RRR29: The Art of Steelmanning, New Appetizer Alert, Pub Corner, Saying No, Air Travel Safety, and Otherworldly Ja Morant Greatness
🤖🧀🦃🍻🚫✈🧷🏀
Do you genuinely seek to understand viewpoints that challenge and threaten your own?
*It’s okay if you don’t — this is a safe space*
BUT — let me make the case that you should try and get into the habit.
“Steelmanning” — that is, crafting or understanding the strongest possible form of the oppositions argument, will help you understand your own argument’s quality at an intimate level. It will illuminate deficiencies, ultimately leading to better ideas
It’s a good way to enhance the quality of your conversations and persuade others to see things differently
When we skip the hard, and sometimes ego-bruising work of making the case for the opposition, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to actually strengthen our own position over time. By successfully arguing against ourselves, we can find ways to improve upon the quality of our ideas.
There is so much nuance available that could disrupt the frameworks for how we think about the world.
Why should we shy away from that?
Well, many would argue there only exists so much time and mental energy.
If we deeply considered every opposing perspective, we could be stuck in an intellectually curious but deeply unproductive loop for most of our lives, never acting on our own convictions.
Additionally, some views have been so thoroughly debunked that engaging with them could be an irresponsible waste of time. It could even lend credence to harmful ideas that are better buried for eternity.
I can say many things about those viewpoints, but I can’t say that they aren’t in some form pragmatic. In some cases, they are absolutely correct.
Yet, that very impulse to preserve mental capacity and not stoop to the level of seriously discussing the merits of bad ideas has led to so many problems throughout history.
When dangerous schools of thought emerge / resurface, it is not sufficient to ignore them or even suppress them — more often than not, they need to be considered, debated, and blasted away by more compelling, thoughtfully conceived ideas.
Think about a meaningful conversation you've had where someone you respect helped to change your perspective on something important.
Surely, it wasn’t because they misrepresented your argument and dismissed it without proper consideration.
More likely, they demonstrated complete understanding for your position before carefully explaining why they saw things differently.
In Recent Times…
We hosted some family for Thanksgiving back in Connecticut and I signed up to make an appetizer.
Not only that, but I promised to deliver something a little different than what we would normally pick on before the turkey. Most years we have a charcuterie board, but everyone wanted to try something new.
What I ended up making was simple, delicious, and quite fun to prepare because it has a lot of room for creativity:
What you’re looking at are some phyllo cups filled with a few different cheeses and some assorted flavor enhancers.
The three cheese I used were:
Brie (my favorite because its flavor profile leaves the most room for fun additions)
Hot honey goat cheese
Cranberry goat cheese
The cranberry goat cheese cups got left plain and simple because the cheese was so distinct in it’s flavor, I didn’t want to mess with it.
The hot honey cups received the occasional apple wedge and dollop of organic honey
The Brie, however, came in several different variations!
Roasted pecan with thyme
Apple wedges dusted with cinnamon
Dark chocolate shavings
“Christmas spice” crushed pecans
Plain with a dab of moms homemade cranberry sauce
I’ll definitely be bringing these back in the future because of how fun and easy they were to make.
All you need to do is stuff the cups (be gentle), add your toppings, and bake them for 6-8 minutes on 375 👨🍳👌.
I’ll circle back after Christmas with a much bigger food section here, as I’ll be helping spearhead a classic seven-fishes meal to welcome some special guests for the holiday.
Content of the Week - Pub Edition 🍻
My love for great pubs grows stronger with each experience. It’s each year around this time that I find myself wanting to slink into a good barstool or booth seat, and have a greasy meal with a Guinness beer.
That cozy and warm pub vibe is truly a beautiful antidote to the cold and dark of winter.
Pub & Kitchen - Philadelphia
By happenstance, I met the head chef of an incredibly popular restaurant in my neighborhood the other day.
As we were talking, he told me I should check out another place that he’s involved in — a pub on Lombard street.
The atmosphere was awesome. Everyone in the building was warm & friendly, the food was delicious, and as the night went on they played some great music to sing along to.
Not to mention, the double cheeseburger on the menu was a solid way to combat the soreness I was feeling in my legs after a long hoop session at the gym 😅.
The Pubs of London
Around this time last year, I would occasionally visit some of the pubs in the Hackney neighborhood of London.
I really miss it there 😢.
One thing that struck me about pub culture in London is that they close way too early. I remember last call at the Barley Mow being at 9PM one Thursday night!
It either forces people to call it a night prematurely, or get their beer drinking started quite early.
The typical bar in the U.S. that is closest to resembling a British pub is probably a “dive bar”, but those often times don’t quite have the same vibe.
A lot of dives I’ve been to are places to shoot darts and play billiards more than they are to share conversation over a couple of pints. Often, the music is too loud for that.
Yet, the biggest difference between the pubs of London and the ones in the U.S is your bill — it’s not customary to leave big tips in England for drinks, and a pint is much more reasonably priced than what you’d find in big cities in the U.S.
Pub & Kitchen didn’t have cheap beer…
Anyways — if you’re somewhere cold, grab some friends or family and head to a pub. It really does put a dent in that permafrost you feel in your bones during the winter time.
The Power of “No”
***Trigger warning*** — the thought of saying no to one of life’s infinite options cause me a lot of stress and even a bit of anxiety. Yet, that’s exactly what most of us must do to live better and more fulfilling lives.
“No” can be a bad word. It can mean rejection, it can be negative, it can be hurtful.
But it can also be a magic word, creating space for amazing joy and fulfilment.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, as I’ve felt my level of productivity hitting levels that I’m quite happy with.
What was I doing differently?
I started accepting that saying no, sometimes to others but mostly to myself, was a prerequisite to ensuring I accomplished what was truly important to me.
When I said no, I found myself operating in acres of uninterrupted space, without a distraction in sight.
When I acknowledged that I’m an imperfect creature, who has impulses that actually don’t serve my best interest all the time, I started making better decisions about how to spend my time.
A new podcast dropped that sounds really interesting. I want to listen while I make dinner.
No!
How about instead, I focus more on what I’m doing in the moment, and allow my brain the space to have a creative thought or two rather than be preoccupied consuming endless information?
I suppose a good analogy would be to the pruning of a plant — cutting back certain branches to allow more space for other ones to flourish.
The fun part about saying no is it can and should also pertain to being “productive” in any given moment.
Life wouldn’t be much fun if we were hyper-focused on squeezing every ounce of accomplishment out of every opportunity we have.
Often, touching some grass or kicking-it with friends is the best way to spend our precious time.
Just remember, saying no is saying yes to something else — and saying yes is saying no to something else.
Air Travel Safety in the U.S. ✈
Any sort of plane related mishap is widely publicized and discussed because it appeals to our fear.
Let’s face it, there is something deeply unbelievable about zipping through the air at 500mph in a heavy metal bird that’s carrying well over 100,000 pounds.
It is not in sync with human instincts for safety.
But, while plane fear still heavily grips us as a society, I think it’s important to call out the downright absurd safety statistics associated with air travel in the U.S.
For starters, a U.S. airline hasn’t crashed since 2009. Look at how far we’ve gone since then…
I was not aware that no US airline had crashed in the past 15 years. And I didn’t realize what an incredible safety record this represents, given how many people are boarding flights every day.
More importantly, this shows us how very safe we can make technologies if we want to.
One key reason for the safety improvement in the US airline industry was the open sharing of data. US airlines started to openly share information about all incidents that risked passenger safety with each other. This made it possible for everyone to learn from the aggregate of all incidents rather than just the incidents each airline encountered themselves.
Ja Morant Knocks Off The Celtics On The Road 🔥🔥🔥
My goodness, I am so happy to see Ja Morant back thriving again in the NBA.
Last night, he absolutely took it to the defending champs and current favorites to win another NBA title, the Boston Celtics.
He did so in Boston, no less.
What even is that double (maybe triple?) clutch layup in the second highlight?
One thing I’ve been thinking about is just how gifted of a passer he is.
With just average NBA talent on your team, Ja Morant could make you a top five offense due to his considerable ability to handle the ball, at full speed, and make any pass on the floor while in full motion.
It’s all made possible by his unbelievable athleticism
Sure enough, just look how the Grizzlies offense is stacking up this year:
Simply put, Ja is the complete package when it comes to NBA superstardom.
He has the highlight reel handles, the incredible athleticism to make highlight defensive plays, and he’s polished enough to lead his team to play consistent winning basketball. He’s also letting the other teams hear about it most of the time 😂.
Oh yeah, and he pulls these dunks out of nowhere with regularity…