Venkatesh G. Rao Quotes

#1. truth is also about increasing moral minimalism. As you learn more, you should have less need for moral opinions. Or

Venkatesh G. Rao

#2. Reflection is a dangerous pastime. It can lead you to rewrite your past, alter how you see your present, and tempt you down paths you never imagined you would explore.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#3. for every complex question, there is an answer that is simple, elegant and wrong.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#4. What critics miss, however, is that there is no such thing as non-narrative thought, free of possible worlds and ongoing enactments. There are always multiple narratives at work, framing our perceptions, memories, active thoughts, decisions and actions.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#5. Your most stable beliefs, the ones that actually modulate your behavior, aren't about life purposes; they are about momentum management. You are more likely to switch religions than to switch from an impatient to a patient temperament.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#6. So revenge is obviously a deeply messed-up expression of vindictiveness. It is hard to even call it "evil." It is just plain insanity. A result of deeply messed-up thinking.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#7. beliefs create or constrain possibilities, desires lead to preferences among them, and intentions represent commitments to specific courses of action. Each of the primitive elements can evolve in time, which is why mental models have momentum.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#8. The process of planning is very valuable, for forcing you to think hard about what you are doing, but the actual plan that results from it is probably useless.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#9. As writers like to remark, books are never finished, they are merely abandoned. This acceptance of necessary expediency leads to the increasing doubt and anxiety characteristic of the last hours before the first significant encounter with reality: the separation event.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#10. To be slightly evil is to embrace life.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#11. Most people recognize that many blue-collar jobs pay more than white-collar jobs. Few act on that recognition.

Venkatesh G. Rao

#12. learning helps us increase our store of usable information and lower risk.

Venkatesh G. Rao