While making a good thing is easy, avoiding harm is way more difficult. My impression.

I kinda disagree with PG on this one.

What we should do is not "make good new things" but "maintain things that work and improve upon it".

We have too many people that WANT to make new things. Ideally good, but when so many people value NEW things we obfuscate what good means.

Maintaining thing that works includes everything: it makes you learn something,(how can you maintain something you don't understand?) often structured and you stand on a giants shoulder. Since it have been maintained so far, most likely it's also valuable. But also, most likely it can be improved upon.

I think PGs essay here actually go against his previous post of "Great Work". In this essay he mention art needs to be new/unique but usually art (and fashion) is cyclic; they reuse and rehash old ideas all the time. And even in science, such as Einstein and Newton, they usually just IMPROVE on the existing understanding, although in a major way.

Is newness essential? Not really in the modern attention based economy of 2025. Newness chasers are often similar to clout chasers. More noise there and you'll end up surrounding yourself with style over substance kind of people.

Something that's positive-sum, not zero-sum.

What to Do- besides the help others and care of the world, plan for your future retirement, most don't. Seek education by reading as much as you can. Stay interested in your family. Desperately seek out beauty. Cultivate your sense of humor, even if it's a little snarky. Be who you want to be, as long as it won't hurt anyone, including yourself. (I'm afraid too many of us are afraid to stand out today, group mentality, on the whole, is toxic and can lead to "us vs them" stupidity.)

What not to do (just as important)- Suck. Be nosy, passive aggressive, judgmental or hateful. Allow yourself to be duped because you're to lazy to seek out information.

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One should remain curious and improve.

> The most impressive thing humans can do is to think. > And the best kind of thinking, or more precisely the best proof that one has thought well, is to make good new things. > ... but making good new things is a should in the sense that this is how to live to one's full potential.

I urge you not to take these opinions as facts. Originality is admirable, but it is not "your potential", "proof of great thoughts", or "the most impressive thing you can do".

The answer to the question: What to do? is not "Make new things", but rather begins with a simple question: In what context?

The idea of dividing people into two categories: 1) those who "take care of people and the world", and those who 2) "make good new things", is harmful.

> "Criticism seems sophisticated, and making new things often seems awkward, especially at first; and yet it's precisely those first steps that are most rare and valuable."

This is what makes silicon valley is so amazing. It's filled with those who want to make good new things, who aren't afraid of looking awkward. This type of culture is actually quite weird. In most other places, you'd be dissuaded by conventional wisdom, or "who-do-you-think-you-are-isms".

I find this essay quite bland, inane even.