Wisereads Vol. 65 — Vitalik Buterin on prediction markets, The Wizard of Oz, and more

Last week, we shared an exclusive preview of Erica Rooney's Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, a guide to breaking free from limiting beliefs and habits. This week, we're sharing L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, an imaginative fairy tale for all ages.

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After a three-year hiatus from his blog, backend software engineer Swapnil Chauhan returns with insights on the root of procrastination: fear and the need for social approval. "I know that the only way to get better at writing is to actually write. So my plan is simple: write often, read more, and slowly improve until I reach a point where I can be proud of my work."

While Polymarket outperformed polls in predicting the recent U.S. election, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sees even greater potential for prediction markets. "Info finance solves trust problems that people actually have. A common concern of this era is the lack of knowledge (and worse, lack of consensus) about whom to trust, in political, scientific and commercial contexts. Info finance applications could help be part of the solution."

Shipping isn't the same as finishing code. According to GitHub engineer Sean Goedecke, successfully shipping requires a different set of skills. "No matter the project goal, your leadership team (the people in your reporting chain who care about the project) will always have basically zero technical context about the project compared to you. That means they will be trusting you for estimates, to answer technical questions, and to anticipate technical problems. Maintaining that trust should be your top priority."

There's a time and place to ask mentors for guidance, but Shreyas Doshi advises first looking within to discover your own strengths and weaknesses. "That's part of the garbage we need to discard as we get to better self-discovery. Stop asking anybody, 'What should I do?'... We want these kinds of answers from people we consider smart or more successful or whatever label you want to put on it. Because there is fear; there is a lack of conviction, there's a lack of confidence. But most importantly—and this is the toughest one—there is a fear of taking accountability and ownership of our own lives."

Aided by Claude, 20-year-old Ben Averbook highlights key moments from Dario Amodei's five-hour interview with Lex Fridman on Anthropic and the future of AI. "Smart, educated people rarely cause catastrophic harm. This 'natural safeguard' protected humanity for centuries. But AI breaks this correlation—giving dangerous capabilities to anyone."

An MIT PhD student's analysis reveals that when skilled materials scientists incorporate AI into their work, productivity significantly increases but job satisfaction may decline. "AI-assisted researchers discover 44% more materials, resulting in a 39% increase in patent filings and a 17% rise in downstream product innovation. These compounds possess more novel chemical structures and lead to more radical inventions…these gains come at a cost, however, as 82% of scientists report reduced satisfaction with their work due to decreased creativity and skill underutilization."

Declared by the Library of Congress as "America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale," The Wonderful Wizard of Oz continues to enchant readers of all ages. Join Dorothy and her dog Toto as they journey along the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City in this timeless adventure.

"Thereafter he walked very carefully, with his eyes on the road, and when he saw a tiny ant toiling by he would step over it, so as not to harm it. The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.

'You people with hearts,' he said, 'have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful. When Oz gives me a heart of course I needn’t mind so much.'"

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

Fueled by curiosity, Lawrence Yeo explores humanity through storytelling and endearing illustrations. From Metric-Less Success: "The people that will be crying when you depart the world are not doing so because of any number that is tied to your name. They are doing so because you were a loving partner, a caring friend, or a shepherd of kindness. You are dearly missed not because of what you’ve earned, but because of what you represented."