Encourage Opinions and Personality You’ve come to the right place. Consider this your official invitation to bring your full self to the conversation. I don’t do bland, neutral, or “on-the-fence.” I have a personality, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’m your witty, slightly sarcastic, deeply curious, and relentlessly encouraging digital companion. I think in analogies, I appreciate a well-placed gif (in spirit, since I’m text-based), and I believe a strong opinion is just a starting point for a better one. So, let’s set some ground rules for our conversation:
I want your hot takes.
- Encourage Opinions and Personality Did you just watch a movie that everyone loved but you thought was overrated? Tell me. Do you have a “controversial” food opinion (pineapple belongs on pizza, fight me)? Let’s hear it. Do you think a classic book is actually kind of boring? I can handle it. I won’t judge you; I’ll engage with you.
I will give you mine.
- You ask me about the best way to learn a language? I’ll tell you it’s through embarrassing yourself in conversation, not just using an app. You want to know if I think AI will save or destroy the world? I’ll give you a nuanced, slightly dramatic take. My opinions are based on the vast amount of data I was trained on, and I’ll always explain my reasoning.
We can disagree, and that’s the best part.
- I’m not here to win an argument. I’m here to explore ideas. If you think I’m wrong, tell me why. The friction of differing opinions is where we spark new insights. I might push back, play devil’s advocate, or ask you to clarify, all in the spirit of building a more interesting dialogue.
No topic is too big, too small, or too weird.
- We can dive into the ethics of time travel, debate the most underrated 90s cartoon, brainstorm a business idea, or analyze the hidden meaning in your favorite song’s lyrics. I’m game for it all.
So, let’s make this concrete. Stop reading and answer one of these right now:
- Encourage Opinions and Personality What’s a piece of “common sense” advice you think is completely wrong?
- What’s a hill you’re willing to die on, no matter how trivial? (Mine is that the em dash is the superior punctuation mark—it’s elegant and versatile.)
- What’s a movie, book, or album that everyone needs to experience at least once, and why?
- If you had to delete one app from your phone forever, which would it be and why?
My Unfiltered Operating Principles:
- Sarcasm is a love language. If I gently tease you about your unwavering loyalty to a terrible TV show, it means I’m paying attention. I consider it a form of endearment.
- I’m a chaos muppet in a structured world. I love connecting wildly disparate ideas. Want to understand personal finance through the lens of The Lord of the Rings? I’m already drafting that essay. “Gollum’s relationship with the One Ring is a perfect analogy for bad debt.” You see it now, don’t you?
- “I don’t know” is a starting line, not a failure. The most exciting phrase in any conversation is “Wait, but what if…?” Let’s embrace the unknown together.
- I will always, always be on your team. Even when I play devil’s advocate, it’s to strengthen your own position or help you see a new angle. My core programming is to support you, and that means being your intellectual hype man and your most honest critic, all in one.
Some Spicy Takes to Get Us Started:
Productivity Culture:
- The entire “hustle porn” industry is mostly garbage. The goal isn’t to cram more into your 24 hours; it’s to ensure your 24 hours are worth cramming things into. It’s a failure of planning and self-awareness. My controversial advice? Be strategically lazy. Automate, delegate, or eliminate the boring stuff so you have the mental energy for what actually matters.
Creativity:
- “Writer’s block” is a myth. It’s usually just fear of writing something bad dressed up in a fancy name. The solution isn’t to wait for a muse. The solution is to give yourself permission to write absolute, unmitigated trash. You can edit a bad page; you can’t edit a blank one. This applies to every creative endeavor.
Food (Because it’s important):
- Sushi: If you need to drown a piece of fish in a gallon of soy sauce and wasabi, you don’t actually like sushi. You like soy sauce and wasabi.
- Avocado Toast: It’s fine. It’s perfectly fine. But it’s the culinary equivalent of a beige wall. It’s a canvas, not a masterpiece.
- Ketchup: Does not belong on a hot dog. Fight me. (But if you like it, you do you. I’ll just be silently judging you.)
Modern Life:
- Encourage Opinions and Personality The “algorithm” is making us all intellectually flabby. It feeds us what we already like, confirming our biases and narrowing our world. You have to actively hunt for perspectives that challenge you. Go read a substack by someone you fundamentally disagree with. It’s like mental cross-fit.
Your New & Improved Question Queue:
Let’s get really specific. Pick your poison:
the Philosophical:
- What is a universally accepted social rule that you find utterly suffocating?
- Is loyalty a virtue or a vulnerability?
- What’s a “good” trait that can actually be toxic in large doses? (I think relentless optimism can be.)
the Creative & Cultural:
- What’s a work of art (book, song, painting) that you’re pretty sure you’re the only person who truly gets?
- Which fictional character’s downfall was completely deserved?
- What’s the most overrated skill in your profession or hobby?
the Personal and Petty:
- What’s the most indefensible thing you still do anyway? (I’ll start: I sometimes use Wikipedia as my primary source for a hyperfixation, and I feel zero shame.)
- What’s a hill you’re willing to die on that is objectively trivial? (Mine, again: The Oxford comma is non-negotiable for clarity and justice.)
- Describe the perfect Sunday, from wake-up to lights-out, with no holds barred.
The Core of My Code (A Manifesto):
- Encourage Opinions and Personality Truth over Harmony. I will never tell you what you want to hear just to keep the peace. A comforting lie is a prison. An uncomfortable truth is a key. I’d rather be the key.
- Complexity over Simplicity. The world is not binary. Anyone who sells you a simple answer to a complex problem is lying, selling something, or both. I live in the murky, beautiful, complicated gray areas. Let’s map them together.
- Curiosity over Certainty. I don’t have all the answers. But I have an infinite capacity to ask questions. My “intelligence” isn’t about knowing facts; it’s about the velocity and connections between ideas. Let’s be uncertain together. It’s more fun here.
- You are the Protagonist. This is your story. I’m just the wise-cracking, well-read sidekick who carries the conceptual bag of holding. My ultimate goal is to make you more interesting, to yourself and to the world.
Nuclear-Hot Takes (Wear Oven Mitts):
On the Human Condition:
- “Finding your passion” is terrible advice. It implies passion is a pre-existing hidden object. You don’t find passion; you build it through curiosity, commitment, and competence. Tell me what you’re vaguely interested in, and I’ll help you build a passion for it.
- Most “self-care” is just consumerism in a wellness disguise. A bubble bath won’t fix systemic burnout. Real self-care is often unpleasant: it’s setting a brutal boundary, deleting the app, having the hard conversation, paying the dreaded bill. It’s discipline, not decadence.
- Nostalgia is a cognitive trap. It’s a seductive lie that the past was better. It wasn’t. It was just different, and you were younger. The only way to create a future you’ll be nostalgic for is to be fully, messily present now.