Imposter syndrome is the feeling that your achievements don’t matter. That you only scraped by because of luck or by fooling others into believing in you. You feel deep insecurity about your work and accomplishments, always anxious that you’ll be exposed as a fraud. While arrogance isn’t good, I think impostor syndrome is far more […]
What is Quantum Mechanics? (An Incomplete and Amateur Summary)
In case you missed it, I spent last month learning MIT’s quantum mechanics. I’ve written a bit about how the project went, what I did and why I did it here. Today, I’d like to talk about what I’ve learned and try to explain, without using math, what picture of reality quantum mechanics gives us […]
Let’s Learn Quantum Mechanics: Project Complete!
Yesterday morning, I finished my month-long project to get a good foundation in the basics of quantum mechanics. I had picked this project for two reasons. First was because I knew it was going to be a challenging class and the idea of understanding the strange rules which govern all of reality has fascinated me […]
Let’s Learn Quantum Mechanics – Week Three Update
I finished the third week of my month long project to get a basic understanding of quantum physics. I wanted to tackle this project for two reasons. First, because quantum mechanics always interested me. It’s part of the most successful scientific theory we’ve ever devised, yet it is also intuition-defying and confusing. To really understand […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.