Welcome to my second brain!

My name’s Yurui.

I live in Cambridge, MA, but I still call Sydney, Australia home. I’m currently studying at Harvard College for my undergrad degree, intending to concentrate in Math and Classics.

On my website, I share some of my thoughts. I like thinking about various parts of the human condition, with particular interests in philosophy of mind, normative approaches to decision making, game theory (especially poker), epistemology, workout optimisation for hypertrophy, and the preservation of stories through great art, poetry, and literature (particular of the Roman Empire).

I have two younger brothers. Perhaps one day they’ll stumble across this site, despite their older brother living halfway across the world from them.

Why do I write?

I think that writing is an incredible means of capturing thoughts and preserving them, with the ability to transcends time and space.

Ideas also have the power to attract people who agree with you and disagree, hopefully inviting open-minded discourse.

How do I learn?

  • 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, while meditating, and in my journal

  • Observing - people don’t do this enough nowadays

Oftentimes I look back at my previous work and cringe at how naive I was - but now I understand that cringing at oneself is a sign of growth. I’m sure I’ll be cringing at myself, months, years, and decades down the line. I guess I’m trying to make my peace with it.

Why do I write informally?

I try to think of my blog as a means of recording thoughts I’d usually share with friends.

The point of philosophy is to convey ideas that can be understood by audiences. (h/t 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 hope that philosophy will be more accessible one day.