Episode 025 026 027 Kevin Kelly

Summary

• Kevin Kelly is a senior maverick at Wired Magazine, cofounder of the All Species Foundation, and board member of the Long Now Foundation.
• He dropped out of college after one year and traveled to Asia, giving himself a "PhD in East Asian studies".
• He believes in exploring the extremes and recommends "slack" for young people, rather than focusing on productivity.
• He supports himself by being ultrathrifty and minimal, and recommends that others try it to gain confidence and reduce anxiety.
• He did odd jobs before leaving for Asia and learned that he could be content with very little.
• Kevin Kelly developed his writing and communication skills by traveling in Asia, working odd jobs, and teaching English to Iranian pilots. He found that writing was a way for him to think and generate ideas. He also discovered that writing in a direct and concrete manner was more effective than trying to write in a literary sense. He was also inspired by stoic philosophy and the practice of voluntary simplicity. He recommends reading stoic writings and exploring the concept of volunteer simplicity.
• Kurt Vonnegut taught writing to make ends meet and looked for people passionate about specific things
• Tim Ferriss found his "voice" by writing as if composing an email to a friend after two glasses of wine
• Kevin Kelly chose not to teach English while traveling because he didn't feel like he was adding value or that it was his personality
• Kevin Kelly's realization that he should focus on things only he can do came from trying to give away ideas while editing Wired Magazine
• Life is about figuring out what your unique skill is and it will take your whole life to do so
• Kevin Kelly discusses the "creator's dilemma" which is the same as the "innovator's dilemma" the question of whether it is better to optimize strengths or invest into the unknown.
• Money is overrated and accumulating wealth is a byproduct of other things.
• Technological progress is diminishing the role of money.
• Money is a small, onedimensional thing and focusing on it can come and go.
• Experiences that money can't buy can be had with little money.
• In middle age, it is time to optimize, but this can be a difficult transition from success.
• Startups operate in an environment of low margins, low profitability, and high failure that no sane, big corporation would want to be in.
• It is better to have time than money and having friends is better than having money.
• Kevin Kelly recommends taking small steps and experimenting to find a new direction in life, rather than taking a "scorched earth" approach.
• He warns against feeling impatient and reminds that it took 37 years to get to the current point, so it may take another 30 years to get to the desired destination.
• He suggests looking at areas that bring satisfaction and retreating back to things that were enjoyed as a child.
• He mentions his own experience in Jerusalem, where he was assigned to live as if he only had six months left.
• He suggests asking the question "What would I do if I knew I were going to die at age 40?" to have the greatest impact on the greatest number of people.
• He recommends counting off fiveyear projects to get a sense of mortality and understanding that even if life is extended, there are still a limited number of fiveyear projects to do.
• Kevin Kelly discusses his views on technology, religion, and plant medicine.
• He wrote a book called What Technology Wants and is currently working on a graphic novel about angels and robots.
• He believes that when creating robots, they must be given moral guidance to prevent them from wreaking havoc.
• He believes that everyone has a spiritual orientation, even if they are atheists.
• He believes that psychedelics can be used sacramentally to elevate oneself outside of the ego and can be powerful experiences for good.
• He recommends a book and a cartoon guide for those interested in psychedelics.
• Kevin Kelly believes that to be fully human, we must have a future and look forward to it.
• He suggests thinking laterally and going sideways to make true forecasts about the future.
• Moore's Law states that technology will become better and cheaper every year, but what if that wasn't true?
• Kevin Kelly believes that the global population will drastically reduce in the next 100 years due to the demographic transition of people becoming more urban and the birth rate dropping.
• He believes that those who are privileged should have children to bestow them with opportunities and that having more than one child is a gift to them.
• Amish communities are expanding and buying up farmland in the US
• Amish have a collective approach to technology adoption, with criteria of strengthening local communities and allowing families to have meals together
• Amish have a rejection of military, evidenced by not having mustaches
• Amish are selective and decentralized in their technology adoption
• Kevin Kelly has incorporated technological sabbaticals into his own family life, inspired by the Amish
• Kevin Kelly believes that taking breaks from screens and keyboards is beneficial, not because they are toxic, but because they are so good.
• He and his family take a yearly vacation and a true sabbatical every seven years.
• He takes Saturdays off as a screenless day and can go days without checking email while traveling.
• The Long Now Foundation was established in 1996 to foster longterm thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.
• It works to encourage people to think in a generational or civilizational scale and to take longterm investments and perspectives.
• The book Kevin Kelly gifts most often is Bunko, a short graphic novel by Daniel Pink.
• Daniel Pink's Bunko is a short graphic novel aimed at young people, teaching them how to become indispensable
• Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You is recommended for those who don't know what they're passionate about, as it argues that mastery leads to passion
• Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a favorite fiction book of Kevin Kelly's, set in India and featuring a Zen criminal protagonist
• Man on Wire and King of Kong are two highly rated documentaries that Kevin Kelly recommends
• State of Mind is a documentary about North Korea's spectacles, showing the nation as a nationwide cult
• Kevin Kelly believes Jesus is the first person who comes to mind when thinking of success.
• Success is overrated and greatness is more about the impact one has on people's lives.
• Success is making your own path and not imitating anyone else.
• Kevin Kelly's morning ritual is reading the paper version of the New York Times.
• Throughout the day, Kevin Kelly varies his activities, such as reading books, going for hikes, and working in his workshop.
• Kevin Kelly has a twostory high library of books and believes that books are never as cheap as they are today and will never be as cheap again.
• He gets book recommendations from friends, podcasts, blogs, and Amazon recommendations.
• He reads a lot of nonfiction, especially howto books, and has tried many hobbies such as building stonewalls, doing origami, making beer and wine, and homeschooling his son.
• He recently built a workshop with hundreds of bins for organizing tools and materials, following the principle of first order access.
• He believes that every human should have the experience of building their own shelter, even if they don't end up living in it.
• Kevin Kelly believes that designing a house is a way to discover and become who you are.
• Finding and creating are the same in a high dimensional space.
• Kevin advises to hire professionals to do what they do well, as it is not a weakness and can help amplify what you want to do.
• Kevin suggests listening to more podcasts and recommends his book Cool Tools, which is a collection of the best tools for various tasks.
• Kevin suggests studying Asia to get a sense of the future.