up with the answer you want.
If you’d like to support EA Lifestyles (but at a slightly reduced price!), there’s a discount currently available. Paid subscribers do get the occasional frivolous post as a thank you, but that’s not why they sign up. It’s normally when they’re reading and think to themselves, I’m really glad this newsletter exists. They’re creating the EA community they want to be part of.
And if you’re a student or otherwise low income, unlock all paywalled posts for free with this link.
Thank you for reading! Which was your favourite not-top-six post? (Personally, I think the Qualy interview was criminally underrated.)