Wisereads Vol. 52 — David Cain on Quests instead of Goals, Tim Denning on going all in, and more

Last week, we shared 77 Lessons at 77, an ebook by the legendary actor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. This week, we're including Crime and Punishment by Fryodor Dostoevsky, a classic novel about the dangers of alienation and unbounded freedom.

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PS- This and the following Wisereads will be more streamlined than usual as our official editor (Abi) just got married and is on her honeymoon 🎉🥂

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Entrepreneur David Cain offers a way to reframe the language of goals into something a bit more engaging, highlighting the power of perspective. "Whereas “goal” has become a tired and bloodless descriptor for the (supposed) intention to do something great, the word quest instills the right mentality for achieving a real-life personal victory."

Joshua Rothman’s beat is artificial intelligence, psychology, culture, and science fiction – all of which are covered in this perspective on a possible future of the internet in the age of AI. "We’re used to thinking of information as being representational—that is, a piece of information represents reality, and might be true or false. But another way to look at information is to see it as a “social nexus” capable of putting people into “formation.”" 

Ted Lamade, Managing Director at The Carnegie Institution for Science, offers an important reminder about the importance of retaining trust: “trust’s earliest drops are negligible and barely visible. Yet, over time they compound on one another as trust increases.” It’s a hopeful message: ”it feels like people [...] want to invest in companies and funds that are transparent, forthright, and aim to be around for decades instead of days. They want all the facts. They simply want the truth.”

Psychologist David Maloney offers advice for how to get your nervous system to comply with your goals. “What you do is you start to negotiate what are your minimum standards for action. That's different for everybody, but a minimum standard is: instead of asking ‘what's the most I can do? How much can I do?’ we sit with: ‘What's the least I can do today in any given area and feel like I've made some progress?’”

Founder Kerian Drew shares insights from bestselling author Robert Greene’s Mastery, including: “You want to be as immediately present to what you are doing as possible” and "You must learn from errors. Don’t wait to be told."

Some of the biggest cybersecurity conventions in the world just ended, so NCCoE's guide is timely. "The goal of the solutions is to enforce corporate security policy dynamically and in near-real-time to restrict access to authenticated, authorized users, devices, ... while flexibly supporting a complex set of diverse business outcomes involving both remote and on-premises workforces, use of the cloud, partner collaboration, and support for contractors."

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a deep dive into moral and existential dilemmas, particularly the question of freedom. Touching on truth, guilt, pride and sacrifice, it demystifies philosophies like utilitarianism and nihilism. 

"Break what must be broken, once for all, that’s all, and take the suffering on oneself. What, you don’t understand? You’ll understand later. … Freedom and power, and above all, power! Over all trembling creation and all the ant-heap! … That’s the goal, remember that!"

This edition of Crime and Punishment is available through Standard Ebooks. You can explore their collection of high quality, carefully formatted, and free public domain ebooks here.

In his Substack, former banker Tim Denning focuses on helping people create a lifestyle centered around freedom, where no one tells you what to do. From All It Takes Is One Piece of Work to Change Everything in Your Life Forever: "The world is simple when you break it down. We choose to do one thing. We go all in. We do it every day. We make a difference. We create our legacy in the process. We follow our curiosity. We go from beginner level to mastery."