Losing my son

This is absolutely gut-wrenching.

Lars is an absolutely incredible thinker with a polymath-like range.

- He has done great professional work as a software developer

- He has pushed forward arguably one of the best economic policies for modern times(land value tax) through both a startup[1], and writing[2]. I particularly like his interview with Dwarkesh Patel[3]

- He contributes core thinking to rationalist communities. Just the other day I completely randomly encountered him as being submitter of the primary US Election 2024 market on the forecasting site manifold[1]

The two most impactful thinkers/writers in my life have now had to survive through incredible loss(Douglas Hofstadter - who lost his wife after writing GEB is the other). Wishing you all the best Lars.

Sources:

[1] https://www.valuebase.co/

[2] https://www.landisabigdeal.com/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL-qkv7Pzxo

[4] https://manifold.markets/LarsDoucet/will-joe-biden-win-the-2...

Sad and terrible! Reminds me of a story I read when I was young.

An Indian emperor invited a wise man to his court and asked him to write a wish that will last forever. He wrote:

1. The emperor dies

2. His son dies

3. His grandson dies

The emperor was furious and ordered him to be punished. The wise man asked if he can have an opportunity to explain and the emperor agreed.

The wise man explained that he wrote what he wishes as the natural order of life in the kingdom. He asked the emperor to consider how terrible the situation would be if any of the order in that is changed. The emperor realized the truth in this and thanked the wise man.

As a parent who has lost a son - I feel this immensely. At least you can see his face. That’s more than I can say for mine. He’ll forever be 12 years old to me. What helped me was giving back. I’m sure the road ahead will be hard, but don’t give up.

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