Note: This is the audio version of IoNTELLIGENCE Issue 18

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: Modern consumer society provides us with products and services that are comfortable, convenient, and immediate. They seduce us with easy but empty replacements for real life.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Pay Attention. Practice Intention and Moderation. 

* 🏆 Key Takeaways: Have IRL encounters. As often as you can. Ideally, active and outside. 

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport.

* 🧠 Parting Thoughts: What the inventor of the modern computer foresaw that “Westworld” and “Mr. Robot” confirmed.

📖 Reading Time: 5 Minutes

Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV

Key Takeaways

* Much of modern life is now made up of convenient but unsatisfying virtual exchanges that I call ultra-processed experiences.

* Don't let these inferior substitutes replace real life.

* Just as when you choose a banana over a Big Mac, your brain and body will thank you.

🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 📖 “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World” by Cal Newport.

* If you have under 1 hour, 🎧 to this podcast episode between Ezra Klein and obesity neuroscientist Stephan Guyenet: “Our Brains Weren’t Designed For This Kind of Food.”

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 the Atlantic article “How We Learned To Be Lonely.” 

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