🌅 Limits of the Human (#10)

This semester, I’m taking a humanities seminar called “The Limits of the Human.”

The course examines works of literature from authors such as Mary Shelley, Kazuo Ishiguro, Octavia Butler, and Sigmund Freud, with the goal of exploring what happens as we approach the limits of our own imaginative, empathetic, and physical capacities.

Over the last week I’ve contemplated many of these questions - not just the subject matter of the class in “what it means to be human", but specifically what our limits are. What my limits are. In the last week, I found at least some of them.

The month since arriving back at Yale has been the busiest of my life. I’ve embraced “calendar culture”, with blue, green, and purple boxes blocking out every day from 8:30 in the morning until midnight.

I’d taken on a lot of extracurricular pursuits in addition to working on a startup and a particularly demanding academic schedule. While it’s been fun, inevitably burnout sets in.

A few days ago, I recognized that what I was doing wasn't sustainable. So I’ve moved to drop one of my more time-intensive courses for the semester. While it’s possible to participate in many things, it’s much more difficult to do them all well.

For now, I’d rather devote that time to studying fewer topics more thoroughly, and spending more time on activities beyond the classroom that I’ve been neglecting (such as Club Running).

I’m grateful for such moments of introspection. Sometimes, less is more. With more time on my plate, I’m super excited for what this semester holds in store…

🚀 Updates

My newest FreeCodeCamp course, “Google Like A Pro”, is finally publicly available on YouTube! It took around 6 months to put together, so I’m super pleased that close to 200,000 people have already taken the time to improve their search skills.
I’m starting work on a new course that will focus on prompt engineering.
Friday V3 has launched, and with it, a command palette that abstracts away much of the prompt engineering that AI tools like ChatGPT expect of a student. Check it out at friday.page
We’re working on releasing a mobile app version of Friday, so keep on the lookout for that!

💭 Thoughts

(3 things I've been thinking about this month)

Tress's "Shower Thoughts”: I talk about shower thoughts, the novel “Tress of the Emerald Sea”, and how we can use our time more wisely.
A Week in Silicon Valley: I recap insights from my January trip to the Bay Area for an entrepreneurial fellowship.
Social Media Will Bet Big on “Friendly”: Social apps are growing more specific. I discuss how the trend of "friendlier" social media may be the next big thing.

👍 Recs

(2 articles, 2 novels, 2 videos, 2 tv/movies)

🗞 Is AI the new Crypto?
🗞 All my classes suddenly became AI classes
📗 “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari
📘 “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson
📺 Boston Dynamics - Atlas gets a grip
📺 How airports make money
🎬 "TÁR” by Todd Field
🎬 “The Menu” by Mark Mylod

Thanks for reading :)

Feel free to share this newsletter with your friends, or subscribe!

This is the first edition of PrintInPublic sent with my new newsletter service, SendInBlue, after Elon shut down Revue. If you didn't see this in your inbox or it arrived in spam, add the email to your known contacts!