What do interesting people actually think about?
132 questions. Takes an hour. You answer, everyone else answers, and then you get to read all of it.
Request to joinNo. 001
What do you do first thing in the morning?
No. 003
What's your favorite personal/friend/family tradition?
No. 005
What's a non-fiction book you love?
No. 007
Anything good you read recently?
No. 009
Is there a painting you love?
No. 011
What's a movie you love?
No. 013
What's your favorite blog or piece of online writing?
No. 015
What's your favorite restaurant?
No. 017
Which fictional character inspired you the most?
No. 019
Which video game influenced you the most?
No. 021
What music do you listen to recently?
No. 023
What's your best purchase over $100?
No. 025
What does your diet roughly look like? Anything weird you eat? Do you take any supplements?
No. 027
What's your favorite dish to cook/bake?
No. 029
What tabs do you have open? Other software tools you use a lot?
No. 031
What's a decision you made in the last year that most people in your position wouldn't have made?
No. 033
What are you certain about?
No. 035
What does your friend group look like? When did you meet them?
No. 037
What's something you deliberately stopped optimizing for or never optimized for?
No. 039
What's a rule you follow?
No. 041
What's something you think is widely underpriced (in time, money, or attention)?
No. 043
What's a consensus view that is wrong?
No. 045
What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?
No. 047
When you need to learn something new fast, what's your actual process?
No. 049
What do you want to do more of?
No. 051
Who's an overrated public personality with influence in your circles?
No. 053
Who do you pay attention to that few people in your world pay attention to?
No. 055
What's your favorite source of information?
No. 057
What's the most useful thing you learned from someone much younger than you?
No. 059
What or who has most impacted your taste in ideas?
No. 061
What do you want from people?
No. 063
What are you afraid of?
No. 065
What is a narrative you are running in the story of your own life?
No. 067
What are you addicted to? Any addiction you're suppressing or suppressed in the past? Did you replace it with anything else?
No. 069
What job other than your own would you like to attempt?
No. 071
When is your debt to society paid?
No. 073
What are the extremes of your specific human experience?
No. 075
What do you consider the most interesting recent news?
No. 077
What is your favorite explanation?
No. 079
How has AI changed your habits?
No. 081
How many cold emails have you sent?
No. 083
What have you changed your mind about? Why?
No. 085
What is your dangerous idea?
No. 087
Who would you bet all your money on who has not already been successful?
No. 089
Which specific event most affected your life?
No. 091
What's your favorite part of the day?
No. 093
What are you proud of that you rarely have the occasion to talk about?
No. 095
How would you summarize your life up until now in one sentence?
No. 097
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
No. 099
Teach me something about your favorite topic in the world
No. 101
Give me a prediction for the future with a timestamp.
No. 103
What do you find sacred?
No. 105
What's your relationship with religion?
No. 107
What emotion do you experience unusually rarely?
No. 109
What's the most "you" thing you do when nobody's watching?
No. 111
What's an obscure website you wish more people knew about?
No. 113
What are you really terrible at?
No. 115
What have you been thinking about lately?
No. 117
What's the most expensive lesson you've learned, in any currency?
No. 119
What's the weirdest thing that's on your calendar in the next month?
No. 121
What's your favorite season-constrained thing you do?
No. 123
What's the version of yourself you perform most often, and how does it differ from the other parts of you?
No. 125
Do you exercise? What do you do and how much?
No. 127
What's a sentence from something you read that you carry around?
No. 129
What's something you used to think was important that you've now abandoned?
No. 131
What's the most useful concept you've imported from a totally unrelated domain?
No. 133
What's a hiring or collaboration heuristic you've developed that works for you?
No. 135
What's your favorite question to ask others?
No. 001
What do you do first thing in the morning?
No. 003
What's your favorite personal/friend/family tradition?
No. 005
What's a non-fiction book you love?
No. 007
Anything good you read recently?
No. 009
Is there a painting you love?
No. 011
What's a movie you love?
No. 013
What's your favorite blog or piece of online writing?
No. 015
What's your favorite restaurant?
No. 017
Which fictional character inspired you the most?
No. 019
Which video game influenced you the most?
No. 021
What music do you listen to recently?
No. 023
What's your best purchase over $100?
No. 025
What does your diet roughly look like? Anything weird you eat? Do you take any supplements?
No. 027
What's your favorite dish to cook/bake?
No. 029
What tabs do you have open? Other software tools you use a lot?
No. 031
What's a decision you made in the last year that most people in your position wouldn't have made?
No. 033
What are you certain about?
No. 035
What does your friend group look like? When did you meet them?
No. 037
What's something you deliberately stopped optimizing for or never optimized for?
No. 039
What's a rule you follow?
No. 041
What's something you think is widely underpriced (in time, money, or attention)?
No. 043
What's a consensus view that is wrong?
No. 045
What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?
No. 047
When you need to learn something new fast, what's your actual process?
No. 049
What do you want to do more of?
No. 051
Who's an overrated public personality with influence in your circles?
No. 053
Who do you pay attention to that few people in your world pay attention to?
No. 055
What's your favorite source of information?
No. 057
What's the most useful thing you learned from someone much younger than you?
No. 059
What or who has most impacted your taste in ideas?
No. 061
What do you want from people?
No. 063
What are you afraid of?
No. 065
What is a narrative you are running in the story of your own life?
No. 067
What are you addicted to? Any addiction you're suppressing or suppressed in the past? Did you replace it with anything else?
No. 069
What job other than your own would you like to attempt?
No. 071
When is your debt to society paid?
No. 073
What are the extremes of your specific human experience?
No. 075
What do you consider the most interesting recent news?
No. 077
What is your favorite explanation?
No. 079
How has AI changed your habits?
No. 081
How many cold emails have you sent?
No. 083
What have you changed your mind about? Why?
No. 085
What is your dangerous idea?
No. 087
Who would you bet all your money on who has not already been successful?
No. 089
Which specific event most affected your life?
No. 091
What's your favorite part of the day?
No. 093
What are you proud of that you rarely have the occasion to talk about?
No. 095
How would you summarize your life up until now in one sentence?
No. 097
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
No. 099
Teach me something about your favorite topic in the world
No. 101
Give me a prediction for the future with a timestamp.
No. 103
What do you find sacred?
No. 105
What's your relationship with religion?
No. 107
What emotion do you experience unusually rarely?
No. 109
What's the most "you" thing you do when nobody's watching?
No. 111
What's an obscure website you wish more people knew about?
No. 113
What are you really terrible at?
No. 115
What have you been thinking about lately?
No. 117
What's the most expensive lesson you've learned, in any currency?
No. 119
What's the weirdest thing that's on your calendar in the next month?
No. 121
What's your favorite season-constrained thing you do?
No. 123
What's the version of yourself you perform most often, and how does it differ from the other parts of you?
No. 125
Do you exercise? What do you do and how much?
No. 127
What's a sentence from something you read that you carry around?
No. 129
What's something you used to think was important that you've now abandoned?
No. 131
What's the most useful concept you've imported from a totally unrelated domain?
No. 133
What's a hiring or collaboration heuristic you've developed that works for you?
No. 135
What's your favorite question to ask others?
No. 002
Do you have recurring rituals?
No. 004
Do you write? If so, what do you write about? What's your setup?
No. 006
What's a fiction book you love?
No. 008
Is there a poem you love?
No. 010
What's a documentary you love?
No. 012
What's your favorite podcast?
No. 014
What's your favorite coffee place?
No. 016
What's the last rabbithole you were into?
No. 018
Which historical character inspired you the most?
No. 020
What's your favorite board game?
No. 022
What's your best purchase under $100?
No. 024
What's a strong belief you have?
No. 026
What do you monitor in your body or environment? How?
No. 028
What is something unusual you did early on in life?
No. 030
What physical tools do you use a lot?
No. 032
What are things you don't care about?
No. 034
What's the most important for you in choosing where to live?
No. 036
What do you optimize for?
No. 038
What do you want in life? What drives you?
No. 040
What do you consistently say no to?
No. 042
What's a consensus view that is right?
No. 044
What do you think most ambitious people your age do wrong?
No. 046
What's a skill or domain you studied that has nothing to do with your work but is helpful to you in some way?
No. 048
What's your favorite youtube channel?
No. 050
What's an underrated twitter account?
No. 052
Do you have advice for an ambitious young person?
No. 054
Any way that you optimize your health?
No. 056
What's the most useful thing you learned from someone much older than you?
No. 058
What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
No. 060
What is the most exciting scientific or technical problem to you other than the one you might be working on?
No. 062
What do you want to offer to people?
No. 064
How do you have fun?
No. 066
What are you exploring more deeply at this point in your life?
No. 068
What is your most treasured object?
No. 070
What do you spend more money than the average person on?
No. 072
What intellectual gravity well (concepts, philosophies, ideas..) are you caught up in?
No. 074
What ought to be more widely known or understood?
No. 076
What should we be worried about?
No. 078
What cultural artefacts are you made of?
No. 080
How has AI changed your goals?
No. 082
What will change everything?
No. 084
What are you optimistic about?
No. 086
What is the most important human invention?
No. 088
Who had the most positive impact on your life?
No. 090
What were the best two seconds of this year so far?
No. 092
What's the best compliment you've ever received?
No. 094
What's your favorite smell?
No. 096
What's your relationship with death? Are you scared? Do you think about it often?
No. 098
How would you make $1k legally on the internet today?
No. 100
What's something tangible you want?
No. 102
What do you want to see more of in the world?
No. 104
If you could make one value universal, which one, and why that one?
No. 106
What emotion do you experience unusually often?
No. 108
What do people systematically misunderstand about you?
No. 110
What's something you're embarrassed to love?
No. 112
What's something that brought you joy recently?
No. 114
If you wanted people to know only one fact about you, what would it be?
No. 116
What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?
No. 118
What's a problem you think about regularly that you have no professional reason to think about?
No. 120
What's a favor you love being asked for?
No. 122
What's a bet you're currently making that you wouldn't advise anyone else to make?
No. 124
Do you have a meditation practice? If yes what does it look like?
No. 126
What does your average day schedule roughly look like?
No. 128
What aesthetic choice in your life reveals the most about you?
No. 130
What's a framework/lens through which you often look at things?
No. 132
What's a great gift you've received?
No. 134
What's the most underrated skill right now?
No. 136
What question did I not ask that I should have asked you specifically?
No. 002
Do you have recurring rituals?
No. 004
Do you write? If so, what do you write about? What's your setup?
No. 006
What's a fiction book you love?
No. 008
Is there a poem you love?
No. 010
What's a documentary you love?
No. 012
What's your favorite podcast?
No. 014
What's your favorite coffee place?
No. 016
What's the last rabbithole you were into?
No. 018
Which historical character inspired you the most?
No. 020
What's your favorite board game?
No. 022
What's your best purchase under $100?
No. 024
What's a strong belief you have?
No. 026
What do you monitor in your body or environment? How?
No. 028
What is something unusual you did early on in life?
No. 030
What physical tools do you use a lot?
No. 032
What are things you don't care about?
No. 034
What's the most important for you in choosing where to live?
No. 036
What do you optimize for?
No. 038
What do you want in life? What drives you?
No. 040
What do you consistently say no to?
No. 042
What's a consensus view that is right?
No. 044
What do you think most ambitious people your age do wrong?
No. 046
What's a skill or domain you studied that has nothing to do with your work but is helpful to you in some way?
No. 048
What's your favorite youtube channel?
No. 050
What's an underrated twitter account?
No. 052
Do you have advice for an ambitious young person?
No. 054
Any way that you optimize your health?
No. 056
What's the most useful thing you learned from someone much older than you?
No. 058
What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
No. 060
What is the most exciting scientific or technical problem to you other than the one you might be working on?
No. 062
What do you want to offer to people?
No. 064
How do you have fun?
No. 066
What are you exploring more deeply at this point in your life?
No. 068
What is your most treasured object?
No. 070
What do you spend more money than the average person on?
No. 072
What intellectual gravity well (concepts, philosophies, ideas..) are you caught up in?
No. 074
What ought to be more widely known or understood?
No. 076
What should we be worried about?
No. 078
What cultural artefacts are you made of?
No. 080
How has AI changed your goals?
No. 082
What will change everything?
No. 084
What are you optimistic about?
No. 086
What is the most important human invention?
No. 088
Who had the most positive impact on your life?
No. 090
What were the best two seconds of this year so far?
No. 092
What's the best compliment you've ever received?
No. 094
What's your favorite smell?
No. 096
What's your relationship with death? Are you scared? Do you think about it often?
No. 098
How would you make $1k legally on the internet today?
No. 100
What's something tangible you want?
No. 102
What do you want to see more of in the world?
No. 104
If you could make one value universal, which one, and why that one?
No. 106
What emotion do you experience unusually often?
No. 108
What do people systematically misunderstand about you?
No. 110
What's something you're embarrassed to love?
No. 112
What's something that brought you joy recently?
No. 114
If you wanted people to know only one fact about you, what would it be?
No. 116
What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?
No. 118
What's a problem you think about regularly that you have no professional reason to think about?
No. 120
What's a favor you love being asked for?
No. 122
What's a bet you're currently making that you wouldn't advise anyone else to make?
No. 124
Do you have a meditation practice? If yes what does it look like?
No. 126
What does your average day schedule roughly look like?
No. 128
What aesthetic choice in your life reveals the most about you?
No. 130
What's a framework/lens through which you often look at things?
No. 132
What's a great gift you've received?
No. 134
What's the most underrated skill right now?
No. 136
What question did I not ask that I should have asked you specifically?
From the archive
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
“Eat good food with close ones, I think about it often – to have these good times. But concretely most days it’s the idea of learning new things and being at the frontier. If I’m not at the frontier, I feel like I’m just learning things that have already been learned — and that’s nice, but limited.”
01
The interview
132 questions. Takes about an hour.
02
The archive
Everyone else's answers, all of them, searchable. Look up what 4 people said about their most expensive lesson.
03
Meet new friends
Someone's answer to “what's your dangerous idea” makes you want to meet them? Ask for an intro.