Not exaaaactly the same as “Holding two ideas in your head at the same time”, but a nice reminder that the creepy house doesn’t care if you believe in ghosts or not.
John Carmack: What’s the meaning of life? | Note: Lex Fridman podcast
As mentioned a couple posts ago, I started clipping some of my favorite quotes from John Carmack’s 5-hour interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast. (I did 2 in a row with the same drawing timelapse and felt like I was straying beyond “work smart, not hard” into just being lazy. I’ll at least try to do a new 5-7 minute sketch for each Short in this format.)
In the above clip, Lex asks him what the meaning of life is. Carmack says he doesn’t think much about the meaning at all—we’re just biological beings that come and go.
He steps his answer back a bit and says, sometimes, he does think about how finite it is.
Then he gets back to work.
Elsewhere in the podcast, he talks about getting a $250,000 machine for himself to run ML experiments locally. He’s always enjoyed expensive toys…
“Carmack stepped into the local bank and requested a cashier’s check for $11,000. The money was for a NeXT computer, the latest machine from Steve Jobs, cocreator of Apple. The NeXT, a stealth black cube, surpassed the promise of Jobs’s earlier machines by incorporating NeXTSTEP, a powerful system tailor-made for custom software development. The market for PCs and games was exploding, and this was the perfect tool to create more dynamic titles for the increasingly viable gaming platform. It was the ultimate Christmas present for the ultimate in young graphics programmers, Carmack.” — Masters of Doom by David Kushner
Tim Ferriss talks about how he reads Anthony De Mello’s Awareness (check my notes out here) and has a feeling of lightness for a few days afterward.
For the past few days after listening to this John Carmack interview, I’ve felt a sense of… craftsmanship? That’s definitely not the right word. But it’s something like I’ve felt like getting a little more organized to get a little more focused.
It’s worth finding something you’re curious about and making the effort to be able to wake up and work on that every day.
That’s the takeaway that’s stuck with me most so far: John Carmack has built a legacy not by considering his legacy but by focusing on the local work in front of him and doing his best on it.
John Carmack: 1 pizza, 9 diet cokes every day | Note: Lex Fridman Podcast
Really enjoyed this rundown of John Carmack’s diet (from this Lex Fridman interview) during the id Software glory days:
- 1 pizza every day: He wouldn’t eat this all in one sitting. He’d have a few slices when it arrived then a few slices here and there throughout the day and into the night.
- 8-9 Diet Cokes every day: He gets that steady drip of caffeine throughout the day. Quick search: 34 mg of caffeine in a normal can of Coke and 48 mg of caffeine in a normal can of Diet Coke. The more modern Coke Zero is… the same as normal Coke at 34 mg. Which makes me think twice about drinking the insane 180-200 mg in an equivalent 12 oz. of La Colombe jugs of coffee. (P.S. he says he basically still keeps this 8-9 can habit.)
I did a search in Masters of Doom for “pizza”, here’s a sample:
Their first checks aren’t beer money, they’re pizza money. He eats pizza on hotel retreats. The id Software team orders pizza even if they’re grilling.
Bill Gates has his “Think Weeks”. Carmack has something similar but with much more pizza…
“Now Carmack had vanished for real—sequestering himself in this faraway hotel room for a week. Pizza boxes littered the floor. The phone didn’t ring. The door didn’t open. The only distraction was when his throat dried out so much that he had to venture outside for another Diet Coke.” — Masters of Doom by David Kushner
… and Diet Coke, of course.
John Carmack: Working beyond 40 hours | Note: Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman interviewed John Carmack last week.
It was 5 hours and 15 minutes.
It’s the longest podcast episode that Lex has done and I’m pretty sure it’s the longest podcast I’ve ever listened to. And I’ve already started my re-listen of it.
It’s 40% the length of Masters of Doom—one of my favorite books and an audiobook I’ll pop on and jump around in whenever I’m in a creative rut.
I started making some Shorts on YouTube and thought it’d be useful to post those here with any additional notes.
Some additional thoughts on this interview:
- Meta-point from me – Lex Fridman is a good interviewer: I saw some of the Hacker News comments and Lex Fridman is polarizing. So is John Carmack, though people tend to agree he’s a brilliant programmer, the polarizing part is that some can’t square the idea that he’d work for Meta. In any case, some people love Lex Fridman for not being over the top with his personality. Many people hate him and think he’s uncharismatic. That the person being interviewed could talk to a wall and it’d be the same as talking to Lex. I disagree with that entirely. That he can keep a conversation going with someone for 2, 3, 5 hours is proof that he’s charismatic. If it were just to be on his platform, they could end the conversation earlier.
- You’ll get more done in 60 hours: I tend toward the “Rest is important for productivity” camp. But I also very much agree with his point. Hours 1-40 will be more effective than hours 41-60. But the total completed in 60 hours will still be more than 40 hours. You could argue that at some point, the effectiveness becomes negative and you’re making bad decisions that derail things at a higher level. But that might come more in the 70-80+ hour range in the week. You can do 12 a day for 5 days a week and have some kind of reasonable life. The tough part (which I think I first heard from DHH) is when you start sacrificing weekends entirely. You go from managing 5 days straight and skip directly to 12 days. (Unless for some reason you’re working Saturday and Sunday and taking Monday off.)
- Diet (Coke) and pizza: In his younger days, John Carmack would pretty much order a pizza a day and drink can after can of Diet Coke. He’d have some slices throughout the day and the pizza shop knew him by name. They even silently grandfathered him into a price point.
Michael Ruhlman: The curious novice
Check out the full notes for “The Making of a Chef” by Michael Ruhlman
“I intended to learn how to cook and to write about how one learned.” — The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
One of my favorite writing frameworks from Shaan Puri is “The curious novice”.
In his content and courses, he points out that most people already have something to write about. You’re probably employed, so you have expertise in something. At least enough to be paid to do something.
And you have your entire life’s experience. Just by mixing those two things, you probably have something to write about that someone out there might relate to.
If you’re trying to write and learn about a different industry than your own, though, then you can’t just claim to be an expert. (Fake it till you make it has limits.)
Instead, you should take on the role of a curious novice. You’re no expert. But you’ll find a path to get there and share what you’re learning along the way.
That’s what Michael Ruhlman does in “The Making of a Chef”. He attends the Culinary Institute of America and shares his experience in his book. He wrote it in 1996. Twenty-six years later, it’s much easier to share an experience like this as you’re going along.
People are doing it all the time.
I’d love to show the transformation from today’s “before” picture to some future “after” picture. I guess if you’re entering a school, you have some confidence that academic transformation will happen as long as you’re following the rails and make it to the end.
Not easy, but the path is laid out.
If I want to write about and share this experience, I need to have a good end in mind that I’m working toward. Here’s a draft:
- 155 pounds, 15 pull-ups
- Kettlebell certification
- Some sort of fitness side business
That third bullet starts to get squishy. But I can definitely focus on the first two.
First, a body composition goal with a bodyweight workout goal that requires that a bunch of other stuff is in check.
Second, something I’ve wanted for a few years now but have not been disciplined enough to track, stick to it, and strive for. I’ll do that now.
I intend to learn how to lose weight and write about how one lost weight.
An expectation you can’t create
“It is a supremely cruel thing to have your mind conjure a desire which it is functionally unable to realize. No one teaches you how to handle the death of a dream.” — Upgrade by Blake Crouch
I’m writing this on the treadmill in the garage now. I’ve had different expectations with fitness and now I think they’ve gotten more realistic. Certainly much more realistic than what I used to think in high school.
My brother and I shared a subscription to Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness. Or he probably paid for it and I just read them when we lived together.
Anyway, they always promise abs in 6 weeks. Get shredded for the summer even if it’s June already.
I had some sense that wasn’t realistic. But I still was way off in my mind. I probably thought it would take 12 weeks (if I just follow things to a T…) to look like the magazine cover. Just a couple layers of fat will reveal an insane six pack.
The reality was I just didn’t (and don’t) really have enough muscle in the first place. I’ve never really set out to bulk and add muscle. I’ve just perpetually thought “first I’ll lose the fat then I can add some steak slabs onto my biceps”.
Now it’s time to start trying to add some strength and muscle. I know it’ll take a long time. Months and years, not weeks. I need to get past this golfer’s elbow and then I need to get back to the barbell.
I also want to get back to the kettlebell certification goal.
And to improve my mile time.
And wanting to do all of those things is the problem. I see it in creative work as well. There are so many different things I want to do that I settle for doing a mediocre job at all of them instead of focusing and doing a good or great job at one of them at a time.
In Nas’s MasterClass (I watched a few modules and still need to finish the whole thing…), he talks about having too many ideas. They’re like plants, each of them is telling him to water them. But you only have so much water. The discipline is being able to water a few consistently and being okay letting the rest wither away.
The mistake is thinking you can’t get things done because you have so many great things to chase. As if the accomplished people don’t have the same distractions. They do. They probably have more good ideas than you do that they don’t pursue. More options for workout goals that they choose not to strive for.
The new dream I have is building a home gym and working out with friends regularly. Unlike the quote at the start of this, I think it’s something I’ll functionally be able to realize.
As long as I don’t get distracted.