On "not sleeping cult" / On public speaking / Daily notes

On "not sleeping cult"

From my email to some students boasting about not sleeping and just working until 4 am every day etc.

I think the heroic cult of not sleeping, and boasting about the lack of sleep, is plain stupid and counterproductive. It is well known and proven, that without enough sleep (at least 7 hours a day), one does not learn anything. And we all are in MIT to learn, not to not to sleep, right? I find this heroic cult utterly disgusting, and also as a sign of total unprofessionalism.

On public speaking

Here is what I think:

I think there are two separate problems.

1. Not being able to speak fluently. This is something one can help by taking some training. And I
agree some of us, if not all of us, would need some training in this regard.
2. Not being able to formulate interesting, coherent, and novel ideas. I know many people who try to
mask this deficiency by speaking fluently, but they always fail miseably.

So, the order is. First, think what you are going to say, and if you cannot come up with anything new
and interesting, shut up. Second, express your novel ideas as succintly as possible.


One may speak without thinking in advance, if one's improvisation skills are well developed.
Otherwise, one should think and then talk!

Third, be entertaining, do not take it so seriously, make jokes, and make people laugh. When they
laugh, they remember what you have said.

- mane the mean, a wanna-be stand-up comedian.

Daily notes

Skip this, if you have better things to do. Waking up at 7, reading for Apollo, attending risk analysis from 9.30 to 11, meeting with professor Utterback and the group of Norwegians until 1, then nice lecture about Apollo and life support systems by Jeff, a meeting on Apollo (we agreed on our project's scope), meeting with the air policy group (not that successful due to disagreement on the definition of "value"), coming home, finishing the marketing paper by 9.30, and then working with Kumar on the definition of "value" and types of values and value networks until 0.30. Then some housekeeping: I fixed my shower, by basically breaking it with my knife. That's the way to do. Now I do not have to go the MIT-gym just for washing my hair - I can do it at home. Not too bad a day, many achievement, of which fixing the shower is the most important and instantly satisfying one.

Next week Lavonardo comes over from Finland for the whole week. Also Mika and Seppo come but only for a few days. Nice to have Finnish friends around. But I am do not have too much free time for entertaining them, unless they will come to visit our classes. That would be fun for them to do.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs March 2005".