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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
More wonder, more insight, more expression, more joy! R&D on tools for thought, with a focus on memory, reading, and attention. Currently working on @pico.
San Francisco, CA
andymatuschak.org
Joined November 2007
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Oct 3, 2019
    Tools for thought are a beautiful idea—inventions which can “change the thought patterns of an entire civilization.” But that’s a 30 year old quote. Why are they so hard to make? @michael_nielsen and I try to answer that question and suggest paths forward:
    Photo illustration of transition from Roman numerals to Hindu-Arabic numerals
    How can we develop transformative tools for thought?
    From numinous.productions
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Feb 15, 2025
    Some notes on @thesundaylight, a sort of… artificial skylight? It feels good to spend the day in daylight. But that doesn’t happen when I’m working inside. Especially in the winter. So, for years, I’ve used super-bright LEDs while I work. They quite noticeably improve my energy
    Standing under Sunday, a strange new kind of light.
    373K
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Jan 21, 2018
    Playing with a strange pen. The ink stretches backwards into the past and forwards into possible futures. The two sides make a strange loop: the future ink influences how I draw, altering the future's past ink…
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Dec 5, 2019
    Software interfaces undervalue peripheral vision! (a thread) My physical space is full of subtle cues. Books I read or bought most recently are lying out. Papers are lying in stacks on my desk, roughly arranged by their relationships.
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Jan 8, 2021
    In honor of SciHub being suspended on Twitter, I’ll share this convenient view-on-SciHub bookmarklet, which you certainly shouldn't use. javascript:location.href=location.href.replace(location.hostname,location.hostname+'.sci-hub.se').replace(%22https%22,%22http%22)
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Mar 19, 2019
    📣 Announcing an experimental new tool for thought 🚨 @michael_nielsen and I have been wondering: what happens if we take powerful ideas from cognitive science and deeply integrate them into explanations? Our first experiment in a new "mnemonic" medium:
    A simple quantum circuit
    Quantum computing for the very curious
    From quantum.country
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Apr 28, 2021
    This college student has been live-streaming his daily study sessions for the past year, 12 hours straight, every day: youtube.com/c/JamesScholz/… He’s not narrating or providing funny commentary like a typical Twitch streamer. It’s just: you watch him study, very intently!
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Mar 25, 2016
    Papert wrote this 45 years ago. The internet didn’t exist—0 laptops had been sold. Could’ve been written last week.
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    May 11, 2019
    📣 New essay distilling one strand of some ongoing work✨ I argue that books lack a functioning model of how people learn—instead, they're (accidentally, invisibly) built around a model that's plainly false. Plus some early models for what to do about it.
    Title rendered in color: 'Why books don't work'
    Why books don't work
    From andymatuschak.org
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Jan 28, 2022
    This question's gauche, but: given the prevalence of $400k++ comp packages for ~30-year-olds in Big Tech, why aren't there lots more "gentle[wo]man scholars"? i.e. people quitting to do non-remunerative creative projects I can think of some, but shouldn't there be thousands?
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Oct 18, 2020
    I've noticed that consciousness recedes when I'm deep in a coding phase, many back-to-back days in flow. My mind narrows to tunnel-vision, fixated on the software and its issues. My sense of self shrinks; non-code ideas cease to arise; I get less curious; writing yields little.
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Sep 7, 2024
    In my work with adult learners, conversation often focuses on materials, tools, and techniques—but the main bottleneck is often trouble actually siting down to study consistently. Learners usually feel sheepish about this and prescribe themselves "more discipline". But often I
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Oct 9, 2021
    Have been experimenting with this unusual Dasung portable e-ink display for park working sessions. It's surprisingly responsive—plenty good enough for writing, coding, studying. HDMI driven, weighs about 1.5lbs, sits in front of my normal display (& uses much less power, ofc).
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    Andy Matuschak
    @andy_matuschak
    Jul 15, 2022
    The screenshot shortcut (Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+4) is convenient for quickly measuring screen elements. I only just learned you can hold Space to *shift* the box. So useful for comparisons! (Also Opt to resize symmetrically, Shift to resize along one axis)
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