Gwern: belief

Transcript context

…One of the interesting quotes you have in the essay is from David Foster Wallace when he’s talkinag about the tennis player Michael Joyce. He’s talking about the sacrifices Michael Joyce has had to make in order to be top ten in the world at tennis. He’s functionally illiterate because he’s been playing tennis every single day since he was seven or something, and not really having any life outside of tennis. What are the Michael Joyce-type sacrifices that you have had to make to be Gwern? That's a hard hitting question, Dwarkesh! “How have I amputated my life in order to write?”... I think I've amputated my life in many respects professionally and personally, especially in terms of travel. There are many people I envy for their ability to travel and socialize, or for their power and their positions in places like Anthropic where they are the insiders. I have sacrificed whatever career I could have had, or whatever fun lifestyle: a digital nomad lifestyle and going outdoors, being a Buddhist monk, or maybe a fancy trader. All those have had to be sacrificed for the patient work of sitting down every day and reading papers until my eyes bleed, and hoping that something good comes out of it someday. Why does it feel like there's a trade off between the two? There are obviously many writers who travel a lot like Tyler Cowen. There are writers who have a lot of influence such as Jack Clark at Anthropic. Why does it feel like you can’t do both at the same time?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.