optimising

you aren't optimising? do you not want to reach post economic heaven?

reading? how permanent underclass. i don’t need to read a book anymore. why would i waste time reading? lol. i’ll just paste it into claude and ask it to summarise the key insights for me. wait. did i say paste into claude? sorry, i just checked. the new ChatGPT model is out. it scores 2% higher on a benchmark test i’ve never heard of. wow, can’t be caught using claude anymore.

why would i waste time reading? lol. i’ll just paste it into chatgpt and ask it to summarise the key insights for me. it’s helpful, normally when i see something interesting, an x post, an ft article, i bookmark it for later. now i can probably just summarise it instead. maybe now i can get it to summarise the things i have bookmarked in there. no, i have been meaning to read them, but the backlog just kept getting bigger as i saw more interesting things. i was going to start reading them eventually, but there were so many other interesting things i kept seeing. yes, yes, then i’d bookmark those, and everything gets pushed down. and then i’d scroll some more, bookmark more stuff. exactly, you must get it. but anyways, now i can summarise.

hmmm, what did you say? you want to know why i’m summarising instead of reading? you must be new. why do i read a book in the first place? zero to one - or even book which thematically explores a complex topic? to extract information. to get something actionable, or maybe understand a theme better. why read? why waste my time on the process, i’ll just skip to the result.

weight loss? of course i’m using GLPs! which one? oh, i don’t know the brand. i just saw it on tiktok. no, of course i researched it. i asked chatgpt what it was and if it was good. do i trust chatgpt? of course. it’s like searching the internet, but better. i don’t need to waste time on different websites scrolling anymore. i just ask and get a definitive answer. no. whatever an “oracle problem” is, i’m not worried about it.

no, i’m not too into looksmaxxing actually. my friends are though. they tell me i should be. they’re really into it. yep, my friend was on retinol. no, not anymore. he said it isn’t strong enough, he’s on something else now. yes, he’s on looksmaxx.org. yes, i think looksmaxxing does make sense. i should be treating my body like a temple. i should start looksmaxxing and healthmaxxing. maybe a whoop, or an oura ring, so i can track my sleep. what will i do with the data? what a silly question! it’s data, i can do whatever i want with it. there are countless possibilities. but firstly with my sleep data, i’m sure i’ll be able to optimise my sleep more. maybe i should start peptides as well. what? they aren’t licensed by the fda? no, my friends talk about them, they’re on tiktok, i know people using them. i’m sure they’re safe. there have been studies! i asked ai. no, i’m not sure about the depth or detail of the studies, or if the results were replicated. i’m sure if that stuff was important, the ai would have flagged it. dude, you need to chill.

i was in guangzhou a few days ago. it was on a layover from my flight back from tokyo. yes, i was in tokyo, yes, on holiday with friends. it was good. i spent 2 weeks mostly shopping and wandering the streets. hmm, actually, now you mention it, the malls were kinda similar to what is back in the uk. i guess you could say the shops and brands were similar as well. but it doesn’t matter. i was in tokyo. got so many amazing photos for my instagram. no, i didn’t really read much about the history of the temples and castles. who cares? they looked cool and i managed to get some great photos for my upcoming instagram post. i even picked out the perfect songs to go with them. and what did i eat? oh yes, it was really nice there, lots of food places i recognised. yes, yes, dominos, mcdonalds, kfc, the whole lot!

anyways, i saw a girl at the canton tower wharf. she spoke to me. she was 16, and smoking. in a $420 t shirt, acne studios. yes, it’s a luxury brand. no, i don’t think a luxury brand means anything these days. no, i don’t think brands do in general. brand loyalty? how 20th century. no, i do only use apple devices, but that isn’t brand loyalty. it’s just more convenient really. maybe luxury brands meant something 20 years ago. now being niche is more cool. hmm, maybe if it’s a really luxury brand. but then, only if the logo is visible. i won’t pay an extra few thousand dollars for the luxury brand if the logo isn’t visible. otherwise, what’s the point? i’ll only wear if it means other people know i’m wearing.

back to my point, oh wait yes. being niche is more cool. oh yes, not just in clothes and fashion, but with music as well. sometimes i think my friends actually compete over who can find the more niche song to add to their instagram highlights. yes, it’s about showing that you’re tapped in. you aren’t following the mainstream, you aren’t being a sheep, and everyone can see that when the song is on your instagram. god, you like that artist? but everyone likes them. be different. have some personality man!

but yes, i saw that girl in guangzhou. she was pretty cool. she’s lucky. pretty clearly rich, chinese family money. she was nice, didn’t speak great english though. i know right, smoking in 2026. at least she wasn’t vaping. yes, it is pretty cool how smoking is still seen as more cool than vaping. ha, good point. you’re right, guess big tobacco managed to aestheticise the cigarette forever. no, i don’t actually know which brands are in big tobacco. i just know it’s the companies who make cigarettes. no, i don’t know them. what did you say? you think it’s funny the companies managed to eternalise the product and not themselves? sure, i guess, whatever that means.

but yes, that girl is lucky. rich family, guess she doesn’t need to lock in. she won’t ever grind, or be locked in. not like me. i don’t know how to feel about that. it made me feel uncomfortable, made me question things. maybe i should ask chatgpt, wait, no, gemini now. maybe i should ask gemini, paste in the interaction and ask it to analyse it for me. that might help. oh, its taking ages to think. i guess i’ll scroll substack whilst i wait. no, i don’t really scroll tiktok anymore, i heard its bad for you.

oh no, wait, let me check my hinge instead. yes, of course i’m on hinge. and i use snapchat. yes, i have hinge premium, and snapchat premium. why premium? oh, i quick add loads of girls on snapchat and send loads of likes on hinge. it’s actually quite a cool concept. yes, luck surface area maxxing. you should look into it, really something you should be doing. no, i haven’t actually got into a relationship yet. i get likes and matches, but it’s really just too tedious to make conversation with people. i’m sure that when i match with the right girl, i’ll know right away, i’ll feel it. till then, maintaining a conversation just feels like too much effort, too much work. i guess i’ll just keep scrolling and liking till then.

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recently, everything has felt economic. people say that if you aren’t into politics, it doesn’t matter, because politics is into you. what about economics?

if you aren’t into economics, does it matter? is economics into you?

a lot of what we do feels inherently economic. i think that i myself had internalised this. i was on holiday, and had made peace with the fact that i’d need to come home and start preparing for spring week applications, with them opening before i even start my first year of uni. but that’s okay. it’s all part of the game. i was even looking forward to it.

then i met her, the girl in guangzhou. the seeming lack of responsibilities, everything. i just dont know how to feel. made me question things.

i think that

i think that i

don’t want to optimise anymore.

i told a friend. they said “Once you start seeing results bro I swear this lock in so addictive.”

did they miss the point? i don’t know.

all i know is that i don’t want to optimise anymore.