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What I Learned In 2023 - by Alexandr Wang

substack.com · 819 words · saved by 2 readers

At the end of every year, I write up the major lessons of the past year and send it to the Scale AI team. This year, given the degree to which AI has become a global topic, I wanted to share it broadly. The conceit of an expert is a trap. Strive for a beginner’s mind and the energy of a novice. Experience can often be a curse—the past is only mildly predictive of the future, and every scenario requires new techniques and insight. In novel situations, the novice tends to be at an advantage—their vitality and beginner’s mind lend themselves to faster adaptation. Winning requires an incredible level of discomfort. It’s not for the faint of heart. Every athlete knows this. Winning comfortably is an oxymoron. Build pain tolerance if you want to win. Focus is the only strategy in a power law regime. Power laws dictate that there’s always one outlier that will trump everything else in importance. If that’s true about what you’re working on, then 80% of the battle is finding the right thing to

At the end of every year, I write up the major lessons of the past year and send it to the Scale AI team. This year, given the degree to which AI has become a global topic, I wanted to share it broadly. The conceit of an expert is a trap. Strive for a beginner’s mind and the energy of a novice. Experience can often be a curse—the past is only mildly predictive of the future, and every scenario requires new techniques and insight. In novel situations, the novice tends to be at an advantage—their vitality and beginner’s mind lend themselves to faster adaptation. Winning requires an…

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