Umarbek

Questions

Questions I'm asking myself. Some have answers, some don't. The important ones rarely do.

What did you make this week?
I'm asking this question of myself. I'm keeping a public record of it here. Not a blog, not a changelog. Just a log of creation. What exists now that didn't exist before? What did I create? This week. Writing it down makes the act of creation more tangible, more real.
? Are you addicted to cheap dopamine?
? What are you thinking about these days?
? What are you confused about?
? Are you doing what's expected of you, or what you truly want?
? What do you want?
? How to prepare for the times of change?
? Can you be more specific?
? What happens to your consciousness when you walk into a teleporter?
? What level of resolution would be required to replicate your brain in a way that produces someone you'd still consider 'you'?
? What are the key questions?
? Why not take a pen and a piece of paper, go offline for 1 hour and resolve one of them?
? What does a good future look like?
? What's the best argument against your current life choices?
? What will not be said in your eulogy that you wish would be?
? What inspires you?
? What's a skill you've been meaning to learn for years? Why haven't you?
? What's an opinion you hold that you've never actually questioned?
? Why did the US founding fathers decide that the president must be at least 35 years old?
? When was the last time you were truly bored?
? Does time exist?
? Does the replication crisis in science prove that even experts are trapped in groupthink?
? What are you absolutely certain about?
? What's something you think you want but would hate if you got it?
? Which problems in your life are real, and which are invented?
? How will history judge your work?
? Why will you fail?
? What do you know about yourself that others consistently underestimate?
? Which views do you claim to hold—though you know they're wrong—just to avoid criticism from your employer or industry?
? Why is it easier to do something for the other person than to do the exact same thing for yourself?
? What are you flinching from?
? Why not just stare at it for 10 minutes?
? What's a pain you'd happily endure (forever)?
? If you were arrested for being too consistent, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
? Who benefits most from you staying the same person you are today?
? What is AI alignment?
? Is your desire for more money based on the false belief that it will solve personal problems that have nothing to do with money?
? Why did the empire of Amir Timur (Tamerlane), which expanded from India to Anatolia, collapse within decades after his death, while smaller states like the Bukhara Khanate lasted much longer?
? How did the cultural flourishing like observatories, madrasas, and architecture in Samarkand coexist with the brutality of Timur's conquests?
? Is 'both sides-ism' just lazy contrarianism?
? Why did the Silk Road cities lose global significance after the 16th century, even though they had been world centers of trade and culture?
? Why did Central Asian elites (khans, emirs, religious leaders) often resist modernization when the Russian Empire introduced railroads, new schools, and industry, while some local reformers ("Jadids") pushed for change?
? Would you rather be forgotten or remembered for something mediocre?
? If thinking for yourself is so valuable, why does society punish independent thought?
? Looking back, are you any good at anticipating how you would feel and react to risks that actually occurred?
? Why do children who grow up without a real authority become spoiled? Do they?
? Is the internet making us more conformist by amplifying groupthink rather than dissent?
? What's something you believe that would get you fired if you said it at work? How can you know if it is true.
? What's the most dangerous idea you've ever seriously considered?
? What strong belief do you hold that's most likely to change?
? What great company is no one starting?
? Why do corporations spend billions on R&D but rarely discover real 'secrets'?
? If the most successful people are contrarian (e.g., Thiel, Musk, Jobs), why do schools train students to be obedient?
? Which 'crazy genius' you aspire to emulate is actually just crazy?
? Why do we call someone 'crazy' when they're early, but a 'visionary' when they're proven right?
? Is the obsession with 'data-driven decisions' killing bold, contrarian bets?
? What question are you afraid to ask because you suspect you already know the answer?
? Which truths are considered 'immoral' to investigate?
? How to measure AI alignment?
? Which idea would you defend even if it made you unpopular everywhere?
? Which of your heroes would disappoint you if you really knew them?
? Why did you do something you regret?
? If you could see yourself talk, what would you cringe at the most?
? Who has the right answers but you ignore because they're not articulate?
? What are we ignoring today that will seem shockingly obvious in a year?
? What do you think is currently ignored by the media but will be studied by historians?
? How many of your principles are cultural fads?
? What are you going to regret in a year?
? What's slowing you down the most?
? What's your destiny?
? How can you do better?
? Why do some secrets remain hidden for centuries (e.g., hygiene in medicine), while others are discovered simultaneously (e.g., calculus)?
? Will AI discover all new knowledge, or will it just reinforce consensus?
? How to solve prompt injections?
? When was the last time you asked for help?
? Did the person actually tell you no or did you just assume they would?
? Who do you want to be more like?
? Who do you want to be less like?
? Who do you envy that is actually less happy than you are?
? What would you do if you were alone in the universe?
? Why was Einstein celebrated for rejecting Newtonian physics, but modern dissidents are 'canceled'?
? What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
? What are the biggest time-wasters or distractions in your life?
? What's the most common piece of advice you find yourself giving to others?
? What are you putting off out of fear?
? What are the probable outcomes (both good and bad) if you attempt it?
? What's the trade-off you're making without realizing it?
? What's the worst-case scenario if you pursued your dream? Is it really that bad?
? What's a socially acceptable behavior you think is harmful?
? What's the biggest difference between what people think will make them happy and what actually does?
? What's the worst nutrition or fitness advice you've heard?
? What's the most impactful journaling prompt you've used?
? What's the best way to recover from burnout?
? What's something you've stopped doing that's improved your life?
? Are you avoiding hard work by doing things that just look productive?
? Are you working on a project that has the potential to be 10x or 100x better than alternatives?
? Are you thinking from first principles or relying on assumptions?
? What's your real motivation for starting a business?
? If your business disappeared tomorrow, would anyone care?
? What are you pretending not to know?
? What would make you say, 'Wow, that was an amazing life'?
? Is this a 'Hell Yes!' or a 'No'?
? If your startup failed tomorrow, what would be the real reason—not the excuse?
? What are you embarrassingly early to?
? What's the one thing you're avoiding because it feels too ambitious?
? If you had to lose all your current customers to find better ones, would you?
? What would you work on if no one could ever judge you?
? What outdated belief are you still clinging to because it was useful in the past?
? What's something you pretend to understand but actually don't?
? If you could erase one widely accepted idea from history, what would it be?
? What's something everyone is optimizing for that's actually a trap?
? What's the most illegal but morally acceptable thing you could do in your field?
? What would happen if your industry stopped pretending?
? What's the most painful truth you've been avoiding?
? If you had to reverse one of your strongest opinions, which would hurt the most?
? What's something you've forgotten that used to excite you as a kid?
? What's the biggest opportunity you've missed because you were too afraid to act?
? If you died today, what would your biggest professional waste have been?
? What's a technology that should exist by now but doesn't—because society is preventing it?
? What's something we're accidentally making worse by trying to improve it?
? If you could instantly abolish one law or regulation, which would unlock the most progress?
? What's a dying industry that deserves to die faster?
? What's something everyone claims to care about—but their actions prove they don't?
? What's a belief that's only popular because it's unfalsifiable?
? What's a taboo that shouldn't be a taboo?
? What's a future that's likely but that nobody is preparing for?
? What's the most overrated threat to society—and what's the most underrated one?
? If you had to bet, what's a current 'crazy' idea that will be mainstream in 20 years?
? What's something we'll look back on as obviously stupid—but we can't see it yet?
? Who has the most influence over society while being the least accountable?
? What's a form of censorship that's so subtle, most people don't even notice it?
? If technology makes governments less powerful, what fills the void?
? What's a group that's winning in society but pretending to be losing?
? What's a primal human desire that tech still hasn't fully exploited?
? What's something people say they want from tech—but actually don't?
? What's a technology that could reverse a major social problem?
? What's the most dehumanizing tech trend that nobody talks about?
? What's an institution that should be disrupted but is too emotionally sacred to touch?
? What's a job that shouldn't be automated—but will be because it's profitable?
? What's a technology we think makes us resilient—but actually increases systemic risk?
? What's a single point of failure in modern society that's being ignored?
? What's something we're terrified of that would actually solve more problems than it creates?
? What if 'disinformation' is just information that works too well?
? What's a fact that's true but useless because nobody can act on it?
? What's something Paul Graham is wrong about but won't admit?
? What business that looks like a 'monopoly' today will be a dying industry in 20 years?
? Who are widely admired people who are actually doing more harm than good?
? How would you destroy [Company X] if you were its competitor with unlimited capital?
? What's an industry where the dumbest competitor sets the profit margins for everyone else?
? What's a socially acceptable form of insanity that nobody questions?
? What's something everyone believes that is actually a collective hallucination?
? If you had to design a cult to brainwash smart people, what tactics would you use?
? What's a decision that feels 'responsible' but is actually irresponsible in the long run?
? What's something you've never regretted saying 'no' to?
? What's a 'good' habit that can backfire if taken too far?
? What's a modern tradition that future generations will view as barbaric?
? What's a widely accepted practice in business that is actually unethical?
? What's an example of 'progress' that has made life worse?
? If you could erase one law from existence, which would do the most good by disappearing?
? What's a skill that was extremely valuable 100 years ago that's useless now—and what current skill will be useless in 100 years?
? What's something you think you understand but actually don't?
? What's a piece of advice that sounds wise but is actually terrible in practice?
? What's something that's true that you wish wasn't true?
? What's an irreversible mistake most people don't realize they're making until it's too late?
? What's a 'fact' that everyone agrees on today that will be proven wrong in 50 years?
? Does solution to AI risk exist?
? How can we solve AI risk?
? How can we measure AI risk?
? What makes you do the right thing?
? How do we know if a LLM is telling us what it actually thinks?
? If you were forced to bet against the consensus, where would you put your money?
? What is a problem that you think only applies to other countries/industries/careers that will eventually hit me?
? Who are you afraid of?
? If truth is what survives scrutiny, why do most people avoid scrutiny?
? Which of your principles would you abandon if they stopped earning you praise and recognition?
? How much of what you do is internal benchmark (makes you happy) vs. external benchmark (you think it changes what other people think of you)?
? When was the last time you prayed?
? What are you proud of?
? Why did Krishna reveal himself only to Arjuna?
? Is the real purpose of NDAs to hide secrets—or to create the illusion of them?
? What's the right way to regulate AI?
? Do you feel better or worse after spending time with the person you spend most of your time with?
? Was Alexander worse than Hitler?
? When should one give up?
? What's the ground-truth measure?
? How to upload brains w/o discontinuity of consciousness?
? Why not travel to your favorite city as often as you can?
? Whose views do you criticize that you would actually agree with if you lived in their shoes?
? Can a machine learning model be truly contrarian? Will scaling help?
? Why do we celebrate 'diversity' in gender and race but not in thought?
? Which of your current views would you disagree with if you were born in a different country or generation?
? Whose approval are you auditioning for?
? What does nobody want to say about this industry?
? Whose silence do you mistake for agreement?
? If you could not compare yourself to anyone else, how would you define a good life?
? What do you think is true but is actually just good marketing?
? What looks unsustainable but is actually a new trend we haven't accepted yet?
? What has been true for decades that will stop working, but will drag along stubborn adherents because it had such a long track record of success?
? Who do you think is smart but is actually full of it?
? What do you ignore because it's too painful to accept?
? Do the fundamental laws of physics exist?
? Am I wasting my time writing these questions?
? What have you promised to do and not done yet?
? Is consciousness continuous?
? Is the failure condition clear?
? What are you flinching from thinking about?
? Why do people sign false confessions?
? When was the last time you talked to someone you really admire?
? Is solving alignment different from building AGI?
? What have you learned about yourself in the last year?
? Are AI capabilities more like those of bombs or of computers?
? How does the brain generate consciousness?
? Have you spent 1 minute today on your biggest goal?
? Have you spent 1 hour today on your biggest goal?
? Have you spent 10 hours today on your biggest goal?
? What's the most common advice you give to people?
? Do you follow it yourself?
? Does the world need to be saved?
? What can you do in the next 60 seconds that will make you feel proud of yourself?
? What are the hardest problems you are excited to solve?
? What are you wrong about?
? What's AGI?
? What's a business that should exist but doesn't because of cultural/political taboos?
? Why not invite someone you like talking to for a dinner?
? Who's consistently ahead of you?
? Why don't you catch up?
? How to overcome the second law of thermodynamics?
? What do you wish you could do but you're absolutely confident you can't?
? How do you know?
? What's the humanity's frontier?
? What exists?
? What doesn't exist?
? What should exist but doesn't? What do we need that we don't have?
? What is the book (or books) you've given most as a gift, and why?
? If you were on my deathbed tomorrow, what would you regret most?
? Why do we have 'thought leaders' when real progress comes from 'thought heretics'?
? When was the last time you closed your eyes for a minute and asked yourself if you're doing the right thing?
? Why do secular liberals still preach 'sacred' values (equality, climate, etc.) like a religion?
? What can you do all day long and feel great going to bed?
? What is the shape of the solution to AI alignment?
? Where in the world is your tribe?
? Are you thinking independently or going along with the tribal views of a group you want to be associated with?
? What's the ETA to the Dyson sphere around the sun?
? Why do schools teach students to memorize existing knowledge rather than seek out undiscovered truths?
? What are the key factors of pluralist future?
? Do you like yourself when you look in the mirror?
? What's the strongest case for technological accelerationism?
? What's the strongest case against technological accelerationism?
? Does anyone believe they're evil?
? What do other people tell you about you that you are always surprised to hear?
? Why?
? Which future memory are you creating right now, and will you be proud to own it?
? What's a 'fact' everyone in your industry accepts that might be wrong?
? Why does anything exist at all?
? Do you believe in yourself more than you believed 5 years ago?
? What would you do if you couldn't make the world better?
? How do the experiences of sleep, general anesthesia, and death differ?
? Have you read a good history book?
? What are you trying to do?
? How did humanity manage to never deploy a hydrogen bomb?
? What are the key factors of a good future?
? What do you have no competitors in?
? How do you know what someone will do when the push comes to shove?
? What's the right thing to do?
? What's the silver bullet?
? How do you know?
? Why not?
? Who do you look up to who is secretly miserable?
? Why is democracy the best form of government?
? Why did Islam Karimov establish such a strict authoritarian regime after independence, when many Uzbeks hoped for liberalization?
? Which of your strongest beliefs are formed on second-hand information vs. first-hand experience?
? What haven't I experienced firsthand that leaves me naive to how something works?
? Why has Uzbekistan been slower to open politically and economically compared to neighbors like Kazakhstan, despite having rich resources and a strong cultural heritage?
? What are you addicted to that doesn't look like an addiction?
? What's the best way to say 'no' without guilt?
? If your industry disappeared tomorrow, what would you proudly say you contributed?
? Why is the market capitalization of Facebook, founded 15 months prior to YC by a 19 year old, larger than that of all YC companies combined?
? Is the fear of being wrong so strong that most people prefer consensus over truth?
? What question do you not want someone to ask you?
? What's the most important thing you've changed your mind about in the last week/month/year/decade?
? What's the most you'd pay not to do your job for a year?
? Why do most people fail to leverage the internet's infinite scalability, even when the tools are (almost) free? Is that a zero-sum game?
? What do you desperately want to be true, so much that you think it's true when it's clearly not?
? How do you make decisions today that your future self won't regret, given that you'll be a different person?
? Is the goal of reading to collect ideas or to dissolve your existing ones?
? How would your views change if you had 10,000 years of good, apples-to-apples data on things you only have recent history to study?
? How do you know if you're being patient (a skill) or stubborn (a flaw)? They're hard to tell apart without hindsight.
? What's the most embarrassing (but true) opinion you hold?
? Why do we call it 'the universe' instead of 'God' when it does all the same things (creates, destroys, governs)?
? Can true wealth exist without some form of exploitation, or is all capital accumulation inherently extractive?
? Why do we accept 'science' as dogma rather than as a process of discovering new knowledge?
? Why do most breakthroughs come from outsiders (e.g., Wright brothers, Katalin Karikó)?
? Is expertise overrated? Does it create blind spots?
? Could the best way to find secrets be to avoid formal training in a field?
? Why do we trust 'peer-reviewed' consensus when most breakthroughs come from outsiders?
? Whose advice has been so correct in the past that you now just go and act on it?
? Which parts of your life feel like theater?
? If money were irrelevant, would you still be doing what you're doing?
? What's an 'unfair advantage' you have that you're not using?
? Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers? What are they? Why reluctant?
? Which of your current views would change if your incentives were different?
? How to go to the center of the universe?
? What part of your identity is holding you back?
? Is unconditional love possible, or is all love transactional at some level? How do you maintain independence while deeply loving someone?
? What's the simplest way to get what you want?
? When was the last time you did something you've never done before?
? What important truths do very few people agree with you on?
? Why do governments regulate innovation when history shows it's the only way society improves?
? What would future-you regret not doing today?
? Is your life aligned with your values, or are you living someone else's idea of success?
? What if the thing you're most proud of is also your biggest limitation?
? What are the scientific rules for life?
? How did the Romanovs manage to rule Russia for 300 years?
? What events very nearly happened that would have fundamentally changed the world as we know it?
? What would you die for?
? How much have things outside of your control contributed to things you take credit for?
? Can a company survive long-term if its secret gets out?
? Why did the Japanese keep debating whether to surrender even after two nuclear bombings?
? What would you do in utopia?
? What's a norm today that will seem barbaric in 50 years?
? Why do you live where you live?
? What's something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on?
? What big, bold challenge excites me enough to dedicate years to solving it?
? Is it possible to wield power without corruption, or is power itself the corrupting force?
? When was the last time you took 3 months completely off?
? What's the best book you've read that changed your perspective?
? Why did the anarchists murder the single most progressive Russian emperor?

These questions evolve over time. Some get answered, some get replaced, some stay with me forever.