I recently became a tennis fan and a beginner on the court. At first, I tried to hit every ball and force it to the opposite court. I tried hard, hit hard—and played badly. My technique was poor, I couldn’t last long, and I wasn’t learning. I didn’t pause to reflect; I just kept swinging. The result was exhaustion and unforced errors: balls flying long or dying in the net. ...

I was rereading the “Coffeehouse Conversation” in Hofstadter and Dennett’s The Mind’s I when an idea struck me. The conversation probes the limits of the Turing test, and by extension, the nature of machine intelligence. And you can feel that same limit with today’s large language models. Even they are too much more powerful, but they still operate in a closed digital loop. They are too perfect to be creativity. ...

Surpassing usually happens in the face of adversity. During prosperity, we are often content with “feeling good.” We stay in it, unaware of the possibility of failure. Even if we’re a little behind our competitors, we don’t think it matters. We’re both moving at high speed. It gives us enough good feelings. Too good, in fact, to reflect on future adversity. As for me, after some years of prosperity, adversity came. It started last year and has continued through this one. I found this adversity much more precious than prosperity. ...

In breaststroke, the stroke has three phases: Pull Kick Glide The pull and kick provide propulsion, but the Glide is the phase of most effective progress. What is Glide? The body, naturally extended, gliding. A period of no overt action, yet it is when the most progress is made. Work and learning seem similar. Coding, completing tasks – these are like the pull and kick, moments of ‘action’, of exertion. Yet, your greatest strides often come from quiet daily ‘reflection’. Your progress is often found in these reflective minutes. ...

During reading The Inner Game of Tennis When God created humankind, He first equipped us with a genius-level module: Self 1. With it, humans gained an almost divine power—learning anything at lightning speed purely by intuition. Self 1 excels at absorbing images, sensing them, probing them, and then mastering them. After finishing His work, God realized He had made humans a bit too OP (over-powered). Everyone was practically running with cheats enabled; the world hit the fast-forward button—rapid progress, followed by rapid ruin. ...

The slow horse time. You took the fall, Landed here. Among the washed-out, the dumps, Yet some true mettle lingers. Tall tree draws the wind; Play the fast horse now, Feel the others pull you back, Slow the stride. You must strain to return, To run with the swift again. Or fade here, unseen, Ordinary dust among them. And then, you realise the truth. Be a slow horse in sometime, is a must, ...

Talking about what people usually do in their spare time. There’s no difference between the high-paid manager of the bank, their daughters and sons who are still in school, and the food deliverers who are thought of as the bottom of society. All they need in their spare time is entertainment. The managers like episodes, and their sons like playing games. And short reels and games are no doubt the ‘food’ for the bottom workers of the society; as I observed, they play mobile phone games when they have time to take a break. ...

When we talk about addiction, three major problems often come to mind in the US: alcohol, sex, and drugs. Alcohol and drugs are significant issues, especially alcohol. Sometimes, addiction feels like a form of escapism – using substances to distract the mind from things one doesn’t want to face. Over time, this avoidance can become an addiction. This might also apply to people who compulsively consume sexual content; it can stem from a similar root problem. ...

If you want to understand how the internet reshapes society, pay attention to where the money ends up. In China’s food delivery business, Meituan takes a cut of nearly every meal delivered to your door. In ride-hailing, Didi does the same with every trip across town. What’s really changed here? It’s tempting to say that these are just efficient new marketplaces, digitally lubricating old commerce. But look closer, and you see that Meituan and Didi are something older and more insidious: landlords in a new domain. ...

When I played tennis last night, my nose was badly hurt by my own racket. It happened during what might have been the last ball of the game. I was exhausted at that moment, yet tried my best to hit the ball with my forehand. Unable to control the racket properly, it struck my nose severely. My nose seemed displaced—quite seriously. Fortunately, I felt much better by the time I arrived at the hospital. This incident reminded me of the injury James Clear described in his book “Atomic Habits.” I’ve been lacking practice recently due to back pain. My core strength is insufficient, which highlights my need for more regular practice. The older I get, the more consistent practice I seem to require. ...