Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective

This book by Kenneth O. Stanley was genuinely recommended once in the episodes we index, on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Ev Williams. It comes up in conversations about consciousness, meditation & mindfulness, psychedelics. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated -- and nearly everything in-between -- our society has become obsessed with a seductive illusion: that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In [this book], Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the objective obsession has gone too far.

• “Why greatness cannot be planned. I recommend this to a hundred people. Love this book. It's by a guy named Ken Stanley and another guy who were AI researchers.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “I recommend this to a hundred people. Love this book”
  Ev Williams · The Tim Ferriss Show · Mar 202500:00:00

  Said during "Co-Founder of Blogger, Twitter, Medium, and Mozi, The Art of Pivoting, Strategic Quitting, and More". The episode features Ev Williams: Co-founder of Blogger, Twitter, Medium, and his current company Mosy; partner at Obvious Ventures. Started with a 1994 VHS tape teaching people how to use the internet. Ev Williams on strategic quitting, why greatness can't be planned, and building Mosy as an actual social network.