Welcome to my second brain!
My name’s Yurui. I’m currently solo backpacking Europe, on a gap year between HS and college
I’ll be studying a mix of CS, Applied Maths, and Philosophy at Harvard later this year for my undergrad degree
I’m currently editing this page on my phone in the middle of Vienna. Apologies for the unaesthetic formatting which I will get to when I have access to a laptop!
Here, I share some thoughts which I think might interest others.
I like thinking about various parts of the human condition and am probably too reflective for my own good. In particular, I’m interested in cognitive biases, AI ethics, metaphysics + epistemology, workout optimisation for hypertrophy, and how humans summon inhuman willpower to success.
I have two younger brothers. Maybe one day they’ll stumble across this site - despite their older brother living halfway across the world from them, maybe they’ll learn something new.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will experience a success unimagined in common hours.”
Why do I write?
I’ve always thought that writing was one of the highest forms of human expression.
It transcends time and space.It’s how one clarifies hazy thoughts into logical, cogent threads.
The ideas portrayed in writing can attract and engage both like-minded people and those with dissonant perspectives. I think that being open-minded yet rational when listening to others’ worldviews is one of my favourite ways to learn.
I hope my thoughts are a source of healthy brain food for the curious.
How do I learn?
Radical open-mindedness - towards ideas and experiences, understanding dissonant worldviews
Biasing towards action - ideas are worthless otherwise
Finding tribes and communities of like-minded, curious people
Consuming books, podcasts, articles, quotes, and speeches
Reflecting - at the gym, during meditation, and in my journal
Observing the world - people don’t do this enough nowadays
Why do I write so informally?
I don’t think of my blog as writing, but rather recording what I’d usually say to friends.
The point of philosophy is to convey ideas that can be understood by audiences. (Philosophy Has Lost Its Way)
Socrates famously believed that everyone should be a philosopher, and advocated for people of all backgrounds to study and talk about it. He likely observed that the real philosophers were the everyday people that could clearly communicate their struggles, and not the intellectual elite that spewed gibberish to put themselves on a pedestal.
I hate jargon - I hope that philosophy will be more accessible one day.
I love it when my ideas are challenged.
It would be incredibly dull if everyone had the same worldview.
Understanding unique opinions and personal contexts is an amazing way to learn - one of the best positive sum games.
If you’d like to chat, I do too.
Get in Touch →
“The good learn from everyone and everything, the average only from themselves, and the stupid already know everything.”