#704: Q&A with Tim New Religions, AI Companions, Longevity Levers, Resurrecting Forgotten Languages, Stress-Testing Cherished Beliefs, Tactics for Writers Block, Low-Back Pain, and Much More

I tend not to use sunscreens ... I will use long sleeve shirts, hats, etc. to minimize my sun exposure or take breaks. I'll be exposed for 20 to 30 minutes, and then I'll take a break, and I'll slowly acclimate over time as opposed to putting sunscreen with 30 ingredients on my skin. And we've seen recall after recall after recall, for instance, of sunscreens based on different carcinogens and so on.

The 'good enough muscle' is, actually, I would say, relatively easy to exercise if you recognize you cannot optimize all things ... You should be, or strive to be, world-class in one or two things, and for the vast majority of other things accept that good enough is plenty good enough.

Oftentimes, it's not a question of figuring out what to add; it's rather a question of looking very closely at why you are failing to implement the few things that you know reliably work and then removing those impediments.

I don't think you can really optimize any facet of your life without, perhaps, strategically deoptimizing or neglecting other aspects. I think it's beyond the reach of most mortals to optimize everything.

Podcasting has become much more crowded, and I think that it is something I would not pursue with the same degree of conviction—or at least it wouldn't seem obvious off the bat.

My general approach with self-care is the fewer chemicals, the fewer ingredients, the better.