Wisereads Vol. 53 — An interview with Alex Karp, Voltaire's Candide, and more

Last week, we shared Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a classic novel about the dangers of alienation and unbounded freedom. This week, we're sharing Candide by Voltaire, a classic satirical novella that commentates on the folly of obstinate optimism. 

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Jeremy Stern explores the enigmatic life of Palmer Luckey—the visionary behind Oculus and the founder of Anduril Industries—documenting his tumultuous journey from penniless tech prodigy to multi-billion defense contractor. "I've always done a lot of thinking around free will and whether it exists... And I’m quite concerned that I’m doing what I was programmed to do when I was 8 years old. If you like Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Power Rangers, can you really do anything except build virtual reality and tools of violence to enact your aims while feeling superior?"

Presenting a thought-provoking analysis of Aristotle's teachings on happiness and the good life, Ralph Ammer emphasizes the importance of virtue and character. "So for us to live a good life means to have an excellent soul. And this excellence reveals itself in a clear intellect and a noble character... Excellence is not something you are, but something you do!"

Part interview, part character study, Maureen Dowd’s feature piece about the CEO of Palantir Technologies explores the occasionally-dichotomous quirks and opinions of one of the modern world’s most quietly influential men. "He’s not a household name, and yet Mr. Karp is at the vanguard of what Mark Milley, the retired general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called 'the most significant fundamental change in the character of war ever recorded in history.'"

In a captivating look back at one of gaming's most iconic devices, Real Engineering highlights the ingenious design choices that made the Gameboy a massive success despite its technological limitations. "This 35-year-old console doesn’t feel oversized like the mobile phones of [the 1980s]. Gameboy focused on user experience from the get-go, an ethos that has defined Nintendo to this very day... While its competitors focused on ever-increasing hardware specs, Nintendo focused on accessibility."

Paraphrasing the wisdom of an unnamed expert, Ashlee Vance—author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future—notes Tesla's unique position at the intersection of AI and manufacturing. "I think that will be extremely important when the physical part of AI starts to kick in. Being able to bridge the AI into the physical world will be extremely massive."

Conventional wisdom tells us to cram flashcards and learn coursework in modularized chunks, but Doug Rohrer and Hal Pashler challenge the efficacy of this common studying methodology—which they refer to as “overlearning”—and its role in long-term retention. "[O]verlearning provided noticeable gains at one week, but these gains were almost undetectable after four weeks... In summary, then, we see that while overlearning often increases performance for a short while, the benefit diminishes sharply over time."

In his classic satire responding to Gottfried Leibniz’s assertion that our world is the "best of all possible worlds", Voltaire weaves a narrative filled with irony as Candide—a naive student of philosophical optimism—travels alongside a relentless cynic and experiences the harsh reality of repeated misfortunes.

"'What is this optimism?' said Cacambo. 'Alas!' said Candide, 'it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong.'"

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

In her deeply reflective and analytical essays, Sarah M. Chappell offers critical thought about technology, AI, and the movements of our modern world. From Knowledge Without Goodness is Dangerous: "And there’s the rub: knowledge, insofar as it continues to exist as something separate from information, is not inherently good, and the application of it is a moral activity. Many workers are neutered then, unable to develop knowledge or goodness, restricted in their movements by the confines of a technocratic system developed with a religious belief in rationality that leaves no room for personal moral or intellectual development."