How would you define a "top-level goal"? We certainly help them reproduce, and give them large portions of our resources. We spend lots of time making sure they are charged up and updated. On the other side, would you say that the cells of your body are working for you, or that you are working for them? For your DNA? For your culture? The questions are not so simple as they appear, and one must use word like "goals" carefully.

I'm in the midst of a research project somewhat along these lines. It's hard to say who is working for whom. Who are mitochondria working for? Who are the cells in your spleen working for? What is a "who" that can be worked for?!

A few favorite posts and blogs that I've found along the way, in case people have missed them:

Kevin Kelly, "The Technium"
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/hu...
We are the Sex Organs of Technology

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/01/wh...
What Technology Wants
"The technium is the sphere of visible technology and intangible organizations that form what we think of as modern culture. It is the current accumulation of all that humans have created. For the last 1,000 years, this techosphere has grown about 1.5% per year. It marks the difference between our lives now, verses 10,000 years ago. Our society is as dependent on this technological system as nature itself. Yet, like all systems it has its own agenda. Like all organisms the technium also wants.

George Dyson, "Turing's Cathedral"
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dyson05/dyson05_i...
"We are not scanning all those books to be read by people," explained one of my hosts after my talk. "We are scanning them to be read by an AI."

Susan Blackmore, "Evolution's third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what?"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191.50...
"Billions of years ago, free-living bacteria are thought to have become incorporated into living cells as energy-providing mitochondria. Both sides benefited from the deal. Perhaps the same is happening to us now. The growing web of machines we let loose needs us to run the power stations, build the factories that make the computers, and repair things when they go wrong - and will do for some time yet. In return we get entertainment, tedious tasks done for us, facts at the click of a mouse and as much communication as we can ask for. It's a deal we are not likely to turn down."

I prefer extremistan as well, but it is worth noting that Taleb explicitly recommends people away from exteremistan jobs. Presumably this includes entrepeneurship. On page 28 he says

"If I myself had to give advice, I would recommend someone pick a profession that is not scalable! A scalable profession is good only if you are successful; they are more competitive, produce monstrous inequalities, and are far more random, with huge disparities betweeen efforts and rewards--a few can take a large share of the pie, leaving others out entirely at no fault of their own."

Later on page pg 94 he gives good advice to extremistan entrepreneurs: "Indeed, we have very few historical records of people who have achieved anything extraordinary without such peer validation--but we have the freedom to choose our peers. ... If you engage in a Black-Swan-dependent activity, it is better to be part of a group."

(...And the Paul Graham essay is fantastic; the best and most encouraging thing I've read in weeks. Thanks for that link.)

Hey Pete,

Thanks for bringing back some great memories of doing "Super Walker", as we called it. How many times I've done that loop over the last 15 years!

I second Mike's idea to go counter-clockwise, it's the more enjoyable direction by far. You get great technical downhills and relatively smooth climbs.

The best solution for the water problem is to bring a camping water filter with you: when you reach the creek at the midway point, you can refill all your bottles and have plenty for the ride home. This works especially well if you're biking with a group, as only one person has the extra weight of the filter--great way to handicap That Guy in the group. :)

I can't believe you thought the part *below* the amphitheater was the hardest. The final mile before reaching the summit is excruciating, with that steep switchback followed without letup my that supersteep straightaway.

Glad you had such a great time in my old hometown.

-Stan

That was one tasty lunch, with great conversation. I remember meeting you last year on the street with the I-I guys; somehow in under 30 seconds we were talking about the attention economy, Godin, and Goldhaber! Here's hoping for more Bento boxes to come.

As an entrepreneur there is a temptation to sacrifice yourself. To redouble efforts through tough times when your body is clearly telling you to lay off. Perhaps it is too many scenes from Hollywood movies: the hero has to fight on, just one more intense surge of work and then...victory at last! I certainly have found myself falling into that lie--rarely is the situation as dire as in your fantasy--and falling into blues or worse.

For myself, the basics of emotional health have always come down to: spending time with friends, regular exercise, new challenges. And yes @Alex, naps help too. :)

There is also a 2D Google Maps version of Lijit Live, a sort of Lijit-o-vision:

http://www.lijit.com/map/live.

Maybe my picture appears now? Or not.

Ja, indeed. This is my first post. testing.