#first-principles
3 posts
The Cost of Intelligence: Why a High IQ Won't Save You from Yourself
Smart people don't motivated-reason less — they motivated-reason more elegantly. IQ is a multiplier: it scales intent in whichever direction intent is already pointing, right or wrong. On the four forms of motivated reasoning in high-IQ people and why every purely-internal solution fails.
The Invisible Ceiling: Why Most Engineers Stall at Mid-Level — and Why AI Is Making It Worse
Most engineers who plateau at mid-level for a decade aren't held back by intelligence, time, or opportunity. They're held back by their inability to look honestly at what they're missing. This isn't a technical problem — it's an integrity problem. And in the age of AI, this problem is becoming dangerous in ways we've never seen before.
First principles, KISS, and why AI will reward engineers who think simply
Two old principles just became the most important skills of the next decade. AI amplifies good judgment and amplifies bad judgment. The difference is the ability to return to basic truths.