Memo #4 My Intellectual Keto Diet Experiment

A radical 10-day experiment to detox the brain

Of Humans, Rat-parks, and Cocaine

In a 1970 experiment, the American Psychologist Bruce Alexandar shows us that rats, when given the choice between cocaine and water, will repeatedly choose cocaine until they overdose and die.

Turns out, we humans are sometimes not so different. Like addicted rats fervently pushing the cocaine lever, many of us find ourselves refreshing our social media feeds knowing quite well that it’s harming us.

So, I’ve decided to try something radical. A 10-day “Intellectual Keto” diet where I’m only allowed to consume content >100 years old.

The Forever Now

Twitter, social media, news – all have a memory-span of a toddler who’s also just hit his head against the corner of the bed. These platforms are always pushing us from one hot-button topic to another to maximize engagement and keep us trapped in The Forever Now.

David Perell @david_perell

11. The Never-Ending Now The structure of our social media feeds blinds us to history, as it causes us to live in an endless cycle of ephemeral content consumption. The structure of the Internet pulls people away from age-old wisdom.

The current news cycle is extremely addictive. That's not a bug, that's a feature.

Naval @naval

The goal of media is to make every problem, your problem.

I believe too much news consumption is similar to self-harm. I (almost) don't read any traditional news.

Twitter is harder to give up. The sweet dopamine hits are too addictive. My partial solution is to generously block/mute/unfollow people who are constantly engaging in conflict. I highly suggest you do the same.

Going on an Intellectual Keto diet

"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, it must be said again.”

Today's NYT bestseller and viral tweets will be forgotten next week. Older classics like The Bible, The Gita, The Republic, Wealth of Nations, The US Constitution, will outlast the rise and fall of empires.

This is the Lindy Principle from Nassim Taleb.

I’ve observed that I get almost no new and creative ideas from mindlessly browsing the latest news or tweets. On the contrary, I can't stop getting new ideas when reading old books. I want more of the latter.

So, for the next 10 days

❌ social media, twitter feed, news, new books

✅ old books, old philosophy, old religious texts

Join me in this experiment

I invite you to join me. For the next 10 days, cut all the sugar and junk food and retain only lean meats. Social accountability helps. So if you want to do this, tweet it out and tag me (@ayushswrites).

As part of this experiment, I will share daily summaries from

1) Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, written in 1776.

2) Philosophize This podcast; a podcast discussing great philosophers and their life’s work.

What’s in store for you?

For the next 10 days, I will share daily summaries of the two sources I mentioned above, along with my thoughts, critiques, and ideas. These will be short and actionable.

The first email goes out tomorrow (Monday) in which I will cover Chapter 2-3 from Wealth of Nations (on the division of labor) and Leo Strauss’ mind-bending philosophical ideas.