[newsletter]
On Motivation and other things
6 Sep 2026
Hello, from the armchair.
Here’s everything we’ve had since the last missive:
Two months with no new sprawling articles, because summer has a habit of sprawling everything else, but the podcasts and the edited transcripts seem like plenty to be getting along with in the meantime. Back at the desk now the days are shortening. Enjoy.
Audio (with edited transcript):
Me explaining an idea to others. Usually tighter, more coherent, and easier to parse than my articles because I’ve already thought it through. Come with edited transcripts, for the readers.
Main idea: Motivation seems simple until you notice that all of psychology describes what motivates us. I think three buckets make things easier: what motivates us, how it motivates us, and how motivation is sustained.
Main idea: AI is human-like, not human. Its output looks like ours but its purpose doesn’t, and purpose is what builds a mind. It isn’t heading towards us—it’s heading sideways, somewhere stranger and probably more benign.
Main idea: Purple isn’t on the light spectrum. Your brain invents it to stand for a green that should be there and isn’t—and it does the same with your reasons. The brain is a storyteller all the way down to perception.
Main idea: You don’t get a choice about whether you ritualise. Only about whether you chose the ritual.
Main idea: Brain-words are cosmetic filler. Strip the neuroscience out and the advice means exactly what it did before—so learn to strip it out.
I hope you found something worth keeping.
You can find links to all my previous missives here.
From my armchair to yours,