2025 update:After a long hiatus I am attempting to revive my blog. I think starting kicking off my first blog post way back in 2019 with a Nietzsche quote is… certaintly a choice, I think the sentiment still remains: I hope this blog (revival) is worthwhile to both writer and reader.

Enjoy!

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“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how” - Nietzsche

Whenever I let slip to my friends and family that I was interested in starting a blog, I was almost always asked the same question.

Why?

Apparently “for fun” wasn’t a satisfactory answer. Nor was the more accurate answer “I want to talk about the brain and robots and data all the time.” I realized if I wanted to be successful in blogging, my reason for blogging had to go deeper than fun.

Why did I start this blog?

1. To Sharpen the Saw

This idea comes from the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (summary). In order to be effective, we have to devote time to renewing ourselves in key areas of our psyche– you need to keep your saw sharp.

In a fast-paced high stress world, it is nice to have a platform and activity that is all my own. There are no barriers to entry– just me dedicating time and effort to something personal that will pay dividends even without an audience.

I am doing this for me. An audience is just a bonus.

2. To Be Who I Am Becoming

I want to be a thought leader in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. That is something I would find deeply fulfilling. This blog is a step in the right direction.

“Practice is vital in the journey of mastery. To be a master, you must fall in love with the process” - George Leonard

Continually blogging is the best strategy for cultivating mastery of the subject. Researching relevant topics will help me practice and improve. Falling in love // getting excited about blog posts will keep me motivated, improving, and learning.

I may not be the most informed researcher or the best writer, but if my content is interesting/useful to me hopefully others will feel the same way.

Information is so widely available now that it would be a missed opportunity not to try to take advantage. Becoming adept at learning outside of the classroom is crucial to success.

“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune” - Jim Rohn

3. To Keep Myself Accountable

All of this is all talk unless I actually do something about it.

Setting good goals and keeping myself accountable is 80% of the work it takes for me to finish a project or start a new habit. If I have to produce results or hit metrics for someone to see, I am WAY more likely to succeed in my endeavor.

“Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to result” - Bob Proctor

Becoming an expert in CogSci/AI is my goal. This blog is my deliverable. Producing consistent, high quality, and easy to digest content is my metric for success.

4. To Start

Starting is the hardest part of anything. Writing this first post was hard. I kept second guessing my word-choice, my tone, and my style. But really those are trivial concerns in comparison to actually producing content.

“My pencils are sharp enough. Even the dull ones will make a mark” - Ze Frank

Actually here is Ze Frank’s Invocation for Beginnings speech, one of my all time favorites. It is incredible:

What I love about Ze’s speech is that is strikes at the heart of what keeps me from starting– from past failures to comparisons to bad impulses– and how to deal with each in turn. I could do a whole blog post on the poem…

I view this post as a living document; a space I can come back to and re-edict when I think of new reasons to write, and a space I rely on to recharge my motivation.

I’m excited to begin this adventure.