I’ve shared his 2020 predictions before. Which were very prescient imo. Though he doesn’t write often, all his essays are bangers.
This one is on information hazards, which is basically information that is technically true, but socially harmful (the Biblical “for in much wisdom is much grief”).
Kids will blurt them out all the time, which is why kids can be hilarious and also chaos inducing. Or you’ll read a book that makes you a bit wiser, but also a bit sadder. Like this one (sorry).
Link: https://unpleasantfacts.com/information-hazards-in-career-and-life
Some snippets:
On an individual level, one way to frame this is the classic Matrix dilemma, where Morpheus asks Neo if he wants to take the red pill and see reality for what it is or take the blue pill and go back to believing everything is normal. Many people immediately think the red pill is the obvious option, but after taking the red pill they can no longer relate to their previous friends. And worse, having taken the red pill Neo made enemies of immensely powerful people.
Information hazards are not necessarily about red vs blue, as taking the red pill might give you superpowers. But sometimes it is more like a black pill that might give you a slightly more accurate understanding of how the world works but saps your motivation to effectively navigate it.
One type of knowledge that is often more than useless is knowledge that makes you unpopular. It might be fun to be the one to tell your classmates that Santa Claus is not real, but they will not like you for it.
One confusing fact that the existence of personal information hazards help solve is how pessimists are generally more accurate than optimists, but optimists succeed more often. About the only career in which pessimists do better is law, where understanding downside scenarios is particularly valued. Developing a bias towards optimism helps avoid focusing on information hazards that are more likely to bring you or other people down.
One aspect of social grace is developing a habit of not spewing out low-grade information hazards to people. If that is too difficult for some people, and I can relate, then being a little bit more esoteric in your speech and writings might be an alternative solution.
This one’s going in my Personal Bible for sure…