I post essays that hope to tackle big philosophical problems and their intersection with entrepreneurship, or whatever I am currently thinking about.
With each essay, I seek to deeply understand the problem, find practical ways to alter my life, and start to make decisions accordingly.
All of these essays start from a genuine question I think about through the act of writing. If I find the idea merits it, I will post it broadly for all to read.
I hope to live with more agency and provide others with the tools to do the same.
My substack: logankieller.substack.com
This is a reasonable note and I do agree with you that the ideas presented in this essay only capture the increased “glean” of metal (the desirable output of happiness, insights, stories).
Less ore for me was both a creative liberty I took with the metaphor, but also represented a shift in what levers should be focused on. I would posit that most people now seek more metal with more ore.
“I will be happier if I make more money”
So, less ore is relative to this, not relative to the stable level of inputs a person would be currently at.
Otherwise, I would argue that not only are “opportunities for increasing inputs are exhausted more quickly”, but some would run counterproductive to the fundamental goals of whatever optimization problem. It’s hard to determine what will meaningfully contribute to vague and complex ideas like happiness, insightfulness, story-worthiness, etc. Would definitely be interested in expanding on these ideas in a further essay.