Hey there,

When times are uncertain, it's good to read the classics.

I remember Ray Dalio saying that throughout history, it's often just "another one of these."

The patterns repeat.

A while ago, I built Ask the Canon: a semantic search engine over ~100 classic works of literature, philosophy, psychology, and more.

It lay dormant for a while, but then a friend told me he was using it to supplement his Daily Stoic reading.

So I'm starting to make it a habit too: ask it one question a day.

Today I asked it:

How do we deal with a society that's changing very fast?

One of the top hits was this excerpt from Emerson's Self-Reliance.

His core take?

"Society never advances... For everything that is given, something is taken."

We gain new capabilities, but sometimes lose old ones in the process.

"The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet."

That line resonates with the current situation in tech.

We have AI that can write code, summarize books, brainstorm ideas, and retrieve almost any piece of information.

But what are we giving up in exchange?

Less thinking? Skill erosion? Less creativity?

So yes, perhaps this really is "another one of these."

The technology changes. The human pattern doesn't.

And that puts things in perspective.

What classic texts do you turn to in times of turmoil to think more deeply and find some grounding?

If you want to explore the canon I've put together, try Ask the Canon here: https://askthecanon.com

Have a great rest of your week!

Bob

P.S. This came out of scratching my own itch, building something I cared about.

What are you currently building? Reply and let me know.