I’ve some notes on Sam Altman’s note-taking recommendation

Nilay’s most important love language is trolling, and so he despatched me this video of Sam Altman speaking about note-taking, as a result of he knew it might annoy me.

Now I acknowledge there’s a faculty of thought which is able to say one thing like “No matter it’s that can get you to efficiently take notes is appropriate.” That is true in case you are some type of loser who doesn’t care about pens and paper, during which case, vaya con dios I suppose.

Let’s begin with what Altman is doing proper: bodily writing stuff down. I really like my colleague David Pierce, however he’s hideously unsuitable about mainly each productiveness device as a result of he insists on utilizing a pc. At this level, now we have a number of research displaying that writing by hand is healthier for studying and reminiscence. You need to bear in mind one thing? Write, don’t sort.

And now we are going to proceed with what Altman is doing unsuitable: a lot of the remainder of it. I’m not the world’s greatest fan of spiral-bound notebooks, but when you’re going to use them, I like to recommend a reporter’s pocket book. Apart from mendacity flat, a top-bound reporter’s pocket book is sized such you could simply maintain it in a single hand and write with the opposite — making it rather more handy and moveable than the one Altman is holding, which appears to be like like an A6.

The one actual benefit the A6 has is that it may be simpler to place in a pocket, which Altman notes as an necessary high quality. I say “may be” as a result of I don’t put on males’s garments — and ladies’s pockets are notoriously small or nonexistent. I’ve spent extra time than I care to consider specializing in pockets in my clothes as a result of these fucking telephones are too large. However if you happen to can match a full-size telephone in your pocket, I’m fairly positive you will get a reporter’s pocket book in there. There may be are another options, too. Clearly, a bag. There are additionally Katherine Hepburn-style trousers, that are in vogue for the time being and have giant, capacious pockets. The third potential answer is a shirt jacket, which incessantly additionally function giant pockets.

What Altman is speaking about right here — writing stuff down, tearing it out of the pocket book, crumpling it up if you’re finished, and throwing it on the ground so another person will choose it up — is disposable writing. You’ll be able to fuss about paper high quality on the subject of any such writing, as he does, but when that’s much less necessary to you, you would possibly contemplate a stack of index playing cards held along with a rubber band or binder clip.

The issues spiral notebooks have going for them is that they do actually lie flat, and they’re pretty low-cost. If I’m not utilizing a reporter’s pocket book, I spring for thread binding, which additionally lies flat: Leuchtturm1917, both B5 or A5. I don’t rip pages out of my pocket book commonly as a result of I’m not deranged. For these of you who do really feel ripping pages out is necessary, you would possibly contemplate a pocket book with micro-perforations — it’s much less mess.

I’m not going to fuss an excessive amount of about high-quality paper as a result of in case you are the type of one who cares about this, you have already got robust emotions about Tomoe River vs. Rhodia vs. Clairefontaine. Be happy to get mad that I slighted Midori or whoever within the feedback.

That is all wind-up to the factor Nilay was attempting to troll me about: the pens. Altman recommends the Uni-Ball Micro 0.5, which made me hiss. The opposite Altman suggestion is the “Muji 0.36 or 0.37” in darkish blue ink. After some exploration on the Muji website, I feel what he means is the Muji Gel Ink Cap Ballpoint Pen in 0.38mm.

Maybe he merely doesn’t write by hand as a lot as I do, which is one rationalization. (I’ve spent complete days in courtrooms taking notes by hand, which I count on just isn’t part of his job temporary.) However in case you are doing numerous hand-writing, you need one thing that can glide effortlessly on the web page — in any other case your hand will cramp. This can be a Pilot Exact v5 or v7, which is about pretty much as good as you will get with out transferring to a fountain pen.

I’m not going to get into the fountain pens query as a result of it, just like the paper dialogue, is for sickos.

As for the Muji pen: I’ve not used it, however I’m biased towards ballpoint pens usually. They’re a hand cramp ready to occur. Ballpoint pens simply don’t glide as nicely, which implies you actually must exert effort to get a ballpoint throughout the web page, particularly if it’s low-cost. That’s what’s making your hand damage. If you’re a lefty and anxious about smears, use one thing with a quick-drying ink just like the Zebra Sarasa. Love your self. Don’t use a biro.

Lastly, blue ink is unserious. Use black like an grownup.

I do discover the video revealing. This can be a man who has not fastidiously thought-about his instruments and expects another person to choose up after him. That does clarify lots about OpenAI, doesn’t it?