Saturday, 10 October 2026

Seth's Blog : Productive dissatisfaction

When focused on the things we can change, dissatisfaction is a powerful tool. Accepting everything else–the parts we can't or won't change–reserves our energy for the places where it's useful. The tricky part is telling them apart and then focusing ...
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Productive dissatisfaction

When focused on the things we can change, dissatisfaction is a powerful tool.

Accepting everything else–the parts we can’t or won’t change–reserves our energy for the places where it’s useful.

The tricky part is telling them apart and then focusing our agency and leverage on the useful.

Solving problems for others is how we create value.

        

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Friday, 9 October 2026

Seth's Blog : Thin friction and thicker walls

Civilized culture is based on a thin sort of friction. You don't yell at the library, act boorish at a restaurant or hassle a minor celebrity at the supermarket. It's just not done. The result of these human layers and inferences are cues and norms that ...
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Thin friction and thicker walls

Civilized culture is based on a thin sort of friction. You don’t yell at the library, act boorish at a restaurant or hassle a minor celebrity at the supermarket. It’s just not done.

The result of these human layers and inferences are cues and norms that add up to a connected, generative society.

Add selfish hustle, AI agents and cheap bots, and the thin friction is insufficient. They can multiply exponentially, care little about being shunned and have no interest in their reputation.

Fake sincerity is now cheap. Interchangeable identities subvert a generations-long tradition of owning your words and your actions.

You’ll miss the thin friction when it’s gone, replaced by taller, thicker walls. You might already be noticing it.

Interactivity and permeability to those we don’t know well were largely overlooked foundations in the creation of learning, science and culture. We figured out a scalable approach to “knock knock, who’s there” but now it’s going away.

You won’t be able to knock unless you’re invited first. Of course, the invitation will probably be filtered out.

        

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